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(Top) 1 Family 2 Education 3 Political career 4 Secretary-General of NATO (1988-1994) 5 Personal life 6 Medal 7 Honours 8 See also 9 References

Manfred Wörner

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Manfred Wörner

7th Secretary General of NATO

In office
1 July 1988 – 13 August 1994

Preceded by

The Lord Carrington

Succeeded by

Sergio Balanzino (acting)
Willy Claes

Federal Minister of Defence
(West Germany)

In office
4 October 1982 – 18 May 1988

Chancellor

Helmut Kohl

Preceded by

Hans Apel

Succeeded by

Rupert Scholz

Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag

In office
20 October 1969 – 13 December 1972

Member of the Bundestag

In office
19 October 1965 – 30 June 1988

Personal details

Born

Manfred Hermann Wörner

24 September 1934
Stuttgart, Germany

Died

13 August 1994(1994-08-13) (aged 59)
Brussels, Belgium

Political party

Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

Spouse(s)

Anna-Maria Casar (1972–1982)
Elfrie Hartwig Reinsch (1982–1994)

Alma mater

University of Heidelberg
University of Paris
Ph.D. University of Munich

Profession

Diplomat

Manfred Hermann Wörner (24 September 1934 – 13 August 1994^[1]) was a German politician and diplomat. He served as the defense ministerofWest Germany between 1982 and 1988. He then served as the seventh Secretary General of NATO from 1988 to 1994. His term as Secretary General saw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification. Whilst serving in that position, he was diagnosed with cancer, but, in spite of his illness, continued serving until his final days.

Family[edit]

He grew up in his grandfather's house in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt and attended the Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium there. He was married to Elfie Wörner, who was supporting several German army related humanitarian agencies, and who died of a tumor on 4 July 2006.

Education[edit]

After graduation in 1953 he studied law at Heidelberg, Paris, and Munich. He closed his studies 1957 with the first and 1961 the second Staatsexamen. He got his Dr. jur. in 1961 writing about International law. Afterwards he worked for the administration of Baden-Württemberg. He was a county official for Oehringen until 1962, for the Baden-Württemberg Landtag until 1965 and the County Göppingen. Wörner was a jet pilot and reserve officer in the Luftwaffe.

Political career[edit]

Wörner was a member of the German CDU and was elected to the German parliament, representing Göppingen.^{[citation needed]}

On 4 October 1982 he was appointed Federal Minister of Defence in Helmut Kohl's government. Wörner played an important role in defending NATO's decision to deploy intermediate-range ballistic missiles IRBM after arms reduction talks with the Soviet Union to reverse Soviet deployment of its SS-20 intermediate-range ballistic missiles IRBM from the years before.^{[citation needed]}

In 1983, Wörner faced criticism due to the scandal surrounding German General Günter Kießling. The German military secret service had accused Kießling of being homosexual—this was later revealed to be a case of mistaken identity—and Wörner had ordered Kießling's early retirement, as homosexuality was considered a security risk at the time. Kießling insisted on disciplinary procedures against himself and eventually achieved his reinstatement. Wörner accepted political responsibility for the affair and on 18 May 1984 offered his resignation, which was rejected by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.^{[citation needed]}

Secretary-General of NATO (1988-1994)[edit]

In December 1987, the 16 members of NATO elected Wörner Secretary General. He was the first German to be appointed to that position. Resigning from his post in the German government, he took office on 1 July 1988.

An address given by Wörner^[2] in 1990 to the Bremer Tabak Collegium became a subject of a controversy^[3]^[4]^[5] when Vladimir Putin cited it in his 2007 speech at 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy^[6] to claim that NATO made a promise not to expand eastward after the end of the Cold War.

Wörner executed his duties as NATO Secretary General despite severe illness and until his death from colorectal cancer in 1994. He is buried at the cemetery of Hohenstaufen nearby Göppingen.

Personal life[edit]

In December 1972 Wörner married Anna-Maria Caesar. From 1982 until his death he was married with Elfie Wörner, née Reinsch (1941–2006).^{[citation needed]}

Medal[edit]

Dr. Wörner's wife Elfie at his monument in South Park, Sofia, Bulgaria

Since 1996, the Ministry of Defense has awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal on an annual basis to honour public figures who have rendered "special meritorious service to peace and freedom in Europe".

Since then it was given to:

1996 Richard Holbrooke, US diplomat and Special Envoy in Bosnia and Kosovo
1997 Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, publisher and initiator of the Munich Conference on Security Policy
1998 Dr. Gerd Wagner (postmortem), for the implementation of the Dayton Agreement
1999 Dr. Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Minister of Defense of Poland
2000 Elizabeth Pond, American Journalist
2001 Karsten Voigt, Coordinator at the German State Department for the German-American Cooperation
2002 Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief and former Secretary General of NATO
2003 Prof. Dr. Catherine McArdle Kelleher, U.S. Naval War College and former Head of the Aspen Institute Berlin
2005 Hans Koschnick
2006 Christian Schwarz-Schilling
2007 Martti Ahtisaari
2009 Jörg Schönbohm
2011 Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz, German diplomat

Honours[edit]

The Manfred-Wörner-Seminar, a security-policy information seminar of the German Federal Ministry of Defense for young civilian executive personnel from Germany, the United States and other European nations, is named after Manfred Wörner to honour his merits on transatlantic dialogue and understanding.