Preusker, Victor-Emanuel

Banker, politician (Member of the Bundestag)

Born: 25.02.1913 in Berlin

died: 13.05.1991 in Bonn

Preusker completed a banking apprenticeship and initially studied law from 1931 until he switched to economics and business administration. He completed his studies in 1937 with a degree in business administration and obtained his doctorate in 1940. He had been a member of the SS since 1933. From 1932-38 he worked as an economist at Dresdner Bank in Berlin. He then worked for Deutsche Bank in Vienna from 1938. In 1940-45, he took part in the Second World War as an officer in the air force.

After the end of the war, he set up a woodworking business in Rotenburg/Fulda that produced toys and teaching aids. In addition, he worked as a consultant economist from 1949-53 and became managing partner of Bankhaus Hardy & Co. GmbH in Frankfurt am Main in 1958.

As a co-founder of the FDP, he was General Secretary of the Hesse regional association from 1947-49 and editor of the Hesse FDP newspaper "Deutscher Kurier". In 1949 and 1953, he was directly elected to the Bundestag for the FDP in the Wiesbaden constituency and in 1957 via the DP state list for North Rhine-Westphalia. He was Vice-President of the German Bundestag from 1958-60 and also a member of the European Parliament from 1952-54, where he held the office of Vice-Chairman of the Committee on the Common Market. In the Federal Government led by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, he served as Federal Minister for Housing Construction from 1953-57.

After leaving the government, he became managing director and co-owner or co-partner in various banks: Bankhaus Hardy & Co. (1958-62); Bankhaus Preusker & Thelen (1963-70); Orbis Bank Munich (1968). He was President of the Central Association of German House and Property Owners from 1958-71 and subsequently its Honorary President.