Editing Hans-Dietrich Genscher (section)

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Genscher was born on 21 March 1927 in [[Reideburg]] (Province of Saxony Anhalt), now a part of [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]], in what later became [[East Germany]]. He was the son of Hilda Kreime and Kurt Genscher.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR4Ch1dMe8IC&q=%22Kurt+Genscher+and+the+late+Hilda+Kreime%22&pg=PA597|title=The International Who's Who 2004|isbn=9781857432176|last1=Publications|first1=Europa|year=2003|publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref> His father, a lawyer, died when Genscher was nine years old.<ref name="Günsche-2016">{{cite news|last1=Günsche|first1=Karl-Ludwig|title=Zum Tod von Hans-Dietrich Genscher: Marathonmann der deutschen Politik|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/hans-dietrich-genscher-ist-tot-nachruf-a-1085018.html|work=Spiegel Online|access-date=1 April 2016|language=de|date=1 April 2016}}</ref> In 1943, he was drafted to serve as a member of the Air Force Support Personnel (''[[Luftwaffenhelfer]]'') at the age of 16. At age 17, close to the end of the [[Second World War|war]], he and his fellow soldiers became members of the [[Nazi Party]] due to a collective application (''Sammelantrag'') by his [[German Army|Wehrmacht]] unit. He later said he was unaware of it at the time.<ref>''[https://www.welt.de/kultur/article989531/Von_Grass_bis_Genscher_Wer_noch_in_der_NSDAP_war.html Zeitgeschichte: Von Grass bis Genscher – Wer noch in der NSDAP war]. ''[[Die Welt]], 1 July 2007.</ref>

Late in the war, Genscher was deployed as a soldier in General [[Walther Wenck]]'s [[12th Army (Wehrmacht)|12th Army]], which ostensibly was directed to relieve the siege of Berlin. After the German surrender he was an American and British [[prisoner of war]], but was released after two months.<ref>Ulrich Herbert, Universität Freiburg, Darmstädter Echo, Samstag, 13 June 2015, p. 5.</ref> Following World War II, he studied law and economics at the universities of [[Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg|Halle]] and [[Leipzig]] (1946–1949) and joined the East German [[Liberal Democratic Party of Germany|Liberal Democratic Party]] (LDPD) in 1946.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of Political Biography|year=1998|publisher=OUP|location=Oxford|page=184|url=https://www.questia.com/read/34683530/a-dictionary-of-political-biography|author=Dennis Kavanagh|access-date=1 September 2013|chapter=Genscher, Hans-Dietrich|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027014837/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Political career ===
In 1952, Genscher [[Republikflucht|fled]] to [[West Germany]], where he joined the [[Free Democratic Party of Germany|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP). He passed his second state examination in law in [[Hamburg]] in 1954 and became a solicitor in [[Bremen (city)|Bremen]]. During these early years after the war, Genscher continuously struggled with illness. From 1956 to 1959 he was a research assistant of the FDP parliamentary group in Bonn. From 1959 to 1965 he was the FDP group managing director, while from 1962 to 1964 he was National Secretary of the FDP.<ref name="Günsche-2016"/>

In [[1965 West German federal election|1965]] Genscher was elected on the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP list to the [[Bundestag|West German parliament]] and remained a member of parliament until his retirement in 1998.<ref name="Deutscher Bundestag-2016">{{cite web|title=Bundestag trauert um Hans-Dietrich Genscher|url=http://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2016/kw13-lammert-genscher/417022|publisher=Deutscher Bundestag|access-date=1 April 2016|language=de|date=1 April 2016}}</ref> He was elected deputy national chairman in 1968. From 1969 he served as minister of the interior in the SPD-FDP coalition government led by [[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)|Chancellor]] [[Willy Brandt]].<ref name="Günsche-2016"/>

In 1974 he became foreign minister and [[Vice Chancellor of Germany|vice chancellor]], both posts he would hold for 18 years.<ref name="Günsche-2016"/> From 1 October 1974 to 23 February 1985 he was Chairman of the FDP. It was during his tenure as party chairman that the FDP switched from being the junior member of social-liberal coalition to being the junior member of the 1982 coalition with the CDU/CSU. In 1985 he gave up the post of national chairman.<ref name="Hofmann-1992">{{cite news|last1=Hofmann|first1=Gunter|title=Der "Mister Mitte" der Republik|url=http://www.zeit.de/1992/19/der-mister-mitte-der-republik/komplettansicht|newspaper=Die Zeit|access-date=1 April 2016|language=de|date=1 May 1992}}</ref> After his resignation as Foreign Minister, Genscher was appointed honorary chairman of the FDP in 1992.<ref>{{cite news|title=Porträt: Jahrzehnte prägte Genscher die deutsche Politik|url=http://www.zeit.de/news/2016-04/01/parteien-bundesregierung-wuerdigt-genscher-als-grossen-staatsmann-01123805|newspaper=Die Zeit|access-date=1 April 2016|language=de|date=1 April 2016}}</ref>