Eugen K.A. Gerstenmaier

Nationality

Germany

Date of Birth

1906

Date of Death

1986

Political
Preference

Christian Democrat

Eugen Gerstenmaier was a German theologian, who had early in his career been the right-hand of Bishop Theodor Heckel, the national church leader supported by the Nazis to bring the churches of Germany in line with national socialist doctrine. However, during the war he joined the resistance and was one of few figures, together with Bonhoeffer and Von Trott, who was able to use his ecumenical contacts to travel internationally and inform his peers on the situation in Germany.
These wartime efforts led to Gerstenmaier’s political and ecumenical rehabilitation post-war, and he joined the Christian Democrat party. He was a member of the Consultative Assembly of the Congress of Europe from 1950 until 1957. He called for the establishment of a European Refugee Office in the Assembly’s second session. He also contributed to meetings and the magazine European Issues of the Ecumenical Commission for European Cooperation. Ultimately, Gerstenmaier became President of the West German Bundestag, from 1954 to 1969. For this, the tall building which once hosted the Bundestag in Bonn, is named after him: Langer Eugen.