German politician (1927?2004)
Rudi Arndt
(1 March 1927 ? 14 May 2004) was a German politician of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
(SPD). He served in several positions in the
Hesse
state government, and as the
Mayor of Frankfurt
between 1972 and 1977. At different points in his political career he was a member of the
Landtag of Hesse
and the
European Parliament
as well as the
Frankfurt City Council
.
Family
[
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]
Arndt came from a family with a tradition of SPD membership. His father,
Konrad Arndt
, was a trade union secretary, and was imprisoned by the Nazis for a short while. In 1938 the senior Arndt was released from prison, after which he conscripted in the army to avoid persecution from the
Gestapo
. Konrad Arndt died in November 1940 under mysterious circumstances. Although he officially died in a car crash, there is some evidence suggesting he was murdered by the Gestapo.
[1]
Rudi Arndt's mother, Anna Babette, was also a social democrat and local politician in
Frankfurt
. Her sister was murdered by the National Socialists in 1940.
Arndt had an elder brother named Gunther. He was expelled from college for making comments critical of the Nazi regime, conscripted into the army and ordered to the
Eastern Front
. He did not return from soviet captivity until 1949.
[1]
Arndt married 3 times, and had a son from his first marriage.
Activities in Nazi Germany
[
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]
On 3 March 1944 Arndt applied for membership of the
Nazi Party
. His application was accepted in April 1944. In the last days of the Nazi regime he was a
Hitler Youth
leader and
Flakhelfer
.
[2]
Career
[
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]
After completing his
Abitur
, Arndt studied law at the
Goethe University Frankfurt
.
[3]
In 1952, he passed his first state examination, followed in 1960 by his second state examination. From 1953 he worked as an advisor for youth law and the federal youth plan in the Hesse Ministry of the Interior.
Arndt joined the
SDP
in 1945. Between 1948 and 1954, he was chairman of the
Socialist Youth
. In 1952 Arndt became a
city councillor
in
Frankfurt
, a position he held until 1956, when he was elected to the
Landtag of Hesse
. Arndt remained in the Landtag until 1972.
Arndt became the Economy and Transport Minister for Hesse in 1964, after the resignation of his predecessor Wilhelm Conrad.After the resignation of
Georg August Zinn
as
Minister President
in 1969, Arndt was considered as his successor, but the role ultimately went to
Albert Osswald
. In Osswald's new cabinet of 1970, Arndt became the Minister of Finance for Hesse.
[4]
On 16 December 1971 Arndt was elected mayor of Frankfurt, following the death of incumbent Walter Moller. He started his term as mayor in 1972. Arndt earned the popular nickname
Dynamit-Rudi
("
Dynamite
Rudi") for his enthusiasm for demolishing the remaining World War II ruins ? in particular, his failed campaign to demolish the
Alte Oper
opera house.
[5]
In the local elections of March 1977, the
CDU
won a landslide victory. As a result, CDU politician
Walter Wallmann
became the new Mayor of Frankfurt and Arndt became the opposition leader in the Hessen Landtag.
In his later years, Arndt worked as a lawyer. After
German reunification
in 1990, he volunteered for the SPD in
Thuringia
. He died unexpectedly during a river trip near Kiev in 2004.
[6]
Arndt is buried in the
Frankfurt Main Cemetery
.
References
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