Walter Kolbow

Walter Kolbow
Parliamentarian State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Defense
 Germany
In office
27th October 1998 – 22nd November 2005
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by Christian Schmidt
Member of the Bundestag
In office
5th October 1980 – 27th September 2009
Personal details
Born (1944-04-27) April 27, 1944
Spittal an der Drau
Nationality  Germany
Political party Social Democratic Party of Germany
Alma mater University of Würzburg
Profession Lawyer

Walter Kolbow (born 27 April 1944, in Spittal an der Drau) is a retired German politician (SPD). He was Parliamentary State Secretary[1] (1998-2005) in the Federal Ministry of Defense, as well as deputy chairman of SPD Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag (2005-2009).

Live and Profession

After primary school in Ingolstadt and Ochsenfurt (Bavaria), his Abitur at Röntgen-Gymnasium Würzburg in 1964 Kolbow served the compulsory military duty until 1966 at the German Air Force. Today he is Captain of the reserve. Afterwards, Kolbow studied law at the University of Würzburg and the „Deutsche Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften“ in Speyer. In 1970 he obtained the „Erstes Juristisches Staatsexamen“ and in1974 the „Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen“. The year after, Kolbow started working for the local administration of Frankfurt. Between 1978 and 1980 he did scientific research for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Today Kolbow is counsel of the Berlin Consulting Group supporting public and private institutions in the field of health in Europe. Furthermore, Walter Kolbow is married and has two children. His son, Alexander Kolbow (SPD), is city councillor of Würzburg.

Party

Kolbow joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1967. Until 2008 he was chairman of the regional section of Unterfranken (Bavaria). Today he is its honorary chairman.

Besides, Kolbow is chairman of the “Commission on Security and Bundeswehr Issues” which gives advice to SPD´s federal steering committee.

Parliamentarian

Between 1972 until 1976 Kolbow was member of the city council of Ochsenfurt, as well as between 1978 until 1981 of Würzburg. Since 1980 he was Member of the German Bundestag.[2] Between 1994 until 1998 Kolbow was chief responsible for defense matters of the SPD Paralemtary Group. As a result of the Federal elections of 1998 he joined the Federal Government and was appointed as Parliamentarian State Secretary at the Ministry of Defense until 2005. Within this period of time he was Germany´s “Humanitarian Representative to Macedonia” coordinating humanitarian aid in Macedonia.[3] Moreover, Kolbow is well respected for his commitment for injured German soldiers because of radar radiation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[4]

In addition to that, he was vice chairperson of the SPD Paralemtary Group,[5] responsible for foreign and development politics, defense matters and human rights since 2005. After 29 years of parliamentary work Kolbow retired from the German Bundestag in 2009.

Distinctions

References

  1. ↑ (de) http://webarchiv.bundestag.de/cgi/show.php?fileToLoad=1365&id=1118| Biography at German Bundestag
  2. ↑ (de) http://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/walter+kolbow/0/22832.html| Munzinger Archiv
  3. ↑ (de) http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-14115582.html| DER SPIEGEL 31/1999
  4. ↑ (de) http://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/politik/article500026/Radar-Opfer-Bundeswehr-lenkt-ein.html| Berliner Morgenpost, “Radaropfer: Bundeswehr lenkt ein”
  5. ↑ (eng) http://www.theguardian.com/profile/walter-kolbow| The Guardian, Profile of Walter Kolbow
  6. ↑ (de) http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/Bekanntgabe-Ordensverleihung/1210-bekanntgabe-der-verleihungen.html| German Federal President
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