Hans Apel

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Hans Eberhard Apel (25 February 1932 – 6 September 2011) was a German politician from the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He came from Hamburg, finished his Abitur in 1954, did an apprenticeship in import and export, studied economics, and earned a PhD in political science in 1960. He joined the SPD in 1955 and worked for European institutions before entering national politics.

Apel was a member of the German Bundestag from 1965 to 1990. He held several leadership roles in the SPD, serving as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group (1969–1972 and 1983–1988) and as a member of the SPD’s national leadership (1970–1988). From 1972 to 1974 he was Parliamentary State Secretary for European questions at the Foreign Office.

In government, Apel was the Finance Minister of West Germany from 1974 to 1978 under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, and then the Defence Minister from 1978 to 1982. He left the cabinet in 1982 when Helmut Kohl became chancellor.

In 1985, he ran as the SPD’s top candidate to become Mayor of Berlin but was defeated by Eberhard Diepgen. After leaving active politics, he spoke about religion and, in 2004, received the Walter Künneth Prize for his book Volkskirche ohne Volk, which criticized the Evangelical Church. He later left the North Elbian Evangelical Church and joined the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

Apel was married to Ingrid since 1956, and they had two daughters. He died in Hamburg in 2011 at age 79.