biography
| name: |
Genscher, Hans-Dietrich
|
pronunciation:
[gensher]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1927– )
|
| biography:
| German statesman, born in Reideburg, EC Germany. He trained as a lawyer, studying at Halle and Leipzig before coming to the West in 1952. He became secretary-general of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in 1959, and was elected to the Bundestag in 1965. He was minister of the interior (1969–74) before becoming vice-chancellor and foreign minister (1974–92). In 1974 , he became Chairman of the FDP, a post to which he was re-elected (1982–5). He retained his cabinet post after 1982 in the coalition between the FDP and the Christian Democrats. As one of Germany's foremost politicians before and after German reunification in 1990, he was instrumental in the strengthening of the European Union, the negotiation of the Single European Act (1986), and the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). In 1989–90 he worked vigorously for German reunification and became the first foreign minister of the unified Germany. |
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