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Walther Gottlieb Louis Leisler Kiep (born 5 January 1926) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a member of the Bundestag between 1965 and 1976 and again from 1980 to 1982. After switching into state-level politics, he served as minister of economy (1976–77) and minister of finance (1976–80) in Lower Saxony under Ernst Albrecht. In 1982, Kiep was the leading candidate for the CDU in two successive state elections in Hamburg, losing both to incumbent Klaus von Dohnányi. From 1971 until 1992, he was treasurer of his party at a federal level. In this position, Kiep installed a system of unreported income accounts, leading to the CDU donations scandal in 1999. ==Life and family== Coming from a liberal family, Kiep was born on 5 January 1926 in Hamburg to Louis Leisler Kiep, a navy captain and business man, and Eugenie Maria Anna vom Rath. Kiep went to school in Hamburg and Istanbul, achieving his Abitur in 1943 before joining the Wehrmacht.〔 On 20 April 1944, Adolf Hitler's birthday, he joined the NSDAP. In the same year his uncle, Otto Carl Kiep, was executed by the Nazis for his membership in the Kreisau Circle. After the war, he started to study history and economics, but did not graduate.〔 Before moving into politics, he worked for the Insurance Company of North America from 1948 to 1955. Starting in 1955, he worked for a company called ''Gradmann und Holler'', an insurance broker company for large businesses. Kiep owned 15 percent of the company in 1982. His involvement with Gradmann und Holler sparked controversy. When Kiep became minister in Lower Saxony in 1976, Volkswagen and other local companies went into business with Gradmann and Holler, creating a possible conflict of interest for the minister. Kiep also served on Volkswagen's board of directors. Kiep denied abusing his power as minister, claiming that the deal with Volkswagen had been financially damaging rather than profitable for his company.〔 Due to his successful business ventures, Kiep was considered to be one of the richest politicians in Germany. In an interview, Kiep told Playboy that he could live well just from the interest from his savings.〔 Since 1950, Kiep has been married to Charlotte Kiep, born 1920, daughter of IG Farben board member and convicted war criminal Fritz ter Meer. They met when Kiep was only thirteen years old. He needed to visit Fritz ter Meer in Landsberg Prison to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. They had four children together, sons Walther, Michael and daughters Charlotte and Christiane.〔 Their second son, Michael Jürgen, died in 1975, aged 24. The parents started a foundation for young journalists in his name. From a previous marriage of his wife's, Kiep is stepfather to another son, Edmund.〔 On 30 November 1974, an assassination attempt was made on Kiep, during which a man fired three shots at the door of his sauna. Kiep was uninjured and alarmed the police. The assassin was never found and leads hinting towards involvement of the Red Army Faction proved inconclusive. As the German magazine Der Spiegel wrote a year later, some party colleagues allegedly considered it possible that Kiep had staged the attack himself.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walther Leisler Kiep」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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