Kiesinger, Kurt Georg

Born Apr. 6, 1904, in Ebingen. Statesman and political figure of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Lawyer by education.

Kiesinger studied at the universities of Berlin and Tübingen. He had a legal practice in Berlin from 1935 to 1940. He joined the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in 1933 and was a prominent official in the foreign ministry of fascist Germany from 1940 to 1945. In 1949 he was elected a deputy of the Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union. Kiesinger was minister president (prime minister) of the state of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966. From December 1966 to October 1969 he was head of the coalition government of the FRG, formed by the Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Kiesinger was head of the Christian Democratic Union from 1967 to 1969. As chancellor of the FRG, he defended the revanchist-militarist course of previous Bonn governments and supported the maintenance of a “hard line” toward the socialist countries. After a coalition government of Social Democrats and Free Democrats, was formed in October 1969, Kiesinger became a member of the opposition.