Alfons Goppel (1 October 1905 – 24 December 1991) was a German politician of the

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

party and Prime Minister of Bavaria (1962–1978).

Biography

Alfons Goppel was born in Reinhausen (now

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

), one of the nine children of the

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

Ludwig Goppel and his wife Barbara. He married Gertrud Wittenbrink in 1935 and they had six sons. Goppel studied law in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

from 1925 to 1929 and, after graduating, moved back to Regensburg, where he became a lawyer. He joined the state

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

s office in 1934 and was posted to

Mainburg Mainburg is a town in the district of Kelheim, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Abens, 30 km northwest of Landshut and 30 km southeast of Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the D ...

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

and finally

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

. He joined the conservative

Bavarian People's Party The Bavarian People's Party (german: Bayerische Volkspartei; BVP) was the Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria ...

in 1930 and was a member until the party's self-dissolution in November 1933. He joined the SA (1933) and the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

(1937) in the following years. He took part in the campaigns in France and Russia in the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and later became an instructor at the ''Infanterieschule Döberitz'', near Berlin, a training camp of the German army. Returning from the war, he became an official at the city of Aschaffenburg, responsible for housing and refugees. He was elected to the Bavarian ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

'' in October 1947 but barred from taking up his seat due to his political past. He, unsuccessfully, campaigned for the ''Landtag'' in 1950 again, became second mayor of Aschaffenburg in 1952 and finally, in 1954, was elected to the ''Landtag'' and permitted to take up his seat. He remained in the Bavarian parliament until 1978, when he gave it up to become a member of the European Parliament. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

in 1956 and became an under secretary in the Bavarian

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

the year after. He was Bavarian Minister of the Interior (1958–1962) and

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

from 11 December 1962 to 7 November 1978, serving as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the Bundesrat in 1972/73. In 1974 he gained the highest election victory for the CSU in Bavarian history with 62.1% of the votes. From 1979 to 1984 he was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, as such being part of the first freely elected group of MPs in 1979.Official website of the European Parliament - Alfons Goppel
/ref> He died, aged 86, in Johannesberg, near

. One of his sons,

Thomas Goppel Thomas Goppel (born 30 April 1947 in Aschaffenburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria) is a German politician and party member of the CSU party. Goppel was member of the Landtag of Bavaria from 1974 to 2018. He is the son of the former Bavarian Minister P ...

, later served amongst others as Minister of Science, Research and the Arts (2003–2008). The ''Alfons-Goppel-Stiftung'' (''Alfons Goppel Foundation''), formed in 1980 and named after him, supports needy children in

third-world The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the "First W ...

countries.

Honors

* Honorary doctorate of the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

and the St. John's University Minnesota.

References

External links

''Alfons-Goppel-Stiftung'', official website
(in German)

(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Goppel, Alfons 1905 births 1991 deaths Sturmabteilung personnel People from Regensburg People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Presidents of the German Bundesrat Ministers-President of Bavaria Ministers of the Bavaria State Government Members of the Landtag of Bavaria German Roman Catholics Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Burials at Munich Waldfriedhof