Walther Leisler Kiep

Walther Gottlieb Louis Leisler Kiep (5 January 1926 – 9 May 2016) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a member of the Bundestag between 1965 and 1976 and again from 1980 to 1982. After switching to state-level politics, he served as minister of economy (1976–77) and minister of finance (1976–80) in Lower Saxony under Ernst Albrecht. In 1982, Kiep was the leading candidate for the CDU in two successive state elections in Hamburg, losing both to incumbent Klaus von Dohnányi. From 1971 until 1992, he was treasurer of his party at the federal level. In this position, Kiep installed a system of unreported income accounts, leading to the CDU donations scandal in 1999. Life and family Coming from a liberal family, Kiep was born on 5 January 1926 in Hamburg to Louis Leisler Kiep, a navy captain and business man, and Eugenie Maria Anna vom Rath. Kiep's maternal grandfather, Walther vom Rath, had been a member of the Prussian House of Representatives from 1894 to 1898 and later a member of the Prussian House of Lords until 1918. His middle name "Leisler" came from Jacob Leisler, a German-born colonist and ancestor of Kiep, who participated in early independence movements in New York and was hanged by the English in 1691. Kiep went to school in Hamburg and Istanbul, achieving his Abitur in 1943 before joining the Wehrmacht. On 20 April 1944, Adolf Hitler's birthday, he joined the Nazi Party. In the same year his uncle, Otto Carl Kiep, was executed by the Nazis for his membership in the Kreisau Circle. After the war, he started to study history and economics, but did not graduate. Before moving into politics, he worked for the Insurance Company of North America from 1948 to 1955. Starting in 1955, he worked for a company called Gradmann und Holler, an insurance broker company for large businesses. Kiep owned 15 percent of the company in 1982. His involvement with Gradmann und Holler sparked controversy. When Kiep became minister in Lower Saxony in 1976, Volkswagen and other local companies went into business with Gradmann und Holler, creating a possible conflict of interest for the minister. Kiep also served on Volkswagen's board of directors. Kiep denied abusing his power as minister, saying that the deal with Volkswagen had been financially damaging rather than profitable for his company. Due to his successful business ventures, Kiep was considered to be one of the richest politicians in Germany.