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Rainer Barzel
Rainer Candidus Barzel (born June 20 1924) is a German CDU Politician. He served as Chairman of the CDU from 1971 and 1973 and ran as the CDU's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1972 federal elections, losing to Willy Brandt's SPD.
The 1972 election is commonly regarded as an indirect referendum on Chancellor Brandt's Ostpolitik (eastern policy), which called for normalized relations with East Germany and the USSR, and which Barzel vehemently opposed. In May 1972, an attempt by Barzel and the CDU to call a motion of no confidence against Brandt's government failed by a narrow margin.
Barzel served as Minister of Intra-German Relations (1982-1983) in Helmut Kohl's cabinet, and as President of the Bundestag (1983-1984). He resigned from politics in 1984.
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