Hans-Dietrich Genscher (born March 21, 1927) is a German politician and member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He was Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982 and, after a two-week pause, from 1982 to 1992, making him Germany's longest serving Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor.
Genscher was born at Reideburg (Province of Saxony), now a part of Halle, in what later became East Germany. At a young age, Genscher j...
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Hans-Dietrich Genscher (born March 21, 1927) is a German politician and member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He was Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982 and, after a two-week pause, from 1982 to 1992, making him Germany's longest serving Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor.
Genscher was born at Reideburg (Province of Saxony), now a part of Halle, in what later became East Germany. At a young age, Genscher joined the Hitler Youth and later served as a member of the Air Force Support Personnel (Luftwaffenhelfer) in the Army from 1943 to 1945. After reaching 18 years of age (1945) he became a member of the Nazi Party, despite regulations encouraging active duty military members to avoid holding membership in political organizations (these regulations were widely ignored in the later days of German dictator Adolf Hitler's Germany).
Genscher fought as a young man in the Wehrmacht at the end of the Second World War. In 1945, Genscher was a young...
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