Klaus Kinkel

Kinkel was born in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, into a Catholic family, and grew up mostly in Hechingen, where his father Ludwig Leonhard Kinkel practised as a medical doctor and internist. His father was President of the local tennis club, and Klaus Kinkel was an able tennis player in his youth. He took his Abitur at the Staatliches Gymnasium Hechingen in 1956 and first studied medicine, then law at the universities of Tübingen and Bonn.[https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Klaus+Kinkel/0/15084.html Klaus Kinkel] (in German) Munzinger He joined A.V. Guestfalia Tübingen, a Catholic student fraternity that is a member of the Cartellverband. Kinkel took his first juristic state exam at Tübingen, the second in Stuttgart and earned a doctorate of law in 1964 in Cologne.

In 1965, Kinkel began work at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, concentrating on the security of the civilian population (ziviler Bevölkerungsschutz). He was sent to the Landratsamt in Balingen, Baden-Württemberg until 1966. He returned to the national ministry in 1968. He was personal secretary and speechwriter for the Federal Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, from 1970 to 1974, and eventually the head of the minister's office. After Genscher was appointed Foreign Minister in 1974, Kinkel held senior positions in the Federal Foreign Office, as head of the Leitungsstab and the policy planning staff (Planungsstab).

From 1979 to 1982 he was president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND). He is credited with "quietly and competently" restoring confidence in the BND after a series of scandal in the preceding years. He also expanded the BND's intelligence-gathering outside of Europe.

From 1982 to 1991, Kinkel was a state secretary (Staatssekretär) in the Federal Ministry of Justice.{{cite news |title=Früherer Außenminister Kinkel gestorben |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/kinkel-gestorben-101.html |access-date=5 March 2019 |work=Tagesschau |language=de}}

Kinkel was Federal Minister of Justice from 18 January 1991 to 18 May 1992. Among other achievements, he took the lead in pressing for the return of Erich Honecker, the former East German leader, to face trial. He also engaged in public negotiations with the terrorist Red Army Faction, successfully urging them to renounce violence.Stephen Kinzer (18 April 1992), [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/18/world/german-terrorist-group-says-it-will-end-attacks.html German Terrorist Group Says It Will End Attacks] New York Times.Stephen Kinzer (29 April 1992), [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/29/world/party-in-bonn-rebels-on-genscher-s-successor.html Party in Bonn Rebels on Genscher's Successor] New York Times.

In a surprise decision on 29 April 1992, the members of the FDP parliamentary group rejected the nomination of Germany's designated new Foreign Minister, Irmgard Schwaetzer, and voted instead to name Kinkel to head the Federal Foreign Office.

Kinkel played a key role in the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and helped to draft its statutes.{{cite journal |last1=Eikel |first1=Markus |title='Germany's Global Responsibility' and the Creation of the International Criminal Court, 1993–1998 |journal=Journal of International Criminal Justice |date=1 July 2018 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=543–570 |doi=10.1093/jicj/mqy022 |url=https://academic.oup.com/jicj/article-abstract/16/3/543/5025733 |language=en |issn=1478-1387|url-access=subscription }}{{cite news |title=Germany: Parliament Urges More Support for the ICC |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/09/germany-parliament-urges-more-support-icc |work=Human Rights Watch |date=9 July 2018 |language=en}} He also unsuccessfully introduced a resolution at a meeting of European Community foreign ministers that would have committed each of the member countries to accept more refugees from the Balkans.Stephen Kinzer (29 July 1992), [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/29/world/germany-chides-europe-about-balkan-refugees.html Germany Chides Europe About Balkan Refugees] New York Times. Later that year, he announced Germany's wish for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, arguing that Britain and France would never agree to an alternative plan under which they would merge their national seats into a single permanent seat representing the European Union.Paul Lewis (24 September 1992), [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/24/world/germany-tells-the-un-it-wants-a-permanent-seat-on-the-council.html Germany Tells the U.N. It Wants A Permanent Seat on the Council] New York Times. Kinkel was a signatory of the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War in 1995.

File:Амстердамський договір.jpg in 1997]]

Under the leadership of Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Kinkel, the German Bundestag in 1993 agreed on a three-point amendment to the 1949 Constitution that for the first time let German troops take part in international peacekeeping operations sanctioned by the United Nations and other bodies, subject to advance approval by parliament.Craig R. Whitney (14 January 1993), [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/14/world/kohl-and-partners-in-accord-on-peacekeeping.html Kohl and Partners in Accord on Peacekeeping] New York Times. Shortly after, the German Parliament approved a controversial troop deployment under the umbrella of the United Nations Operation in Somalia II, clearing the final hurdle for what was then Germany's biggest deployment of ground forces abroad since World War II.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-07-03-mn-9696-story.html Bonn Parliament OKs Somalia Troops] Los Angeles Times, 3 July 1993. Also under Kinkel’s leadership, Germany began destroying stockpiles of tanks and other heavy weapons in the early 1990s, becoming the first country to implement the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-04-mn-5080-story.html Germany Begins Cutbacks Under Weapons Treaty] Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1992.

In 1995, China dismissed a personal appeal from Kinkel to release Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng and expelled journalist Henrik Bork, a reporter for the newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.Rone Tempest (28 December 1995), [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-28-mn-18714-story.html Court Rejects Appeal of China Dissident Wei] Los Angeles Times. One year later, China abruptly canceled a planned visit to Beijing by Kinkel, citing a German parliamentary resolution that condemned China's human rights record in Tibet.Alan Cowell (25 June 1996), [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/25/world/germany-s-concerns-over-rights-in-tibet-clash-with-trade-ties-to-china.html Germany's Concerns Over Rights in Tibet Clash With Trade Ties to China] New York Times.

