Richard Stücklen was German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 politician of the CSU

Christian Social Union of Bavaria

The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...

. He had previously been a member of the NSDAP (1939-1945). From 1957 to 1966, he served as Federal Minister for Post and Communication. A member of the Bundestag

Bundestag

The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

 for more than 40 years, he was its President

President of the Bundestag

The President of the Bundestag presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German order of precedence, his office is ranked second after the President and before the Chancellor...

 from 1979 to 1983.

Life

Stücklen was born in Heideck

Heideck

Heideck is a town with full legal town charter in the district of Roth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated in the Metropolitan Area of Nuremberg and at the same time in the Franconian Lake District-Notable persons:...

. After an apprenticeship, he worked as an electrician

Electrician

An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...

 while studying engineering in a correspondence course. He was drafted into the Reichsarbeitsdienst

Reichsarbeitsdienst

The Reichsarbeitsdienst was an institution established by Nazi Germany as an agency to reduce unemployment, similar to the relief programs in other countries. During the Second World War it was an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht.The RAD was formed during July 1934 as...

 in 1936 and later into the Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

, where he served as a soldier in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 from 1940 to 1943, when he was released as unfit for service due to a knee injury. He then worked in the electrical industry and was able to finish his training as an electrical engineer in Mittweida

Mittweida

Mittweida is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, in the Mittelsachsen district. It is situated on the Zschopau River, 18 km north of Chemnitz, and 54 km west of Dresden....

, after which he became a departmental manager at AEG

AEG

Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....

. After 1945, he worked in his parents' locksmithery at Heideck. He co-founded the BMS Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG engineering company in 1952 and was a company associate until 1989.

Richard Stücklen was married with two children. He died in 2002 in Weißenburg in Bayern from heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

.

Political career

Stücklen joined the Nazi Party in 1939
After the end of World War II in 1945, Stücklen was one of the founders of the CSU in Heideck and in Hilpoltstein

Hilpoltstein

Hilpoltstein is a town in the district of Roth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 10 km southeast of Roth bei Nürnberg and 30 km south of Nuremberg.-History:* Origins of the castle and the town date back to the 10th century....

. He was elected to the Bundestag

Bundestag

The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

 in 1949 as representative of the electoral district of Weißenburg. He was the youngest member of the first Bundestag and stayed a directly elected member of the Bundestag (first representing Weißenburg, later Roth

Roth (district)

Roth is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Nürnberger Land, Neumarkt, Eichstätt, Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Ansbach and Fürth, and the cities of Schwabach and Nuremberg....

) for eleven legislative periods until the end of 1990, longer than any other member before or after him.

Stücklen was part of a group of parliamentarians who unsuccessfully proposed changing the German voting system to plurality voting

Plurality voting system

The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...

 in 1955.

After the 1957 Federal elections, Stücklen became Federal Minister for Post and Communication in Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...

's cabinet on 29 October 1957. He was the youngest German Federal minister at that time. He kept his post in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard

Ludwig Erhard

Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...

. During his tenure as minister, four-digit postal code

Postal code

A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...

s were introduced (the world's first complete postal code system) as well as automated sorting and automated telephone interchanges. On 1 December 1966, Stücklen left office and was replaced by Werner Dollinger

Werner Dollinger

Dr. Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist. Born in Neustadt an der Aisch, he helped found the Christian Socialist Union Party in 1946. Dollinger was a member of the Bundestag , minister for the Treasury , minister of postal services and telecommunication and minister of transport...

 in Kurt Georg Kiesinger

Kurt Georg Kiesinger

Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.-Early career and wartime activities:...

's grand coalition

Grand coalition

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

 cabinet. Between 1967 and 1976, he was chairman of the CSU parliamentary group and deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU group.

After the 1976 Federal elections, where he ran as a potential minister in a possible Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl

Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...

 cabinet, he was elected Vice President of the Bundestag on 14 December 1976. Shortly after the Bundesversammlung

Bundesversammlung

Bundesversammlung, German for "Federal Assembly", may refer to one of the following institutions:*Bundesversammlung , a formal convention which meets to elect Germany's Federal President...

 had elected Karl Carstens

Karl Carstens

Karl Carstens was a German politician. He served as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1979 to 1984.-Biography:...

 as President of Germany

President of Germany

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...

, Stücklen became his successor as President of the Bundestag. After the 1983 elections, Rainer Barzel

Rainer Barzel

Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the CDU.Born in Braunsberg, East Prussia , Barzel served as Chairman of the CDU from 1971 and 1973 and ran as the CDU's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1972 federal elections, losing to Willy Brandt's SPD.The 1972 election is commonly...

 became president of the parliament, and Stücklen returned to his vice presidential post which he held until he quit parliament on December 20, 1990.

One of the most famous Bundestag sessions presided over by Stücklen was that of 18 October 1984, when Stücklen excluded Green Party member Jürgen Reents from the session for calling Helmut Kohl "bought by Flick

Friedrich Karl Flick

Friedrich Karl Flick was a German-Austrian industrialist and billionaire....

". Christa Nickels then requested an interruption. Stücklen turned her microphone off, which prompted Joschka Fischer

Joschka Fischer

Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005...

 to address him, "With respect, Mr. President, you are an asshole", for which he in turn was excluded by Stücklen. Fischer apologized to Stücklen two days later.

Literature

• Michael F. Feldkamp
  Michael F. Feldkamp
  Michael F. Feldkamp, is a German historian and journalist.-Career:Feldkamp was born in Kiel. After completing his high school studies at the Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabrück, he studied history, Catholic theology, teaching, and philosophy at the Rhineland Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn...
  
  (ed.), Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt - Funktion - Person. 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-7892-8201-0