Walter Wallmann
Walter Wallmann (* September 24 1932 in Uelzen, † September 21, 2013 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German politician of the CDU.
He was from 1977 to 1986 Lord Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, 1986-1987 Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 1987 to 1991 Minister of the State of Hesse.
- 3.1 Ignatz Bubis Price
- 3.2 Other Awards
Life
Studies and PhD
After graduation Wallmann began studying law and political science at the University of Marburg, where he graduated with both legal state, which he made in Frankfurt am Main. In 1961 Wallmann joined the CDU. In 1965 he earned his doctorate at the University of Marburg Dr. iur. with the work to criminal law problems of the punishment of teachers with special consideration of the applicable constitutional law.
Activities as a judge and beginnings in the CDU
He was District Chairman of the Junge Union in Central Hesse and Member of the Hesse Landtag. At the same time he worked as a judge at the district court of Kassel, and the District Court Rotenburg an der Fulda and the District Court pouring until 1967. In 1967, Walter Wallmann deputy chairman of the CDU Hesse and 1968 also Chairman of the CDU in parliament.
Deputy in the Bundestag
After the general election in 1972, he resigned from the Hesse state parliament and became a member of the German Bundestag. Here he became in 1973 a member of the Group Executive Board. From 1974 to 1975 he was chairman of the Committee of the Guillaume affair, for which he received much praise and recognition. In 1976 he was Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group.
Failed election as mayor of Marburg
In February 1970, the City Council of Marburg Wallmann elected as a candidate of the CDU, FDP and a voter bloc against the previous incumbent George Gaßmann as mayor. However, this choice proved to be invalid. In the re-run election, the SPD candidate nunmehrige Hanno Drechsler won against Wallmann.
Lord Mayor of Frankfurt am Main
1977 put Wallmann down his parliamentary seat after the CDU had surprisingly won an absolute majority in the local elections in Frankfurt am Main and the incumbent Mayor Rudi Arndt (SPD ) has resigned. The failure of the SPD in Frankfurt but was also seen in the aftermath of Frankfurt homes struggle as a result of red felt ( in Frankfurt donations scandal of the Frankfurt SPD), the municipal reform in Hesse, the school policy. Wallmann was started simultaneously at the municipal election in Hesse as the leading candidate in Frankfurt and Marburg and was now Lord Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main.
Wallmann led a spacious public building policy, he continued, for example, the reconstruction of the half-timbered houses on the mountain Romans ( Ostzeile ) and supported by the citizens' initiative to restore the Old Opera House for a concert and event building. In addition, he was responsible for the renovation of the Frankfurt train station area and laid the foundations for the museum mile.
He was also active in foreign policy and built in 1980 the German -Israeli relations by a treaty of friendship between Frankfurt and Tel Aviv further. On his initiative, the City of Frankfurt operates since 1980 a visit program for Jewish and politically or religiously persecuted former Frankfurt citizens. A year earlier, in 1979, he had in the hope of peace in the Middle East also already concluded a treaty of friendship with the Egyptian capital Cairo.
In 1982 he was elected state chairman of the CDU in Hesse and 1985 as Deputy National Chairman of the party. From 1985 to 1986 he was in his capacity as Lord Mayor also President of the German Association of Cities.
First Federal Environment Minister
In response to the Chernobyl disaster Wallmann was appointed the first Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Chancellor Helmut Kohl on June 6, 1986. Important state regulations during his eleven-month tenure as were the change in the vehicle tax law for the introduction of low-emission cars and the detergents and cleaners Act of March 5, 1987, which was replaced in May 2007 by a new law.
From his tenure as Federal Environment Minister comes the name " Wallmann valve" for the valve that is in the event of a core meltdown prevent the bursting of the full pressure containment.
State Premier of Hesse
From his position as Minister for the Environment, he left on April 23, 1987, after the Hessian CDU could win under his top candidate, the state election just together with the FDP.
Wallmann thus became the first Christian Democrat prime minister in Hesse. Under him, the CDU / FDP coalition was able to assert its promise of school freedom with the Law for the Restoration of school choice in the state of Hessen. He also took over the job of President of the Bundesrat to 31 October 1987, which his predecessor Holger Börner (SPD ) had already held up to the state election. His tenure was in 1987 a serious incident in the reactor block A of the Biblis nuclear power plant, which has been trying for over a year by the operator, RWE and the competent authorities to cover up, which led to a loss of confidence in his government among the population. Another scandal was in 1990 to, as the so-called " tulip bulb affair " became public. Walter Wallmann had financed at his private home garden work on the state treasury, which also resulted in a loss of image.
In the state elections in 1991 his coalition of CDU and FDP did not reach the required majority. Wallmann therefore resigned on April 5, 1991 from the office and renounced the role of opposition leader. He also resigned his seat in Parliament and lost the CDU state presidency in an internal power struggle to Manfred Kanther. He was henceforth worked in the private sector as a lawyer. 1995 Wallmann was county chairman of Frankfurt am Main and retired for health reasons in 1997 from politics.
Walter Wallmann lived in Idstein, together with his wife Margaret. He has a son. Since early 2009 (?) The couple lived again in Frankfurt near the Mousonturm in the Ostend district.
CDU funding scandal
In 1983, a total of 8 million DM of the Hessian CDU were transferred abroad and remittances disguised as bequests or loans. At this time Walter Wallmann was CDU state chairman. However, no tangle him could be detected in the CDU funding scandal. In his testimony in November 2000, he stated that he was aware of the financial affairs in the good hands of the then Secretary General of the CDU in Hesse Manfred Kanther and Treasurer Casimir Prinz zu Sayn -Wittgenstein, so never came up to him as to the competence of Manfred Kanther doubt. He was also on record that he was sure that Roland Koch was unaware of the money and thus as Wallmann himself had been completely unaware.
Honors
Ignatz Bubis Price
On 21 January 2007 he was awarded with prize money of 50,000 euros Ignatz Bubis Prize for Understanding in the Frankfurt St. Paul's Church. The Board based its decision on the fact that Wallmann " used in an outstanding way for understanding and tolerance and demonstrated they " have. The then Mayor of Frankfurt, Petra Roth, as well as the vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and chairman of the Jewish Community of Frankfurt, Salomon Korn, especially praised its commitment in the field of town twinning.
More Awards
1979 Honorary Award of the Hermann Ehlers Foundation awarded him. , 1990, the Great Cross of Merit with Star and Sash of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1996 he received the Wilhelm-Leuschner- Medal of the State of Hesse. Wallmann is the honorary chairman of the CDU in Hesse since 2003 and winner of the Hessian Merit.
On his 77th birthday, September 24, 2009 Wallmann was made an honorary citizen of the city of Frankfurt. He was the first mayor of Frankfurt, the post-war period, which was awarded the honorary citizenship.
In addition, Wallmann was an honorary member of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Family
His brother William was Wallmann Wiesbaden mayor, whose daughter, his niece Astrid Wallmann, was elected to the Hesse state at the state election in Hesse in 2009.
Wall 's son Walter Jr. was elected as the new President of the Court of Auditors of the Hessian Hessian state parliament on 19 March 2013.
Cabinets
- Cabinet carbon II - Cabinet Kohl III
- Cabinet Wallmann
Literary works (selection)
- The presence of history, Societäts -Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 9783797307699
- The price of progress. Contributions to political culture, Luebbe, Bergisch Gladbach, 1988, ISBN 9783421061409