26 Facts About Hans-Jochen Vogel

Hans-Jochen Vogel was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party.

Hans-Jochen Vogel served as Mayor of Munich from 1960 to 1972, winning the 1972 Summer Olympics for the city and Governing Mayor of West Berlin in 1981, the only German ever to lead two cities with a million+ inhabitants.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was Federal Minister of Regional Planning, Construction and Urban Development from 1972 to 1974, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1974 to 1981.

Hans-Jochen Vogel served as leader of the SPD in the Bundestag from 1983 to 1991, and as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1987 to 1991.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was a member of the National Ethics Council of Germany from its beginning in 2001.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was an active Catholic and joined the Hitler Youth and even became one of its squad leaders.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was not critical of the Nazi regime and later recalled:.

Hans-Jochen Vogel volunteered for service in the German Army in July 1943, aged 17, in the latter stages of World War II.

Twice wounded at the Italian Front, Hans-Jochen Vogel was an Unteroffizier at the end of the war, when he was captured by the Americans.

Hans-Jochen Vogel received his doctorate in 1950.

Hans-Jochen Vogel became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1950.

When Hans-Jochen Vogel became the leader of the Bavarian Social Democrats and a member of the executive of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1972, he resigned as Mayor of Munich, succeeded by Georg Kronawitter.

Hans-Jochen Vogel described his Munich years in his book Die Amtskette, which was published in the same year.

Hans-Jochen Vogel created a unique "Berlin way" of dealing with the problem of "squats" by granting contracts to the squatters, while preventing any new squats at the same time.

Hans-Jochen Vogel became the SPD's top candidate for the federal elections on 6 March 1983, filling in for Helmut Schmidt, who had been toppled as chancellor by the CDU leader, Helmut Kohl.

Hans-Jochen Vogel's campaign focused on disarmament and the problems of the labour market, but Kohl won the elections.

Herbert Wehner, the previous leader of the parliamentary SPD, nominated him as his successor, and Hans-Jochen Vogel held that office until 1991.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was a member of the Bundestag until 1994.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was one of its founders in 1993, and its first chairman.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was awarded the Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1986.

Hans-Jochen Vogel received the Heinz Galinsky Prize for promoting a better understanding between the Jewish community in Berlin and its social surroundings in 1998.

Originally on the right wing of the SPD, Hans-Jochen Vogel became more and more liberal in his views, for instance, with regard to the legislation about asylum seekers, referendums, or the protection of personal data from the state.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was open to seeking co-operation with the other parties.

Hans-Jochen Vogel was the elder brother of CDU politician Bernhard Hans-Jochen Vogel.

In 2014, Hans-Jochen Vogel announced that he had Parkinson's disease which had been diagnosed two years prior.

Hans-Jochen Vogel died in Munich on 26 July 2020 at the age of 94.