Hans Hermann Matthöfer (25 September 1925 – 14 November 2009) 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 For ...

(SPD). Between 1974 and 1978 Matthöfer served as secretary of research and technology. In 1978 he took over as secretary of finance and in 1982 he left that post and served briefly as secretary of telecommunication. After his party lost power in 1982 he gave up all positions in the German government.

Biography

Born in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

in 1925, Matthöfer served an apprenticeship in commercial scienceObituary, 28 December 2009
Hans Matthöfer
The Independent, retrieved: 19 January 2010. before being drafted as a soldier in 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 ...

between 1943 and 1945. In 1946 he passed his examination as an interpreter for the English language. Three years later Matthöfer studied successfully economics and social science at the University of

Frankfurt/Main 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 its nam ...

as well as

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. In 1953 he received his

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

of economics. After his return to Germany Matthöfer began work in the department of economics for the workers union

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ger ...

, followed by 4 years at the

Organisation for European Economic Co-operation The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. After his return to Germany he again worked for the IG Metall and developed a program for the education in companies as well as

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

policy. Between 1987 and 1997 he was president of the BGAG, an investment company owned by the workers union. Matthöfer joined the Social Democratic party of Germany in 1950. Between 1973 and 1984 he belonged to the Social Democratic party's executive board, followed by a position as its treasurer between 1985 and 1987.

Literature

Werner Abelshauser Werner Abelshauser (born 24 November 1944 in Wiesloch near Heidelberg) is a German economic historian. Life Abelshauser studied economics at the University of Mannheim and graduated in 1970. He received his PhD at Ruhr University Bochum in 197 ...

: ''Nach dem Wirtschaftswunder. Der Gewerkschafter, Politiker und Unternehmer Hans Matthöfer''. Dietz, Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-8012-4171-1. * Helmut Schmidt; Walter Hesselbach (Hrsg.): ''Kämpfer ohne Pathos: Festschrift für Hans Matthöfer''. Bonn 1985.

References

External links