Hans Mühlenfeld

Dr Hans Mühlenfeld
Ambassador Mühlenfeld (left) being received by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, 12 May 1953.
Ambassador of Germany to Australia
In office August 1958 – September 1962
Preceded by	Walther Hess
Succeeded by	Joachim Ritter
Lower Saxony Minister of Culture
In office 12 June 1963 – 24 April 1965
Prime Minister	Georg Diederichs
Preceded by	Richard Voigt
Succeeded by	Richard Langeheine
Member of the Bundestag
In office 7 September 1949 – 15 May 1953
Constituency	Lower Saxony List
Personal details
Born	11 September 1901 Hannover, Province of Hanover, Prussia
Died	14 October 1969 (aged 68) Isernhagen, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Political party	DP (1947–1960) FDP (1960–1967)

Dr Hans Mühlenfeld (11 September 1901 – 14 October 1969) was a German politician and diplomat who served as the second Ambassador to Australia and Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Early life and education

Born in Hannover, Province of Hanover, Prussia, on 11 September 1901, after school education Mühlenfeld studied law and political science at the University of Göttingen where he was granted his doctor of law. In the summer semester of 1929 he became a member of the Burschenschaft (fraternity) Hannovera. After passing his state examination, he worked as a corporate lawyer.

Political and diplomatic career

After the war in 1945, Mühlenfeld was a co-founder and from 1950 deputy chairman of the German Party (DP). In 1947 he was elected as a member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony and in 1949 Mühlenfeld was elected on the Lower Saxony List of the German Party in the first Bundestag. As parliamentary Group Vice Chairman, in September 1950 Mühlenfeld took over as Parliamentary Chairman of the German party after the death of Friedrich Klinge.^[1]

Mühlenfeld resigned from the Bundestag on 15 May 1953 in order to take up an appointment as Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Netherlands. This office he held until 1958, when he was appointed to succeed Walther Hess as Ambassador to Australia, where he served until 1962.^[2] As Ambassador he facilitated a donation of 1000 modern German books to the National Library of Australia and an exhibition of fine German works of literature.^[3]

After the merger of the German Party in 1960 he left his former party and returned to the Landtag of Lower Saxony from 1963 to 1967 as a member of the FDP. From 1963 to 1965 he served in the state SDP-FDP government of Georg Diederichs as Minister of Culture.^[4]

References

1. "Mühlenfeld, Hans" in Munzinger Online/Personen - Internationales Biographisches Archiv, URL: http://www.munzinger.de/document/00000004304 (abgerufen von nicht angemeldet am 13.11.2015)
2. "NEW ENVOY ARRIVES.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) (ACT: National Library of Australia). 29 August 1958. p. 5. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
3. "Gift Of 1,000 German Books To Australia.". The Canberra Times (ACT: National Library of Australia). 25 September 1958. p. 3. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
4. "Die Niedersächsischen Kultusministerinnen und Kultusminister seit 1946". Niedersachsen.de. Niedersächsischen Kultusministerium. Retrieved 13 November 2015.