Günther Dohmen 75 years of the Basic Law – with student “midwife” from Heidelberg
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law, whose entry into force on 23 May 1949 also marked the birth of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1948/49, the then Heidelberg AStA Chairman Günther Dohmen was also involved in the drafting of the Basic Law in the Parliamentary Council. Five years ago, at the age of 92, the now deceased Günther Dohmen told us in an alumni interview how he became a student guest at the deliberations, why Council President Konrad Adenauer ate with him in the Heidelberg Marstall canteen, what he had to do with the right to conscientious objection and other fascinating anecdotes from his eventful life.
"We will cover travel expenses, accommodation and meals, but please bring your own bed linen!", Günther Dohmen recalls Adenauer's telegram saying. The President of the Parliamentary Council also wanted representatives of the younger generation to take part in the consultations, so the Council's Council of Elders invited the then 22-year-old, who had achieved a certain degree of fame as the Heidelberg AStA chairman, to attend the meetings as a representative of the student body without voting rights. Günther Dohmen agreed and was initially one of ten student guests – but the interest of the others soon waned: “Most of them preferred to finish their studies quickly, as it was important at the time to be able to earn money quickly in order to get back on their feet,” recalled the later Tübingen education professor.
Günther Dohmen, on the other hand, was very interested in the work of the Parliamentary Council and took part in all the important meetings. As the young student did not miss the opportunity to speak during the deliberations, Adenauer approached him one day in the canteen. The CDU politician wanted to know why the younger generation took so little interest in the work of the Parliamentary Council, and Günther Dohmen's comments resulted in Adenauer inviting him to his home for dinner, where they continued their discussion. In the end, Adenauer said: “Can't you write all this down for me and bring it to my office – tomorrow morning if possible? I wrote it down that night and Adenauer used it in a speech he gave for the newly founded Junge Union.” Dohmen then invited Adenauer as well as Carlo Schmid, the chairman of the main committee, to Heidelberg to discuss the work of the Council with the students – and both accepted his invitation, so that the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany was among the guests in the Marstall canteen.
In the new constitution, Günther Dohmen, who was deployed as a 16-year-old air force helper in 1943 and experienced the horrors of war as a very young soldier, was particularly interested in the right to conscientious objection. “As a guest, I was of course unable to ask for this right to be included in the Basic Law myself, but Fritz Eberhard, who later became the director of Süddeutscher Rundfunk, took up the issue and gave me a lot of support,” he recalled. "The SPD MP Friederike Nadig then officially submitted the corresponding motion – but it was my wording! I am still proud that this paragraph was included in the Basic Law with only a few dissenting votes."