Hans–Eberhard Dingels, former International Secretary of the SPD, will be laid to rest in his home-town Bonn on the 8th of April 2014.
The following text by Dr. Ernst Stetter and Dr. Klaus Voll remembers an outstanding German and European Social Democrat of our time.
For thirty-‐one years, from 1964 until 1995, Hans-‐Eberhard Dingels was the head of the Department of International Relations of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The end of the Cold War, Willy Brandt’s Ost-‐Politik and Germany’s integration into Western Europe as well as its opening up to the wider world required at the operative level of the party a man of his stature.
Dingels, who studied law and political science in Bonn, was a well‐read man with a keen interest in international affairs, which he practiced already in socialist youth organizations before he became International Secretary of the SPD. As a permanent member of the Bureau of the Socialist International (SI), Dingels occupied several positions, amongst them as a member of the Middle East SIDelegation, led by former Austrian Chancellor Dr. Bruno Kreisky from 1972–1976. He advised the SI Presidents (former French Prime Minister) Pierre Mauroy and former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres between 1975 and 2000.
Towards the end of the Second World War, Hans-Eberhard Dingels encountered members of the Indian National Army, led by the legendary Subhas Chandra Bose. His keen interest in India, Burma and Asian Affairs lasted throughout his life, with professional and personal relations to a whole galaxy of Indian socialists, amongst them the prominent trade unionist Ashoka Mehta and George Fernandes, who, in his last ministerial function, was India’s Defence Minister. Dingels and Fernandes communicated over a period of nearly fifty years. Dingels saw India, although not uncritically, as one of the big powers of the future International System.
Dingels, endowed with a sense of sublime, yet never hurtful humour and irony, regretted in his later years the “resistance to advice” on international affairs by parts of the German political class. Looking back to his life, he was proud of being able to free some political prisoners and to have professionally promoted young men and especially also women.
He kept a sophisticated personal library at his home and was always ready to interact with young students and academics, who specialized in areas of his competence. Dingels, who even studied economics after his retirement, contributed some articles on international affairs, also highlighting common interests of Europe and India in West Asia. He was very knowledgeable about Iran and Afghanistan.
His former colleagues and friends in Europe and world-‐wide will miss this truly excellent and unassuming man of knowledge and deep professional expertise, who, as a German, European - particularly also vis‐à-vis France and its Socialist Party - and Internationalist, contributed in his own way to the international relations of our times.
When you called him from far away, he always started the conversation: “How is the state of play?” Today we have to answer: “Hans‐Eberhard, sincerely, we miss you!”.
Leaders Must Choose a Just Energy Transition and a Social Europe
by Euractiv 30/05/2022
The circular economy and green jobs
by ENCOMPASS 25/05/2022
Da Prodi a Rodrigues, domani al via la ’Terza conferenza sul futuro dell’Europa’
by La Nazione 25/05/2022
Visioni e strategie per disegnare il futuro europeo
by La Nazione 23/05/2022
XWe use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”,
you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent. Read MoreREJECTACCEPTCookie settings
Manage consent
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
csrftoken
past
This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
JSESSIONID
session
The JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
S
1 hour
Used by Yahoo to provide ads, content or analytics.
sp_landing
1 day
The sp_landing is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
sp_t
1 year
The sp_t cookie is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
iutk
session
This cookie is used by Issuu analytic system to gather information regarding visitor activity on Issuu products.
s_vi
2 years
An Adobe Analytics cookie that uses a unique visitor ID time/date stamp to identify a unique vistor to the website.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
NID
6 months
NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.