Helmut Rohde (9 November 1925 – 16 April 2016) was a German politician who served as federal minister of education and science from 1974 to 1978.

Early life and education

Rohde was born in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

on 9 November 1925. His father, August, was a welder and a social democrat member of the independent trade union. Helmut Rohde fought in the

German army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

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 opposin ...

and was prisoned until 1945 when he was freed. He studied journalism following the war and graduated in 1947. In 1950, he began to study politics and business in a higher education institution in

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

, which later became part of the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

Career

In 1945, Rohde became a member 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). After graduation he began to work as an editor at the

German Press Agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is avai ...

's Hannover branch. His pseudonym in his writings was ''Achilles'', the name of his grandfather. He served in the party's local organizations in Hannover in the 1950s and later served in its "working group for workers' questions". In 1957, he was elected to 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 Commons ...

with the SPD from Hannover. From 1964 to 1965 he was also a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. He was appointed federal minister of education and science on 16 May 1974, replacing

Klaus von Dohnanyi Klaus von Dohnanyi (born 23 June 1928) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as mayor of Hamburg between 1981 and 1988. Early life and career Dohnanyi was born in Hamburg, the son of Christine von Dohnanyi and ...

in the post. He served in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

led by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 ...

. In 1975, Rohde became a member of the SPD's executive committee. Rohde's cabinet post ended on 16 February 1978 and another SPD politician,

Jürgen Schmude Jürgen Dieter Paul Schmude (born 9 June 1936) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was born in Insterburg, East Prussia, Germany, (now Chernyakhovsk, Russia). He was a member of the German Parliament, th ...

, replaced him in the post. After leaving office he concentrated on his work in the SPD's working group for workers' questions. In 1985, Rohde began to work as a lecturer at Leibniz University Hannover and the

University of Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

. In 1994, he was named as an honorary professor of the

University of Bremen The University of Bremen (German: ''Universität Bremen'') is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 23,500 people from 115 countries. It is one of 11 institutions which were successful in the category "Institutional Strategi ...

Later years

Rohde lived in a nursing home near

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. He died on 16 April 2016, aged 90.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohde, Helmut 20th-century German journalists 1925 births 2016 deaths Politicians from Hanover University of Göttingen alumni German male journalists Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs Education ministers of Germany Academic staff of the University of Bremen Academic staff of the University of Hanover Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum German male writers Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany