Hans Tietmeyer (18 August 1931 – 27 December 2016) was a German economist and regarded as one of the foremost experts on international financial matters. He was president of

Deutsche Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most ...

from 1993 until 1999 and remained afterwards one of the most important figures in finance of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Early life

Hans Tietmeyer was born on 18 August 1931 as the second of 11 children of a Roman Catholic family in

Metelen Metelen is a municipality in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Vechte in the district of Steinfurt. Metelen Land station is located on the Münster–Enschede railway and has an hourly train service to Münster in one di ...

(

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

). He graduated from

Gymnasium Paulinum Gymnasium Paulinum is a Gymnasium (Germany), Gymnasium (secondary) school in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in around 797 and is claimed to be the oldest school in Germany. Early history Gymnasium Paulinum was establish ...

and initially studied Roman Catholic theology before switching to economics at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

and

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

. Following an academic background of

Alfred Müller-Armack Alfred Müller-Armack (28 June 1901 – 16 March 1978) was a German economist and politician. He coined the term " social market economy" in 1946. Müller-Armack was professor of economics at University of Münster and University of Cologne. H ...

and

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is known for leading the West German postwar economic ...

he moved into international banking and economics. At the same time, he became expert at table tennis, winning medals at national championships.

Career

In 1962 Tietmeyer started his career in the Federal Ministry of Economics. As a close aide of economics minister

Otto Graf Lambsdorff Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff (20 December 1926 – 5 December 2009), was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Early life and education Lambsdorff was bo ...

, he drafted a devastating critique of the economic policies of the Social Democrat-Liberal government of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

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 Cha ...

, which helped precipitate the coalition’s break-up. As part of the new government of

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 ...

which took office in 1982, Tietmeyer became State Secretary in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

under the leadership of minister

Gerhard Stoltenberg Gerhard Stoltenberg (29 September 1928 – 23 November 2001) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and minister in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Kohl. He served as Minister-President o ...

; in this capacity, he was responsible for international monetary policy, financial policy, EU matters and the preparation of World Economic Summits (

sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

). In 1988, members of the far-left

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

(RAF) fired at Tietmeyer’s

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

outside Bonn, striking the car numerous times but leaving Tietmeyer and his driver uninjured. Tietmeyer was nominated by the government of

to become a Member of the Board of Directors of the

in 1990, with responsibility for international monetary issues, organisations and agreements. After two years as Vice President he became President of the

in 1993, a position he held until August 1999. Shortly after taking office at the Bundesbank, he was also appointed by Kohl as personal adviser for the negotiations with East Germany over the economic and monetary union between the two Germanies that preceded their political unification. Tietmeyer notably opposed the German government in 1997 over its plans to revalue the country's gold reserves to plug a budget shortfall. During Tietmeyer's tenure as president of the Bundesbank, the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

was introduced as the currency for most of the EU. Eight months before his retirement, he oversaw the bank's transition to the

European System of Central Banks The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is an institution that comprises the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of all 27 member states of the European Union (EU). Its objective is to ensure price stability t ...

in the course of the creation of Europe's economic and monetary union in January 1999. At the time Tietmeyer forecast that the common currency would lead to painful internal economic adjustments for member states with trade deficits cumulating into debt. Commentator David Marsh in late 2012 drew attention to that forecast as he highlighted "the significant internal devaluations of their currencies though a sharp fall in unit labor costs" which Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, for example, have suffered in the

European sovereign-debt crisis The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, is a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone membe ...

of 2008 onward. This effect of the Euro is similar to the impact of "the classical

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...

", wrote Marsh in describing the phenomenon. Tietmeyer published more than 100 articles on the subject of economics and was the recipient of many prestigious awards and prizes and was a member of the

Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences ( la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum Socialium, or PASS) is a pontifical academy established on 1 January 1994 by Pope John Paul II and is headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in Vatican City. It operate ...

Later career

From January until March 2000, with former

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 ...

Roman Herzog Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...

and former federal judge

Paul Kirchhof Paul Kirchhof (born February 21, 1943 in Osnabrück) is a German jurist and tax law expert. He is also a professor of law, member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and, a former judge in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (' ...

, Tietmeyer led an independent commission to investigate the

CDU donations scandal The CDU donations scandal was a political scandal resulting from the illegal forms of party financing used by the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during the 1990s. These included accepting hidden donations, the non-disclosure of cash do ...

. He later served on as President of the EBS University of Business and Law from 2000 until 2009. Tietmeyer served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors at the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks". The BIS carries out its work thr ...

(BIS) from 2003 until 2010. In addition, he held the following positions: * Hauck & Aufhäuser, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2001) *

Depfa Bank DEPFA Bank plc was until 2014 a Dublin-based German-Irish bank. It provided financial services to the public sector and also provided financing for larger infrastructure projects. The name derivates from ''Deutsche Pfandbriefbank''. History DEP ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2002-2008) *

Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt The Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) is a Roman Catholic research university in Eichstätt and Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. Compared to other German universities it is a rather small institution with 4,800 students in 2019; n ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), Member of the Board of Trustees *

German Doctors for Developing Countries German Doctors e.V. is a humanitarian aid organization which operates in third world countries, especially in slums and rural areas. About 300 voluntary doctors are sent to Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Sierra Leone and the Philippines each year to he ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (2008-2016) *

, Member

Personal life

Tietmayer married Marie-Luise Flossdorf, with whom he had two children. After her death in 1978 he married Marie-Therese Kalff.Peter Norman (December 28, 2016)
Hans Tietmeyer, central banker, 1931-2016
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''.

References

External links

Personal Web site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tietmeyer, Hans 1931 births 2016 deaths People from Steinfurt (district) People from the Province of Westphalia German Roman Catholics Presidents of the Deutsche Bundesbank German economists German chief executives German bankers University of Bonn alumni Members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany