Gerhard Jahn
| Gerhard Jahn | |
|---|---|
Gerhard Jahn
|
|
| German Federal Minister of Justice | |
|
In office 1969–1974 |
|
| Preceded by | Horst Ehmke |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Jochen Vogel |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
10 September 1927 Kassel, Germany |
| Died | 20 October 1998 (aged 71) Marburg, Germany |
| Nationality |
 Germany
|
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) |
| Alma mater | University of Marburg |
| Profession | Lawyer, politician |
Gerhard Jahn (10 September 1927 – 20 October 1998) was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1967 to 1969, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1969 to 1974.
Jahn was born on September 10, 1927 at Kassel, Germany to Ernst and Lilli Jahn, a couple of medical practitioners. Together with four younger siblings, he stayed with his mother after his parents divorced in 1942. His mother, a German Jew, had been banned from her medical occupation since the Nazi take-over, and lost her and the children's home during a bombing raid in 1943. The Nazis then subjected Lilli Jahn to forced labour, and sent her to Auschwitz in 1944, where she died in July after three months. After his mother was deported, Gerhard and his siblings lived with their father and his new wife.
Gerhard Jahn studied at a grammar school (Humanistisches Gymnasium), before the Second World War. During the war, he was drafted as an airforce auxiliary manning anti-aircraft guns in 1943–44, and later sent to the Reichsarbeitsdienst. After the war, he worked in a job in the food office of the local town hall.
After graduating from school with Abitur in 1947, he studied law at the University of Marburg. In the same year, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and became an active member while at the university. He took multiple jobs to support himself. In 1949, he was elected leader of the student movement of the SPD, the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (SDS). Since 1950, he held the office of a secretary of the local SPD group Marburg-Frankenberg. He graduated from Marburg University. In 1956 he qualified as a lawyer, and began practicing law.
...
Wikipedia