DThe former Chancellor of Saxony, Kurt Biedenkopf, passed away. On Friday, the Chancellor of Dresden announced on behalf of his family that he fell asleep peacefully with his family on Thursday night at the age of 91.
The CDU politician had a career in both Germany and led the state of Saxony as the head of government from 1990 to 2002. Biedenkopf was born in Ludwigshafen on January 28, 1930. In 1973, at the suggestion of the then party leader Helmut Kohl, the law professor became the general secretary of the CDU. Later he became Cole’s opponent. In the 1980s, he was only known in the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia, and Biedenkopf’s political career was basically over at the end of the decade.
But the turning point in East Germany opened up the opportunity for him to make a comeback. Lothar Spat, a CDU politician, persuaded him to go to the East to apply for the post of Prime Minister of Saxony. Biedenkopf later gave the reason why he wanted to serve the country with his wife Ingrid.
In the 1990s, Saxony went through an entrepreneurial period under his leadership. He won an absolute majority in three federal state elections in the Free State. The Saxons called him “King Kurt”. However, the end of Biedenkopf’s term is not so commendable. Things like discount purchases from IKEA furniture stores accelerated his case. The dispute over successors has already erupted publicly. In the end, Biedenkopf succumbed to his former Treasury Secretary George Milblatt in an internal power struggle.
In April 2002, Biedenkopf stepped down at the age of 72. Nevertheless, he still appears in the Sachsen CDU-especially when things within the party are not going well. Later he served as a lawyer again and published. He also keeps in touch with politics, such as serving as an ombudsman for Hartz IV complaints.
