Editing Gustav Heinemann (section)

==President of West Germany==
In March 1969 Gustav Heinemann was elected [[President of Germany|President of West Germany]]. As he was elected with the help of most delegates of the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP/Liberals) his election was generally understood as a sign of the re-orientation of the FDP with regard to a future coalition with the SPD ([[Social-liberal coalition]], October 1969 – October 1982).

In an interview Heinemann once said that he wanted to be "the citizens' president" rather than "the president of the state". He established the tradition of inviting ordinary citizens to the president's New Year's receptions, and in his speeches, he encouraged West Germans to overcome the tradition of submissiveness to the authorities, to make full use of their democratic rights and to defend the rule of law and social justice.<ref name=bp>{{cite web |url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/EN/TheGermanFederalPresidents/GustavHeinemann/gustavheinemann-node.html |title=www.bundespraesident.de: Der Bundespräsident / Gustav Heinemann (1969 - 1974) |access-date=11 March 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403133613/http://www.bundespraesident.de/Die-deutschen-Bundespraesident/-,11063/Gustav-W.-Heinemann.htm |archive-date=3 April 2011 }}</ref> This attitude and his open-mindedness towards the student protests of 1968 made him popular among the younger generation as well. When asked whether he loved the West German state, he answered that he loved not the state but his wife.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.heinemann-bildungsstaette.de/48.html |title = Gustav Heinemann Bildungsstätte, Malente: Home}}</ref>

Heinemann mainly visited countries that had been occupied by German troops in World War II. He supported the social-liberal government's policy of reconciliation with the Eastern European states. He promoted research into the nature of conflicts and of peace, as well as into environmental problems.<ref name="Koch 620-631"/>

It was Heinemann's idea to found a museum for the commemoration of German liberation movements, and he was able to open such a place officially in [[Rastatt]] in 1974. His interest in that subject was partly from the involvement of his own ancestors in the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|revolution of 1848]].<ref>[http://www.fes.de/fulltext/historiker/00526.htm Posser] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425070548/http://www.fes.de/fulltext/historiker/00526.htm |date=25 April 2017 }} (1999)</ref>

On account of his age and fragile health, Heinemann did not stand for a possible second term as President in 1974. He died in 1976.

A short time before his death, Heinemann published an essay in which he criticized the ''Radikalenerlass'' ("Radicals Decree") of 1972, a rule that subjected all candidates for the civil service (including prospective teachers, railway engine drivers, and postmen) to special scrutiny to exclude political radicals. He thought it was not compatible with the spirit of the constitution that a large group of people were generally treated as suspects.<ref>''Freimütige Kritik und demokratischer Rechtsstaat'' in: ''Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte'', supplement to ''Das Parlament'', 22 May 1976</ref>

[[Image:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F043317-0068, Bahnhof Köln, Abschied Bundespräsident Heinemann.jpg|thumb|right|Farewell at Cologne station, 1974]]

The ''Gustav-Heinemann-Friedenspreis'' (Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize) is an annual prize for children's and young people's books that are deemed to have best promoted the cause of world peace.