Gerhard Woitzik (15 November 1927 – 29 January 2023) was a German politician of the Centre Party and was the party leader.

Early life

Woitzik was born in Fünfteichen near Breslau. He was a soldier during

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 ...

. He came to the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

as a

Heimatvertriebene The German Expellees or ''Heimatvertriebene'' (, "homeland expellees") are 12-16 million German citizens (regardless of ethnicity) and ethnic Germans (regardless of citizenship) who fled or were expelled after World War II from parts of Germ ...

. There he graduated from 1947 an administrative apprenticeship. He came to the upper administrative office of the Rhineland in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Political career

Woitzik was chairman of the Centre Party, from 1974 to 1986 and from 1996 to 2009, having a basic attitude of Christian

social conservativism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institutio ...

. Whether he or Alois Degler from 2009 to 2011 was chairman of the party was controversial. On 19 February 2011, the Bundesstelle der Zentrumspartei was newly elected and Woitzik was confirmed as party chairman. Woitzik had belonged to the municipal council of Nievenheim since the 1950s and was mayor of the municipality until its incorporation into

Dormagen Dormagen (; Ripuarian: ''Dormaje'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss. Geography Dormagen is situated between Düsseldorf – Cologne – Mönchengladbach on the western bank of the river Rhine. Division of ...

in 1975. Afterwards, he was a member of the town council in Dormagen, serving as vice-mayor until 2004. Since 1999 he was also a member of the Kreistag of

Rhein-Kreis Neuss Neuss is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Nearby are the urban districts Mönchengladbach, Krefeld, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, the districts Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Düren, Heinsberg and the district Viersen ...

Personal life and death

His son, Hans-Joachim Woitzik (born 1957), also belongs to the Centre Party, and since 2004 has been the chairman of the party in the town council of

. Gerhard Woitzik died on 29 January 2023, at the age of 95.

References

1927 births 2023 deaths People from Oława County People from the Province of Lower Silesia Mayors of places in North Rhine-Westphalia Centre Party (Germany) politicians {{Germany-Centre-politician-stub