Hubert Rohde

Hubert Rohde was born in a Christian family in Hildesheim. To avoid being recruited by the Waffen-SS he "volunteered" in the heavy artillery, a unit that he knew wasn't under their domain, and he never actually served for war.

After the war he studied philosophy, history of art, pedagogy, archaeology as well as theology in Frankfurt, Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Dublin. Since then he is a member in the Kartellverband katholischer deutscher Studentenvereine.

Hubert Rohde was married; his wife Karin (born Attorf) died in 1988. The couple had four children. After 1962 he lived in Mandelbachtal ind Saarland.

After getting his doctorate of philosophy (1953) Rohde worked mainly as teacher and later as docent at the universities of Paderborn and Saarbrücken. In 1965 he was habilitated to professor in pedagogy.

He became a member of Saarland's parliament in 1970, where he first presided over the cultural committee and later became the parliament's vice-president.

In 1977 he was voted the SR's artistic director, a position he kept until 1988.

From 1988 to 200x he was general secretary of the Deutsch-Französischen Kulturrates (fr:Haut Conseil Culturel Franco-Allemand).

For several years he was Chancellor of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre a Catholic chivalric order that assists schools and hospitals in Palestine. For his engagement in Franco-German cooperation, France's president awarded him the cross of the Légion d'honneur.

• List of German Christian Democratic Union politicians

• Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands web site