Alfred Dregger (10 December 1920 – 29 June 2002) was a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Dregger was born in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. After graduating from a school in

Werl Werl (; Westphalian: ''Wiärl'') is a town located in the district of Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Werl is easily accessible because it is located between the Sauerland, Münsterland, and the Ruhr Area. The Hellweg road ...

, he entered 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 ...

in 1939. He was wounded four times and served until the end of the war, when he commanded a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

on the Eastern Front at the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In 1946, he began studying

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and government at the universities of

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

and

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

, earning his doctorate in 1950."Portrait Alfred Dregger: 'Freiheit statt Sozialismus"'"
, ''

Rheinische Post ''Rheinische Post'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhine- ...

'', 30 June 2002. Alfred Dregger
Chronik der Wende, RBB; accessed 24 August 2018.. Dregger served from 1956 to 1970 as ''Oberbürgermeister'' or

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Fulda; when first elected, he was the youngest mayor in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. He also served from 1962 to 1972 as a member of the

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- ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

. He was for a time leader of the CDU in that body, and, in 1967, became state party chairman, an office which he held until 1982. In 1969 he was also elected as a member of the national board of the party. From 1972 1998 he was a representative in the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

; from 1982 to 1991 he was Chairman of the CDU/

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 ...

group there. Dregger was known as a staunch

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and was a prominent member of the so-called

Stahlhelm-Fraktion ' (German, 'Steel Helmet Faction') is the hard-line or right-wing faction of a political party in Germany, most notably the German CDU. The term refers to the hawkish, i.e. pro-military positions often taken by such groups and comes from the ' ...

, a

National-Conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...

wing of the CDU. In the 1970s he was an outspoken proponent of outlawing the

German Communist Party The German Communist Party (german: Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports left positions and was an observer member of the European Left. At the end of February 2016 it left the European party. His ...

. He was responsible for the slogan "Freiheit statt Sozialismus" (Freedom instead of Socialism) with which the CDU had great success in the 1976 elections. In his eulogy, CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer and politician, serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the Union parliamentary group as well as the Leader of ...

said of him, "Few have so clearly and categorically opposed the Left for decades". He called for Germany to "come out of Hitler's shadow". He resisted criticism of the Wehrmacht, strongly opposing a travelling exhibition called ''Die Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941 - 1944'' (The Crimes of the Wehrmacht, 1941–1944) and writing to United States Senators that if they discouraged

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

from his presidential visit to the Bitburg military cemetery, he would "consider this to be an insult to my brother and my comrades who were killed in action." He saw himself as a defender of Germany and the last representative of the war generation in the Bundestag."Portrait Alfred Dregger", ''Rheinische Post'': "Bei seinen Gegnern galt er als rechtskonservativer Law-and-Order-Mann, er selbst sah sich als 'Streiter für Deutschland'. . . . rsah sich als 'letzter Vertreter der Kriegsgeneration' im Bundestag".

Family

Alfred Dregger was married and had two sons; his elder son was killed in an accident in 1972.

References

Sources

* Michael Schwab. ''Alfred Dregger für Fulda und Deutschland: Stationen eines charismatischen Politikers''. Fulda informiert: Dokumentationen zur Stadtgeschichte 26. Petersberg: Imhof, 2008. .

External links