Georg G Nter Blum

Kurt Georg Kiesinger served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1966 to 1969. Prior to this, he held significant political positions, including Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg and Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). His career was marked by his skills as an orator, earning him the nickname "King Silver Tongue." He was also noted as an author of poetry and various books, and played a role in founding universities in Konstanz and Ulm.

Kiesinger's life and political career are viewed as controversial, primarily due to his membership in the Nazi Party, which he joined in 1933. While he maintained he was a largely inactive member and joined to reform the party from within, his affiliation and work within the Foreign Office during the Nazi era led to criticism, particularly from student movements, who saw him as embodying Germany's failure to fully confront its past. He passed his legal examinations in 1934 and worked as a lawyer and law teacher before entering politics.

Born in Ebingen, Württemberg, Kurt Georg Kiesinger was baptized Catholic, though his father was Protestant. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he was raised with a strong influence from his maternal grandmother. Kiesinger attended a Catholic primary school and later a secondary school, graduating as an above-average student. Facing financial constraints, he initially pursued a path to become a teacher, entering a Catholic seminary. During this period, he engaged with poetry, publishing politically themed poems in local newspapers that touched upon the state of the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles. He later published a poetry collection titled "Wallfahrt zu Gott" (Pilgrimage to God).

Kiesinger studied law at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, joining Catholic student corporations. He became known as a capable orator within these groups, which fostered discussions on political, social, and literary topics, and he met various prominent politicians. Influenced by conservative thinkers, his views shifted towards the right, and he joined the Deutscher Herrenklub. He passed his first state law examination in 1931 and began his legal preparatory service. To support himself, he worked as a private law teacher for students preparing for their exams. By the late 1920s, his student associations showed increasing hostility towards the Weimar Republic, a sentiment Kiesinger defended.

Kiesinger joined the Nazi Party on May 1, 1933, and also entered the National Socialist Motor Corps. He later claimed his motives for joining included a desire to limit the regime's excesses and reform its ideology from within. He was appointed to the broadcast policy department of the Foreign Office in 1940, avoiding military conscription. After World War II, he became a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1946. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1949 and served until 1958, and again from 1969 to 1980. Between these terms, he served as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966, and subsequently became Chancellor, leading a grand coalition government.