Theodor Blank
| Theodor Blank | |
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Blank in 1955
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Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Germany
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In office 29 October 1957 – 26 October 1965 |
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| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer |
| Preceded by | Anton Storch |
| Succeeded by | Hans Katzer |
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Federal Minister of Defence Germany
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In office 7 June 1955 – 16 October 1956 |
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| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer |
| Succeeded by | Franz Josef Strauss |
| Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag | |
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In office 19 October 1965 – 20 October 1969 |
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| Member of the Bundestag | |
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In office 7 September 1949 – 21 April 1972 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
19 September 1905 Elz |
| Died | 14 May 1972 (aged 66) Bonn |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | CDU (1945 until his death) |
| Alma mater | University of Hanover |
Theodor Anton Blank (19 September 1905 – 14 May 1972) was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945.
Blank was born in Elz an der Lahn. He was the third of ten children of a carpenter. His family was Roman Catholic. Blank received an apprenticeship as a carpenter. In 1930–33 he worked as a secretary at the Association of Christian transport- and factory employees of the northern and northwestern Ruhr Area. After he was dismissed in 1933 Blank passed his Abitur in 1936 and studied mathematics at the University of Münster and engineering sciences at the University of Hanover. In 1939 he was conscripted to the Wehrmacht and became a first lieutenant at the end of World War II.
From 1949 to 1972 he was a member of the German Bundestag, in which he served from 1965 to 1969 as deputy chief of CDU/CSU-Bundestagsfraktion.
From 1950 to 1955 he served as Special Representative of the Chancellor, leading the "Amt Blank" (Blank Agency), officially responsible for affairs relating to the Allied occupying troops, but in reality mainly charged by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer with covertly preparing the re-establishment of the German armed forces. In 1954, opponents of the rearmament prevented him from speaking to public assemblies by yelling and shouting, and lightly wounded him in one instance. After the rearmament was official, he served as the first postwar Defence Minister of Germany from 1955 to 1956 and as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 1957 to 1965.
Blank died in Bonn.
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