Krone, Henry

Career start and party activities

After graduating from a church gymnasium in Hildesheim in 1914, he began studying Catholic theology, but was mobilized by the Prussian War Ministry in the same year. After the end of World War I, he received a degree in the field of teaching new languages ​​and Latin in Münster, Göttingen and Kiel. During his studies, he became a member of the Union of Catholic Student Scientific Associations Unitas.

Until 1923 he worked as an assistant teacher in Kiel and at the same time studied economics. In 1923 he defended his thesis on the theory of the city. In the Weimar Republic, he took an active part in the work of the Union to combat anti-Semitism. After 1933, he helped those persecuted by the Nazis using the Commission for Assistance to Catholics of Non-Aryan Descent. In 1934-1935 was managing director of Caritas-Notwerkes. Subsequently, he was forced to support seven casual earnings. After the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, he was detained as part of Operation Storm and spent several weeks in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp .

In 1923, he joined the Center Party and was one of the organizers of the demonstration against Hitler's Beer putsch . From 1923 to 1929 He was deputy general secretary of the Center Party, and from 1923 to 1929. - At the same time the leader of the party’s youth wing. Since 1926 he was a member of the crown of the Federal Council of the Reichsbanner .

In the post-war period, in 1945, he became one of the founders of the CDU in Berlin. From 1947 to 1951 was part of the land government of the Christian Democrats.

Political career

In 1925, he became the youngest member of the Reichstag , which included until 1933. On March 23, 1933, together with the entire faction, he supported the Extraordinary Powers Act .

From 1949 to 1969 He was a member of the West German Bundestag of Germany, first from Berlin, and then from Lower Saxony. From August 1951 to June 1955 He was the parliamentary secretary, and from June 1955 to 1961 - chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary faction. He was considered a confidant and closest associate of the Federal Chancellor of Germany Konrad Adenauer . In the Christian Democratic faction, he enjoyed great authority, he was called "Pope Krone" and "Adenauer Universal Glue" for his ability to ensure the unity of its ranks.

In 1952, he was a member of a group of 34 deputies of the CDU / CSU faction who introduced a bill introducing a relative majority when voting in the Bundestag. During the time of the “ Big Coalition ”, he remained a supporter of the majority election system, which, despite the support from part of the Social Democrats, did not meet with approval from the majority of its members of the same party.

From 1961 to 1964 He served as Federal Minister for Special Assignments to the governments of Adenauer. He retained this post under Chancellor Ludwig Erhard . From 1964 to 1966 - Minister for the Affairs of the Federal Defense Council.

In 1969, he decided to no longer be elected to the Bundestag and transferred to the post of political adviser on issues of "eastern" politics, for whose contribution to the implementation he was subsequently noted by Chancellor Helmut Kohl .

• Karlies Abmeier: Heinrich Krone (1895–1989). In: Wichmann-Jahrbuch des Diözesangeschichtsvereins Berlin, Jg. 44/45 (2004/2005), S. 186–201.
• Klaus Gotto: Heinrich Krone. In: Walther L. Bernecker, Volker Dotterweich (Hg.): Persönlichkeit und Politik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Politische Porträts. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, Bd. 2, ISBN 3-525-03207-2 , S. 37–48.
• Ulrich von Hehl: Der Politiker als Zeitzeuge. Heinrich Krone als Beobachter der Ära Adenauer. In: Historisch-Politische Mitteilungen, Jg. 5 (1998), S. 83-104.