Jürgen Möllemann
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Jürgen Wilhelm Möllemann (July 15, 1945 – June 5, 2003) was a German politician. Born in Augsburg, he served as a member of the German government as minister of state in the department of foreign affairs (1982-1987), minister for education and science (1987-1991), and as minister for economy (1991-1993) and vice chancellor (1992-1993) under chancellor Helmut Kohl, but had to resign in 1993 when he used an official letterhead for advertising a relative's business idea (the so-called Briefbogen-Affäre).
After his Abitur in 1965, Möllemann served his military duty as a paratrooper in the Bundeswehr; afterwards, he studied to become a teacher of German, sports and history at the Pädagogische Hochschule (pedagogic university) in Münster from 1966 to 1969.
Möllemann was initially a member of the CDU from 1962 to 1969, but later on became a member of the liberal FDP in 1970; he was a member of the Bundestag (Federal Assembly) from 1972 to 2000 and again from 2002 to 2003. Möllemann led his party in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) from 1983 to 1994 and again from 1996 to 2002, and also was the chairman of the FDP fraction in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia from June 2000 to October 2002.
In the 2002 national election, he was accused of using illegal money for producing a leaflet criticizing Ariel Sharon's actions against Palestinians and Michel Friedman's endorsement of those actions; the flyer was regarded as antisemitic by some, and the debate surrounding these events led to Möllemann leaving the FDP in March 2003 and resigning his position as NRW party leader; however, he kept his seat in the Bundestag without party affiliation, despite promises to resign from it. He died June 5, 2003 in a parachuting accident in Marl-Loemühle which police officials consider a possible suicide; however, investigations are still ongoing.
Current investigations are based on the claim that he used his political position to arrange arms deals, thereby illegally receiving millions of euros and avoiding taxes. The tax evasion claims were dropped after his death, while other investigations are ongoing. On the grounds of these accusations, the Bundestag cancelled his parliamentary immunity on June 5, 2003 at 12:28, 22 minutes before his death.
Möllemann was president of the Deutsch-Arabische Gesellschaft (German-Arabic Society) from 1981 to 1991 and from 1993 to 2003, until his death. He also was a passionate parachuter, and often used his drops for campaigning purposes prior to elections.
He was married to Carola Möllemann-Appelhoff, with whom he had three daughters.
