Erhard Eppler (9 December 1926 – 19 October 2019) was a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) and founder of the

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym * Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic v ...

(GTZ). He studied English, German and history in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, Bern 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 three ...

, achieved a PhD and worked as a teacher. He met

Gustav Heinemann Gustav Walter Heinemann (; 23 July 1899 – 7 July 1976) was a German politician who was President of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He served as mayor of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, and Mini ...

in the late 1940s, who became a role model. Eppler was a member of the

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 Common ...

from 1961 to 1976. He was appointed Minister for Economic Cooperation first in 1968 during the grand coalition of Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) and

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

(SPD), continuing under Chancellor Brandt in 1969 and Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Ch ...

(SPD) in 1974, when he stepped down. An early thinker on environmental sustainability and peace movements, Eppler was involved in various controversies within his party. He was president of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (German Protestant Church Assembly) from 1981 to 1983 and again from 1989 to 1991.

Early years

Born in

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

on 9 December 1926, Eppler grew up in

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; "Swabian Hall"; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'' ) is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the ...

where his father was the headmaster of the local grammar school. His grandfather was pastor at the

Ulmer Münster Ulm Minster (german: Ulmer Münster) is a Lutheran church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is currently the tallest church in the world. The church is the fifth-tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a ...

. During World War II, Eppler served from 1943 to 1945 in an anti-aircraft unit. He passed his Abitur in 1946, and studied English, German and history at the

Frankfurt University Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, in Bern and in

. In 1951, he completed his PhD with a thesis on Elizabethan tragedy. He worked as a teacher at the Gymnasium in Schwenningen from 1953 until 1961.

Eppler and political parties

Eppler became a member of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

in September 1943, at the age of 16. Later he spoke of this decision as "stupidity", but also said, "It wasn't against my will that I ended up on some list f members of the NSDAP but I accepted it. Things were like that in those times." While he was studying in Bern at the end of the 1940s, Eppler got to know

, one of the founders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Heinemann became Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, but then left the cabinet, and later the CDU, together with several other party members who disagreed with Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

's policy of complete integration into the Western world. Eppler joined Heinemann's new party, the

All-German People's Party The All-German People's Party (german: Gesamtdeutsche Volkspartei, GVP) was a minor political party in West Germany active between 1952 and 1957. It was a Christian, pacifist, centre-left party that opposed the Wiederbewaffnung, re-armament of W ...

(Gesamtdeutsche Volkspartei), in 1952, but like most members of the GVP, including Heinemann, he changed over to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1956. For most of the time between 1970 and 1991 Eppler belonged to the SPD's National Executive Committee. He chaired an SPD commission on tax reform, and from 1973 to 1991 served on a commission for formulating the party's basic values (''Grundwertekommission''), where he supported opposition to atomic energy. From 1973 to 1981 Eppler was the leader of the regional SPD in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. He was the SPD's candidate for the office of

minister-president A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

in that state, but his party was defeated by the CDU in two state elections.

Member of parliament and minister

Eppler was a member of the

, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, from 1961 to 1976. On 16 October 1968, Eppler was appointed Minister for Economic Cooperation in the grand coalition government of Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) and Foreign Minister

(SPD). He continued in that office when Willy Brandt became Chancellor in 1969, but after his department was subject to severe budget cuts under the following Chancellor,

(SPD) in 1974, he stepped down in protest.

Political views

Eppler has always been considered to be a proponent of the left within the SPD. During

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

's second term as Chancellor (2002–2005), however, he supported the government's economic and social reforms, which were widely criticized as

neo-liberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

(

Agenda 2010 The Agenda 2010 is a series of reforms planned and executed by the German government in the early 2000s, a Social-Democrats/ Greens coalition at that time, which aimed to reform the German welfare system and labour relations. The declared objecti ...

). Moreover, although he had been close to the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

of the 1980s, he supported the foreign policy of the Schröder government and approved of German participation in the military interventions in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

in 1999 and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

since 2001. He was an early adopter of views about ecological topics and environmental protection. In spite of his general loyalty to his party's leadership, he was especially unhappy with much of its economic policy during the party's time in power. In his book ''Not much time for the Third World'', Eppler was one of the first to point out the connections between environmental protection and international development.

Social involvement

2015-12 Erhard Eppler SPD Bundesparteitag by Olaf Kosinsky-2

After his withdrawal from federal politics, Eppler involved himself more in his work in the

Protestant Church Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. From 1981 to 1983 and again from 1989 to 1991, he was president of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (German Protestant Church Congress). Eppler was also a member of the Wacholderhof Association, which promotes international cooperation, fair trade, and environmental sustainability. Eppler's numerous publications also show his political and social involvement. They deal with a wide range of subjects that concern not only the political situation in Germany and the economy but also general questions of developments in politics and society. In 2006, one of his books on the role of the state was honoured with the ''Das politische Buch 2006'' prize of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Works

Eppler's books are held by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

, including:Publications by Erharde Eppler

* ''Die tödliche Utopie der Sicherheit.'' Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1983, . * ''Plattform für eine neue Mehrheit. Ein Kommentar zum Berliner Programm der SPD'' (= ''Politik im Taschenbuch.'' Band 1). Dietz, Bonn 1990, . * ''Kavalleriepferde beim Hornsignal. Die Krise der Politik im Spiegel der Sprache'' (= ''Edition Suhrkamp'' 1788 = NF 788). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1992, . * ''Privatisierung der politischen Moral?'' (= ''Edition Suhrkamp. Standpunkte'' 2185). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2000, . * ''Komplettes Stückwerk. Erfahrungen aus fünfzig Jahren Politik.'' Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1996, . * ''Eine Partei für das zweite Jahrzehnt: die SPD?'' Vorwärts-Buch, Berlin 2008, . * ''Der Politik aufs Maul geschaut. Kleines Wörterbuch zum öffentlichen Sprachgebrauch.'' Dietz, Bonn 2009, . * ''Eine solidarische Leistungsgesellschaft. Epochenwechsel nach der Blamage der Marktliberalen.'' Dietz, Bonn 2011, . * ''Links leben. Erinnerungen eines Wertkonservativen.'' Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2015, .