Hans-Ulrich Klose (born 14 June 1937) is a German politician from 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 ...

and a former member of the German Federal parliament (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 Common ...

''). Klose was the First Mayor (German: ''Erster Bürgermeister'') of the Free and Hanseatic City of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

from 1974 up to 1981, 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 ...

of the Bundesrat in 1979/80.

Early life

Klose was born in Breslau (now better known under its Polish name

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (german: Provinz Niederschlesien; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; pl, Prowincja Dolny Śląsk; szl, Prowincyjŏ Dolny Ślōnsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between ...

. After the end of

World War II 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 opposing ...

, Klose's family fled from Breslau and moved to

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

. In 1957 he received his high-school diploma and started studying law at the universities of Freiburg and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1961 he passed the ''First'', in 1965 the ''Second Legal State Examination'', and started working as a lawyer in Hamburg.

Political career

Career in state politics

After joining the ''Social Democratic Party of Germany'' (SPD) in 1964, Klose became a member of the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (german: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2011 there were 121 members in the parli ...

(''Hamburgische Bürgerschaft'') in 1970, where he was vice chairman of his faction. Two years later he became first chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. In October 1973, Klose succeeded Heinz Ruhnau as minister of the interior of Hamburg. Only a year later, on 12 November 1974, Klose became First Mayor (''Erster Bürgermeister'') of ''the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg'' at the age of 37. At the time, he was widely regarded as a leading figure in the left wing of the party. After a party internal argument about the construction of the

Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant (German: Kernkraftwerk Brokdorf, or KBR) is a Power Plant close to the municipality of Brokdorf in Steinburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany that shut down on New Year's Eve 2021. It started in October 1986 by a first-o ...

, he resigned from his office on 25 May 1981.

Member of the German Parliament, 1983–2013

In the 1983 elections, Klose was elected as a member of the German Parliament, the

, for the SPD. In this position, he succeeded

Herbert Wehner Herbert Richard Wehner (11 July 1906 – 19 January 1990) was a German politician. A former member of the Communist Party, he joined the Social Democrats (SPD) after World War II. He served as Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations from 1966 ...

. From 1987 to 1991 he was treasurer of his party (German: ''Bundesschatzmeister''), serving as part of the party’s national leadership under chairman

Hans-Jochen Vogel Hans-Jochen Vogel (3 February 192626 July 2020) was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Mayor of Munich from 1960 to 1972, winning the 1972 Summer Olympics for the city and Governing Mayor of W ...

. From 1991 to 1994 Klose served as chairman of the SPD group in the Bundestag, and in this position also leader of the opposition; at the time, he was chosen over two better-known candidates. In his role as opposition leader, he worked with his

CDU/CSU CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (german: Unionsparteien, ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian-democratic political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Soc ...

counterpart

Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; born 18 September 1942) is a German lawyer, politician and statesman whose political career has spanned for more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is one of the longest-serving politi ...

on establishing a majority for a landmark 1993 constitutional amendment on tightening the Germany’s asylum law, barring entry to thousands of foreigners who arrive in the country each week to seek asylum. Ahead of the 1994 elections, SPD chairman

Rudolf Scharping Rudolf Albert Scharping (born 2 December 1947) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was from 1991 to 1994 the 6th Minister President of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and from 1998 to 2002 Federal Minis ...

included Klose in his shadow cabinet for the party’s campaign to unseat incumbent

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

as Chancellor. During the campaign, he served as shadow minister of defence. Following the party's defeat in the elections, Klose resigned from the group's leadership to make room for Scharping. Instead he was elected one of the

vice presidents A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

of the German Bundestag the same year. In 1998 Klose became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. From 2002, he served as its vice president, alongside chairman Ruprecht Polenz. From January 2003 Klose also chaired the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group. Within his parliamentary group, he served on its task force on

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 ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

between 2009 and 2013. On 16 March 2010, Germany's Minister for Foreign Affairs

Guido Westerwelle Guido Westerwelle (; 27 December 1961 – 18 March 2016) was a German politician who served as Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011, being the first openly gay person ...

appointed Klose to succeed

Karsten Voigt Karsten Dietrich Voigt (born 11 April 1941 in Elmshorn, Germany) is a German politician ( SPD). Early life and education From 1960–1969, Voigt studied history, German, and Scandinavian languages and literature at the universities in Hamburg, ...

as the government's coordinator for German-American affairs, a rare case of a senior political appointment not being given to a member of the governing party . He resigned from that position in 2011. After leaving politics, Klose took up a position as senior advisor to the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Other activities

* CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg, Member of the Board of Trustees * Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), Member * Green Helmets, Member of the Board of Trustees * Otto von Bismarck Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * ''Progressives Zentrum'', Member of the Circle of Friends

Recognition

In March 2013 the Congressional Study Group on Germany presented Klose with the inaugural International Statesmanship Award in appreciation "for his longstanding service to strengthening the US-German relationship".

Personal life

Since 1992 Hans-Ulrich Klose has been married to his third wife, a physician. He has two daughters and two sons from his first two marriages.

Notes

References

Biography

External links