Manfred Rommel
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Manfred Rommel (born December 24, 1928) is a German politician (CDU), who was Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) of Stuttgart from 1974 until 1996. He is one of the most popular local politicians of the CDU.
Rommel was born in Stuttgart, the second of two children of World War II Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and the only one of Lucie Maria Mollin. At the age of 14, he entered service in the Luftwaffe, serving at an anti-aircraft battery. Later, Manfred considered joining the Waffen SS, but his father opposed it. After his father was forced to commit suicide for his alleged complicity in the July 20 Plot, he deserted from the Wehrmacht and surrendered to General de Lattre de Tassigny's French First Army.
Rommel collaborated with Basil Liddell-Hart in the edition of The Rommel Papers, a collection of diaries, letters and notes that his father wrote during and after his military campaigns. In 1947, he took his Abitur in Biberach an der Riß and went on to study law at the University of Tübingen. In 1956, he started his career by becoming a high ranking civil servant and later state secretary in the state-government of Baden-Württemberg.
In 1974, Rommel succeeded Arnulf Klett as Oberbürgermeister of Stuttgart by winning 58.5% of the votes in the second round of elections, defeating Peter Conradi of the SPD. He was re-elected after the first round of elections in 1982 with 69.8% and in 1990 with 71.7% of the votes.
While Oberbürgermeister, he entered a much publicized friendship with U.S. Army Major General George S. Patton IV, the son of his father's World War II adversary, George S. Patton, who was assigned to the nearby U.S. military headquarters. In addition to relationship between their fathers, Rommel and Patton had a common birthday of December 24.
In a 1996 celebration at the Württemberg State Theatre, Manfred Rommel received the highest German civil distinction, the Bundesverdienstkreuz. In his speech, Helmut Kohl put particular emphasis on the good relations that were kept and build upon between France and Germany during Rommel's tenure as Oberbürgermeister of Stuttgart. A few days after this distinction was given to Rommel, the city of Stuttgart offered him the Honorary Citizen Award.[1]
Having retired from politics in 1996, Rommel is still in demand as an author and speaker, despite suffering from Parkinson's disease. Occasionally, he writes articles for the Stuttgarter Zeitung.
[edit] Honours
- Theodor-Heuss-Medaille (1978)
- Orden des Großoffiziers im Orden von Oranien-Nassau (1982)
- Ehrensenator der Fachhochschule für Technik Stuttgart (1982)
- Honorary doctorate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (1983)
- General Lucius D. Clay-Medaille (1984)
- President of the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gesellschaft (1984 - 1990)
- Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic (1985)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1990)
- Honorary doctorate of the University of Maryland (1992)
- Honorary citizen of Stuttgart (1996)
- Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1996)
- Honorary doctorate of the University of Wales (1996)
- Dolf Sternberger-Preis (1998)
- Honorary citizen of the University of Stuttgart (2005)[2]
- Verdienstmedaille des Landes Baden-Württemberg
- Heinz Herbert Karry-Preis
- Honorary citizen of Cairo[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Festive retirement party for Stuttgart Mayor Manfred Rommel. GERMAN NEWS. Retrieved on 2006-10-05.
- ^ Ehrenbürgerwürde der Universität Stuttgart für Suzanne Mubarak und Manfred Rommel. Informationsdienst Wissenschaft. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
- ^ ibid.
This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of January 20, 2007.
