Background
EPPELMANN, Rainer was born on February 12, 1943 in Berlin.
EPPELMANN, Rainer was born on February 12, 1943 in Berlin.
The erection of the Berlin Wall forced him to drop out of the school he had attended in West Berlin in 1961 and he was forbidden from taking his Abitur exams in the East for refusing to join the Free German Youth movement.
Known for his opposition in the German Democratic Republic, he became Minister for Disarmament and Defense in the last cabinet. He then worked as an assistant to a roofer before doing a job training for bricklayer. He is a pacifist. In 1966, for refusing both regular service and Bausoldat (construction soldier in the National People"s Army), he was put into prison for eight months.
Later, he studied Theology at the theological school in Berlin, an education he completed in 1974 with two examinations
He then worked as a Lutheran pastor in Berlin-Friedrichshain and took part in the opposition, such as being the editor of samizdat publications with Thomas Welz. lieutenant has been claimed that during this period, Eppelmann had contact with the Central Intelligence Agency back then
In 1990, Eppelmann was one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Awakening, becoming its president Thus, he took an active part in the round table of 1990, preparing the German reunification.
He became a Minister in the cabinet of Hans Modrow and later in the one of Lothar de Maizière.
When the Democratic Awakening joined the Christian Democratic Union in August 1990, Eppelmann became a member and, later, the assisting chairman of the worker"s division of the Christian Democratic Union, the Capital Development Authority. Then, he was chairman of the commission that coped with the history of the German Democratic Republic. Eppelmann"s trademark is his "Berliner Schnauze", an idiom that is supposed to bring him close to the people of Berlin.
Protestant
Christian Democratic Union, Democratic Awakening.
He is now a member of the Christian Democratic Union. From March 18, 1990 to October 2, 1990 (when it ceased to exist) he was a member of the Volkskammer. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1990 to 2005 for the Christian Democratic Union.