A strong supporter of European integration, Kinkel successfully advocated for Germany to ratify the Maastricht Treaty on European political and economic union in December 1992, making it the 10th of the 12 European Community nations to sign on.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-19-mn-2118-story.html Germany Ratifies Maastricht Treaty] Los Angeles Times, 19 December 1992. In 1994, he had to abandon his candidate for President of the European Commission, Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene of Belgium, following protest by British Prime Minister John Major.Tom Buerkle (30 June 1994), [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/30/news/30iht-douze_5.html Bonn Seeks To Break EU Logjam] International Herald Tribune. In 1997, he argued that Turkey did not qualify because of its record on "human rights, the Kurdish question, relations with Greece and of course very clear economic questions."Stephen Kinzer (27 March 1997), [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/world/europeans-shut-the-door-on-turkey-s-membership-in-union.html Europeans Shut the Door on Turkey's Membership in Union] New York Times. On Kinkel’s initiative, Germany became the first government to declare a suspension of contacts with Bosnia's envoys abroad after a recommendation made by the High Representative of the International Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Carlos Westendorp.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-aug-04-mn-19291-story.html Contact Suspended With Bosnia Envoys] Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1997.

From 21 January 1993, Kinkel was also Vice Chancellor of Germany. From 1993 to 1995 he also served as chairman of the FDP. After the Free Democrats won barely enough votes to get into the Bundestag in 1994Craig R. Whitney (20 October 1994), [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/20/world/kohl-s-free-democratic-allies-shaken-by-big-election-losses.html Kohl's Free Democratic Allies Shaken by Big Election Losses] New York Times. and later lost badly in 12 out of 14 state and European Parliament elections, Kinkel announced that he would not seek re-election as party chairman. He resigned as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor after the government's defeat in the 1998 federal election.

Kinkel was a member of the Bundestag, the Parliament of Germany, from 1994 to 2002.{{cite news |title=Ehemaliger Bundesaußenminister Klaus Kinkel gestorben |url=https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2019/ehemaliger-bundesaussenminister-klaus-kinkel-gestorben/ |access-date=5 March 2019 |work=Junge Freiheit |language=de-DE}}

File:Klaus Kinkel (cropped).jpg

After leaving government in 1998, Kinkel worked as a lawyer and was engaged in a number of philanthropic and business activities, including the following:

• Bundesliga Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees[https://www.bundesliga-stiftung.de/stiftung/gremien Board of Trustees] Bundesliga Foundation.
• Sepp Herberger Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees
• International Club La Redoute Bonn, Member of the Advisory Board
• United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN), Member of the Presidium[http://www.dgvn.de/structure-of-una-germany/presidium/ Presidium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918015652/http://www.dgvn.de/structure-of-una-germany/presidium/ |date=18 September 2016 }} United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN).
• Deutsche Initiative für den Nahen Osten (DINO), Member of the Board of Trustees[http://www.dino-muenster.de/ueber-uns/beirat/ Board of Trustees] Deutsche Initiative für den Nahen Osten (DINO).
• Lehman Brothers, Member of European Advisory Council (since 2002)Patrick Jenkins (11 September 2005), [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1/1ace8b44-22df-11da-86cc-00000e2511c8.html Berlin beckons to investment banks] Financial Times.
• Deutsche Telekom Foundation, Founding Chairman of the Executive Board (2003–2014)[https://www.telekom.com/medien/konzern/251378 Wolfgang Schuster wird neuer Vorsitzender der Deutsche Telekom Stiftung] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827051914/https://www.telekom.com/medien/konzern/251378 |date=27 August 2016 }} Deutsche Telekom, press release of 17 September 2014.
• EnBW, Member of the Advisory Board (2004–09)[https://www.enbw.com/media/downloadcenter-konzern/jahresabschluss-der-enbw-ag/jahresabschluss-der-enbw-ag-2009.pdf 2008 Annual Report] EnBW.

At the request of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Kinkel represented the German government at the 2011 funeral of Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.Christian Rickens (5 January 2016), [https://global.handelsblatt.com/edition/339/ressort/opinion/article/time-to-cut-ties-with-saudi-arabia Time To Cut Ties With Saudi Arabia] Handelsblatt.

In November 2016, Kinkel was elected as president of a newly created ethics commission of the German Football Association (DFB); the commission is part of the DFB's declared drive for more transparency and integrity following revelations of a financial scandal around the 2006 FIFA World Cup it hosted.[http://www.espnfc.com/germany/story/2988821/klaus-kinkel-to-head-up-german-federations-ethics-commission Klaus Kinkel to head up German federation's ethics commission] ESPN FC, 3 November 2016.

• "Bewegte Zeiten für Europa!", in: Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): Europa in der Welt – die Welt in Europa (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisziplinär/Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 1), Baden-Baden 2006, {{ISBN|978-3-8329-1934-4}}

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{{succession box | before=Gerhard Wessel | title=President of the Federal Intelligence Service | years=1979–1982 | after=Eberhard Blum }}

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{{succession box | before = Hans A. Engelhard | title = Federal Minister of Justice | years = 1991–1992 | after = Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger}}

{{succession box | before = Hans-Dietrich Genscher | title = Foreign Minister of Germany | years = 1992–1998 | after = Joschka Fischer}}

{{succession box | before = Jürgen Möllemann | title = Vice-Chancellor of Germany | years = 1993–1998 | after = Joschka Fischer}}

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{{succession box | before = Otto Graf Lambsdorff | title = Chairman of the Free Democratic Party | years = 1993–1995 | after = Wolfgang Gerhardt}}

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Category:1936 births

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