Willi Ankermüller (18 March 1901,

Bad Neustadt an der Saale Bad Neustadt an der Saale (, ), officially Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale and often simply called Bad Neustadt, is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the Rhön-Grabfeld district in Lower Franconia. It is situated on the rivers Fran ...

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities). History After ...

– 7 July 1986 in Grosshesselohe) was a German

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. He represented the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionali ...

(CSU), and was a member of the

Landtag of Bavaria The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich. Elections to the Landtag are held every ...

in the 1950s.Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte
/ref>

Education

Ankermüller studied law and political science at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

. There he became an active member of the Catholic Student Association. In 1925, he supported property rights of churches according to the Codex Juris Canonici, and worked as a magistrate and then director of the municipal youth office in

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...

. Two years later he passed the second legal state examination and settled in Schweinfurt as a lawyer. After the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

came to power in Germany, he was taken into

protective custody Protective custody (PC) is a type of imprisonment (or care) to protect a person from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many prison administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within pris ...

in 1933. In 1938, he was recruited into 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 ...

and served as a soldier in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

between 1939 and 1945. He was married to Elisabeth geb. Dielmann.

Post-war career

He began his political career in the spring of 1945, when he was employed by the U.S. military government as a district administrator of the county of Hofheim in

Unterfranken Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities). History After th ...

. There, he was co-founder of the local CSU in the fall of 1945. The following year, he took over the post of district administrator in the neighboring district of

. His contacts with the Würzburg group of the CSU paved the way for Ankermüller to advance into Bavarian state politics. In June 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which worked out a new

Constitution of Bavaria The Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria was enacted on 8 December 1946. It is the fourth constitutional document in Bavarian history after the Constitution of 1808, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1818 and the Bamberg Const ...

, and served until the end of October 1946. In the popular vote on the constitution on December 1, 1946, and the simultaneous state elections, Ankermüller was elected to the first Bavarian parliament after the end of the war (the

), and six weeks later was appointed Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior, led by Josef Seifried. When the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD) left the government of

Hans Ehard Hans Ehard (10 November 1887 – 18 October 1980) was a German lawyer and politician, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party. Biography Hans Ehard was born in Bamberg in 1887, the son of a local official, August Ehard. He was marri ...

in September 1947, he took over Seifried's office as Minister of the Interior. With the new formation of the CSU / SPD coalition after the regional election in 1950, a new Interior Minister took office: Wilhelm Hoegner who was known as the father of the new Bavarian constitution. In his parliamentary work, Ankermüller concentrated on legal and security policy issues. He took the chairmanship of the Security Affairs Committee and became deputy chairman of the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Questions. He also served from 1950 to 1962 as a non-professional judge of the Bavarian Constitutional Court. In October 1957, the four-party coalition led by Wilhelm Hoegner collapsed and Hanns Seidel was elected as the new Prime Minister of Bavaria. Seidel, who also came from Unterfranken, appointed Ankermüller as a Bavarian Minister of Justice in his cabinet. He remained in that office until the state elections in December 1958. He then resumed his activity as an attorney, but until the end of the 5th legislative period in November 1966 he remained a Landtag deputy.

Awards

Bavarian Order of Merit The Bavarian Order of Merit () is the Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people". The or ...

, 1959

References

1901 births 1986 deaths People from Bad Neustadt an der Saale People from the Kingdom of Bavaria German Roman Catholics Ministers of the Bavaria State Government Christian Social Union in Bavaria politicians Jurists from Bavaria University of Würzburg alumni German Army personnel of World War II 20th-century German jurists {{Germany-CSU-politician-stub

Education

Post-war career

Awards

See also

References