Helmut Rohde

{{Infobox Minister

| name = Helmut Rohde

| image = Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F047045-0003, Mannheim, SPD-Parteitag, Helmut Rohde.jpg

| image_upright = 1.15

| caption = Rohde in 1975

| office = Federal Minister of Education and Science

| premier = Helmut Schmidt

| term_start = 16 May 1974

| term_end = 16 February 1978

| predecessor = Klaus von Dohnanyi

| successor = Jürgen Schmude

| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|11|9|df=y}}

| birth_place = Hanover, Germany

| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|4|16|1925|11|9|df=y}}

| death_place = Sankt Augustin, Germany

| restingplace =

| party = Social Democratic Party (SPD)

| alma_mater = University of Göttingen

| spouse =

| children =

| awards = Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1978)

}}

Helmut Rohde (9 November 1925 – 16 April 2016) was a German politician who served as federal minister of education and science from 1974 to 1978.{{cite web|url=https://www.fes.de/archiv/adsd_neu/inhalt/nachlass/nachlass_r/rohde-he.htm|title=Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Archiv der sozialen Demokratie|publisher=fes.de|language=de}}

Early life and education

Rohde was born in Hanover on 9 November 1925.{{cite web|title=Helmut Rohde|url=http://www.fes.de/archiv/adsd_neu/inhalt/nachlass/nachlass_r/rohde-he.htm|work=Friedrich Ebert Stiftung|access-date=13 September 2013|archive-date=22 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122121134/http://www.fes.de/archiv/adsd_neu/inhalt/nachlass/nachlass_r/rohde-he.htm|url-status=dead}} His father, August, was a welder and a social democrat member of the independent trade union. Helmut Rohde fought in the German army in World War II and was a POW until 1945 when he was freed.

He studied journalism following the war and graduated in 1947. In 1950, he began to study politics and business in a higher education institution in Wilhelmshaven, which later became part of the University of Göttingen.

Career

In 1945, Rohde became a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). After graduation he began to work as an editor at the German Press Agency's Hannover branch. His pseudonym in his writings was Achilles, the name of his grandfather. He served in the party's local organizations in Hannover in the 1950s and later served in its "working group for workers' questions". In 1957, he was elected to the Bundestag with the SPD from Hannover. From 1964 to 1965 he was also a member of the European Parliament.

He was appointed federal minister of education and science on 16 May 1974, replacing Klaus von Dohnanyi in the post.{{cite web|title=Ministers since 1955|work=Federal Ministry of Education and Research

|url=http://www.bmbf.de/pub/federal_ministry_of_education_and_research.pdf|access-date=13 September 2013}}{{dead link|date=March 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} He served in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Helmut Schmidt.{{cite book|author=Heinrich August Winkler|title=Germany. The Long Road West: 1933-1990|volume=2|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXflC2Ipo_QC&pg=PA318|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-926598-5|page=318|location=Oxford; New York}} In 1975, Rohde became a member of the SPD's executive committee.{{cite web|title=Helmut Rohde|url=http://www.niedersachsen.de/portal/live.php?navigation_id=6866&article_id=19824&_psmand=1000

|work=Niedersachsen|access-date=13 September 2013}} Rohde's cabinet post ended on 16 February 1978 and another SPD politician, Jürgen Schmude, replaced him in the post. After leaving office he concentrated on his work in the SPD's working group for workers' questions.{{cite news|title=German defense minister resigns

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19780202&id=wpAjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4714,245272|access-date=13 September 2013|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|date=2 February 1978|agency=UPI|location=Bonn}}

In 1985, Rohde began to work as a lecturer at Leibniz University Hannover and the University of Bochum. In 1994, he was named as an honorary professor of the University of Bremen.

Later years

Rohde lived in a nursing home near Bonn.{{cite web|title=Helmut Rohde|url=http://www.spd-region-hannover.de/content/396615.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042502/http://spd-region-hannover.de/content/396615.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 March 2016|work=SPD|access-date=13 September 2013}} He died on 16 April 2016, aged 90.{{cite news|title=Helmut Rohde: Unternehmensnachruf|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine|language=de

|url=http://m.lebenswege.faz.net/unternehmensnachrufe/helmut-rohde/46067402|access-date=28 April 2016}}