Hermann Höcherl (31 March 1912 – 18 May 1989) was a German politician of the

Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria ( German: , CSU) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democra ...

(CSU). He served as Federal Ministry of the Interior from 1961 to 1965 and as Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests from 1965 to 1969.

Life and career

Höcherl was born in Brennberg near

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, but was raised by his grandfather near Roding. Having obtained his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' degree in 1931, he studied law at the Berlin Frederick William University, at Aix-Marseille University, and at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. He passed the Second State Examination in 1938 and first served as a '' Gerichtsassessor'', from 1940 as a public prosecutor in Regensburg. He had joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in 1931; after leaving it in 1932, he rejoined in 1935. In 1942 he volunteered for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

armed forces in the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

, with his service being in Nazi occupied Poland, and later in combat in Greece, Finland and Soviet Russia. After the war, Höcherl from 1948 practised as a lawyer. In 1950 he was again appointed public prosecutor in Deggendorf and judge in Regensburg in 1951. Höcherl joined the Christian Social Union in 1949. He soon became a board member in the Upper Palatinate district and in 1952 also a member of the state executive committee. Höcherl was first elected to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, representing

. Upon the 1961 federal election, he became

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

in the cabinet of Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

and retained this office, when Adenauer was succeeded by

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician and economist affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Chancellor of Germany (1949–), chancellor of West Ge ...

in 1963. After the 1965 election, he was appointed Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests and held this office in the

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

government of Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger until 1969. His term of office as Interior Minister was overshadowed by a bugging affair at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 1963.

References