Klaus Schütz (17 September 1926
– 29 November 2012) was a German politician, who served as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

from 1967 to 1977, as 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 Form ...

(SPD).

Early life

Early life and World War II

Klaus Schütz was born in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

on 17 September 1926. Schütz was the son of a lawyer, and he grew up in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. After graduating from high school, he was drafted into the army as an anti-aircraft helper in 1944. During the last days of the war he was seriously wounded in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, as a result of his right arm remained paralyzed throughout his life.

University and left wing politics

After the end of the war, Schütz began studying history and German at the

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

in Berlin. He joined the working group of social democratic students and was a member of the student council from 1947. Soon afterwards he was a delegate of the Wilmersdorfer Young Socialists in the state committee of the

(SPD). When in June 1948 three fellow students were evicted by the administration of the Humboldt University, located in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

, Schütz resigned with other members of the student council and moved to the Free University in the American sector. In 1949 he completed an additional political science course at Harvard University in the United States.

Political career

Early political career

He returned to Berlin, and Schütz took on an assistant position at the Institute for Political Science at the Free University. In 1951 the Berlin Young Socialists elected him as their chairman. Since then, he was mainly supported by

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

, whose successor he was in the office of the Wilmersdorfer SPD. From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives and from 1958 to 1961 of the German Bundestag. In the 1961 federal election campaign, he headed Willy Brandt's election office. When Willy Brandt became Foreign Minister, Schütz followed his mentor, who made him State Secretary in the Foreign Office. In 1967, Schütz was elected mayor by the , after the resignation of Heinrich Albertz, after a student, named Benno Ohnesorg, was shot by a police officer during a demonstration.

Mayor of Berlin

As mayor, Schütz's term in office saw a phase of global political calming down of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, in a period known as

Détente ''Détente'' ( , ; for, fr, , relaxation, paren=left, ) is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The diplomacy term originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsucces ...

. This was reflected in the Four-Power Agreement signed in

, which reconfirmed the existence of the rights and responsibilities of the Four Powers for the future of Berlin and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and improved travel and communications between the two parts of the city and brought numerous improvements for the residents of the Western Sectors. The agreement was followed six months later by the Basic Treaty, which saw both

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

recognize each other as sovereign states for the first time and the abandonment of West Germany's Hallstein Doctrine in favor of '' Ostpolitik''. Schütz's SPD suffered losses in the 1971 West Berlin state election, but again defended the absolute majority with 50.4 percent. The SPD Party then terminated the coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), governing alone from then on. However, internal party fights continued and in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, the SPD finally lost its absolute majority in the , with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) becoming the largest party. Schütz then formed another coalition, with the FDP again. But scandals and affairs increasingly weakened his government. When Interior Senator Neubauer had to admit irregularities in connection with income from a supervisory board position, Schütz gave up. On May 2, 1977, he resigned from the office of mayor, and a little later he also resigned from the state chairmanship of the SPD.

Post-mayoralty

After resigning from the mayoralty, he worked as German Ambassador to Israel from 1977 until 1981. Later, he took over the management of the

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

broadcasting company, and became director of the State Broadcasting Corporation in North Rhine-Westphalia. After his retirement, Klaus Schütz returned to Berlin in 1992 to devote himself to journalistic tasks and the activity as president of the Berlin regional association of the German Red Cross.

Death

Schütz died on 29 November 2012, aged 86, from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Personal life

Schütz married Adelheid (1924–2006), daughter of a

parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...

in 1952.

Awards

* 1972 : Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * 1975 : Large Cross of Merit with star and shoulder ribbon * 2006 : Order of Merit of the State of Berlin

External links

References

1926 births 2012 deaths Politicians from Heidelberg Presidents of the German Bundesrat Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Mayors of West Berlin Senators of Berlin Members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin 20th-century German politicians Ambassadors of West Germany to Israel Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin Burials at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf Deaths from pneumonia in Germany Deutsche Welle German Army soldiers of World War II {{Germany-mayor-stub