Bruno Menzel

Bruno Menzel (25 February 1932 – 14 September 1996) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

A physician by trade, Menzel became politically active during the Peaceful Revolution, co-founding the Free Democratic Party of the GDR and serving as their only leader until the merger with the West German FDP. He afterward was elected to the Bundestag, retiring in 1994 and dying soon thereafter.

Life and career Physician After passing his Abitur in 1950, Menzel began studying medicine at the University of Halle, completing his state exam and doctorate in medicine (Dr. med.) in 1956.

He trained as a specialist in internal medicine until 1961, and also trained as a subspecialist in infectious diseases and tropical medicine.

The Society for Infectious and Tropical Medicine elected him as its deputy chair; he also served as chairman of the local chapter of the German Red Cross in the GDR. and in the following month, he was elected chairman at the party's founding convention in wealthy Berlin-Weißensee. He was the favored candidate of the West German FDP leadership because he was not as opposed to a possible merger with a renewed LDPD as the East Berlin founding circle.

The BFD ultimately elected 21 members to the Volkskammer, and in the Assembly of the Western European Union.

In 1992, Menzel became deputy chairman of the FDP in Saxony-Anhalt. When embattled chairman Peter Kunert resigned after the disastrous results of the June 1994 state election, Menzel, who himself would not be re-elected to the Bundestag in the 1994 federal election, took over as acting leader until the party elected Cornelia Pieper in early 1995.

Menzel died in 1996 at the age of 64.