Hans Dietrich Genscher

HansDietrich Genscher was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party , who served as Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor from 1974 to 1992 , making him the longestserving occupant of either post. In 1991 he was chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe .

Genscher was born onMarch 1927 in Reideburg , now a part of Halle, in what later became East Germany. He was the son of Hilda Kreime and Kurt Genscher. His father, a lawyer, died when Genscher was nine years old. In 1943, he was drafted to serve as a member of the Air Force Support Personnel at the age of 16. At age 17, close to the end of the war, he and his fellow soldiers became members of the Nazi Party due to a collective application by his Wehrmacht unit. He later said he was unaware of it at the time.

Source: Wikipedia