Erhard Eppler

Erhard Eppler (9 December 1926 – 19 October 2019) He studied English, German and history in Frankfurt, Bern and Tübingen, achieved a PhD and worked as a teacher. He met Gustav Heinemann in the late 1940s, who became a role model. Eppler was a member of the Bundestag from 1961 to 1976. He was appointed Minister for Economic Cooperation first in 1968 during the grand coalition of Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) and Willy Brandt (SPD), continuing under Chancellor Brandt in 1969 and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD) in 1974, when he stepped down.

An early thinker on environmental sustainability and peace movements, Eppler was involved in various controversies within his party. He was president of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (German Protestant Church Assembly) from 1981 to 1983 and again from 1989 to 1991.

Early years Born in Ulm on 9 December 1926, Eppler grew up in Schwäbisch Hall where his father was the headmaster of the local grammar school. but also said, "It wasn't against my will that I ended up on some list [of members of the NSDAP], but I accepted it. Things were like that in those times."

While he was studying in Bern at the end of the 1940s, Eppler got to know Gustav Heinemann, one of the founders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

In his book Not much time for the Third World, Eppler was one of the first to point out the connections between environmental protection and international development.

Works Eppler's books are held by the German National Library, including: Die tödliche Utopie der Sicherheit. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1983. Plattform für eine neue Mehrheit. Ein Kommentar zum Berliner Programm der SPD (= Politik im Taschenbuch. Band 1). Dietz, Bonn 1990. Kavalleriepferde beim Hornsignal. Die Krise der Politik im Spiegel der Sprache (= Edition Suhrkamp 1788 = NF 788). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1992. Privatisierung der politischen Moral? (= Edition Suhrkamp. Standpunkte 2185). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2000. Komplettes Stückwerk. Erfahrungen aus fünfzig Jahren Politik. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1996. Eine Partei für das zweite Jahrzehnt: die SPD? Vorwärts-Buch, Berlin 2008. Der Politik aufs Maul geschaut. Kleines Wörterbuch zum öffentlichen Sprachgebrauch. Dietz, Bonn 2009. Eine solidarische Leistungsgesellschaft. Epochenwechsel nach der Blamage der Marktliberalen. Dietz, Bonn 2011. Links leben. Erinnerungen eines Wertkonservativen. Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2015.