Eugen Gerstenmaier - in The Bundestag

In The Bundestag

From 1949 to 1969, Gerstenmaier was a member of the Bundestag for the CDU. From 1949 to 1953, he was the Acting Chairman of the Foreign Board at the Bundestag, and eventually, until 17 December 1954, the Chairman.

After Hermann Ehlers's sudden death in 1954, Gerstenmaier became his successor (until 1969) as Bundestag President. With his election on 16 November 1954 arose a unique situation with two factional colleagues running against each other for the Bundestag Presidency. Against the "official" CDU/CSU candidate Gerstenmaier, whom many members, and the governing coalition, saw as being too close to the Church, stood Ernst Lemmer, put forward by FDP member Hans Reif, who lost only on the third ballot by a mere 14 votes. From 1957 until 12 October 1959, Gerstenmaier was Chairman of the Subcommission for managing the Bundestag "household".

On 31 January 1969, Gerstenmaier resigned his post as Bundestag President after public controversy about claims of certain compensation benefits, to which he was legally entitled. However, the sheer amount of these claims was considered scandalous, and the suspicion that political influence was at work could not be allayed. His successor was Kai-Uwe von Hassel.

Gerstenmeier died in Bonn. The 29-floor highrise in Bonn, in whose building Gerstenmaier had played such a significant rôle, and in which each member of the Bundestag had an office, is nicknamed "Langer Eugen" ("Long Eugen") after Eugen Gerstenmaier. It has, however, been described as "Bonn's ugliest building". Since June 2006 it is seat of United Nations Organizations.