Philipp Jenninger (10 June 1932 – 4 January 2018) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union and diplomat. He was the

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German orde ...

from 1984 to 1988. He also served as Member of the German Parliament, 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 ...

(1969–1990),

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

at the

German Chancellery The German Chancellery (german: Bundeskanzleramt, , more faithfully translated as ''Federal Chancellery'' or ''Office of the Federal Chancellor'') is an agency serving the executive office of the chancellor of Germany, the head of the federal go ...

(1982–1984), German Ambassador to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(1991–1995) and German Ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

(1995–1997).

Life and ministerial career

Phillipp Jenninger, whose full name is Philipp-Hariolf Jenninger, was born in 1932 in Rindelbach, now a part of

Ellwangen Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen. Ellwangen has 25,000 inhabitants. ...

. He studied law at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

, obtaining a doctoral degree in 1957 with a dissertation titled ''Die Reformbedürftigkeit des Bundesverfassungsgerichts'' (The necessity of reform of the Federal Constitutional Court) and passing the state examination in 1959. In 1960, he started working in the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

administration in Stuttgart. He became an assistant in the Federal Ministry of Defense and later personal assistant and press contact of Federal Minister for the Affairs of the Defence Council

Heinrich Krone Heinrich Krone (1 December 1895 – 15 August 1989) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Shortly after beginning his Theology study in 1914, Krone was drafted into service in World War I. After the war Krone continu ...

. After the dissolution of this ministry, he worked from 1966 to 1969 as political assistant of Federal Minister of Finance

Franz Josef Strauß Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

. Between 1982 and 1984, Jenninger served as

at the

, under Chancellor

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 ...

Bundestag membership and presidency

Jenninger was a member of the

from 1969 to 1990, always as directly elected representative of a constituency. At first, he represented

Crailsheim Crailsheim is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Incorporated in 1338, it lies east of Schwäbisch Hall and southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall district. The city's main attractions include two Evangelical churches, ...

; after 1976, he represented

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 ...

. After

Rainer Barzel Rainer Candidus Barzel (20 June 1924 – 26 August 2006) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 8th President of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984. Barzel had been the leader of his parliamentary group ...

's resignation, Jenninger was elected

on 5 November 1984. As President, he made a controversial speech in a special session on 10 November 1988 commemorating the 50th anniversary of

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

.Bonn (North Rhine-Westphalia): newspaper clippings, transcript of speech by Philipp Jenninger, Speaker of the West German Parliament, 1988
November Pogrom, 1938 Commemoration Collection
AR 6342; Box 1; Folder 11; Leo Baeck Institute. Jenninger tried to explain the reasons behind German enthusiasm for

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

in the 1930s. His speech was presented badly (by his own later admission), as his way of speaking allowed the interpretation that Jenninger didn't sufficiently dissociate himself from the Nazi ideas he referred to, making it hard to distinguish what were his own ideas and what were the "fascinating" (as Jenninger said) Nazi ideas he was just reporting. American Jewish Committee,
American Jewish Yearbook Vol. 90
'', 1990, p. 358. More than 50 members of parliament walked out during their President's speech in protest.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, November 13, 1988
Storm of Protest
. This caused a political storm, and Jenninger resigned his Bundestag presidency on 11 November. He did not stand for reelection as a Bundestag member in the 1990 elections. One year after the incident,

Jewish community Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

leader

Ignatz Bubis Ignatz Bubis (12 January 1927 – 13 August 1999), German Jewish leader, was the influential chairman (and later president) of the Central Council of Jews in Germany (''Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland'') from 1992 to 1999. In this capacity ...

, who later became chairman of the

Central Council of Jews in Germany The Central Council of Jews in Germany (German name: Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland) is a federation of German Jews. It was founded on 19 July 1950, as a response to the increasing isolation of German Jews by the international Jewish communi ...

, used several passages of Jenninger's speech verbatim (although he didn't use the word "fascinating"), demonstrating that the content of Jenninger's speech had not been ambiguous, just his performance of it.Peter Schmalz,
"Keiner hat etwas gemerkt"
''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'', 1 December 1995.

Ambassador to Austria and the Holy See

Jenninger served as German ambassador to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

from 1991 to 1995, and as ambassador to the

from 1995 to 1997.

Other offices

Philipp Jenninger was President of the

European Movement The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History The origins of th ...

in Germany from 1985 to 1990, and has since been their honorary President. He was a member of the presidium of Studienzentrum Weikersheim.

Death

Jenninger died on 4 January 2018 in Stuttgart, aged 85.

Honours

*Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

(1986)

References

Literature

* Michael F. Feldkamp (ed.), ''Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt - Funktion - Person.'' 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007, *Jürgen Mittag: "Vom Honoratiorenkreis zum Europanetzwerk: Sechs Jahrzehnte Europäische Bewegung Deutschland"; in: ''60 Jahre Europäische Bewegung Deutschland''; Berlin 2009; pp. 12–28 *

Jeffrey Herf Jeffrey C. Herf (born April 24, 1947) is an American historian of Modern European, in particular, modern German history. He is Distinguished University Professor of modern European at the University of Maryland, College Park. Biography He was born ...

: "Philipp Jenninger and the Dangers of Speaking Clearly." Partisan Review 56 (1989): 225-236.

External links