
Our German Bohemian Legacy
by
Robert J. Paulson
GBHS Founder
Rudi Kiefner
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Rudi Kiefner
Rudi Kiefner
Rudolf Kiefner


On this 2nd of February, the county counselor Rudolf Kiefner, Member of the SL Federal Assembly, SL Deputy Prime Minister in Hesse, SL-Kreisobmann and BdV district chairman of the old circle Melsungen, head of the Egerländer Costume group of the district of Bischoßeinitz, district member in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis etc., in Kassel closed his eyes forever.
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Rudolf Kiefner was born on 5 March 1934 in Bischoßeinitz in the Sudetenland. The second son of the manager and owner Josef Kiefner and his wife Anna Anna. Wanka. He spent his childhood in Ronsperg, where he attended elementary school.
Due to the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from their homeland he came on May 5, 1946 with a transport of displaced persons to the former district of Melsungen, to Wolfershausen. Since he attended elementary school and learned the profession of retail salesman.
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In 1956 he came to Kassel as a wholesale merchant and met his wife Rosemarie, whom he married in 1963. In 1965 daughter Martina was born, in 1968 her daughter Karmen. From 1967 he worked as an industrial clerk of a large corporation, with which he led the way throughout Germany in a responsible position.
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As co-founder of the Egerländer Trachtengruppe
Since 1942, he has been head of this group since 1952. The Egerlander folk group contributes the understanding of our national identity in Germany, Europe and America. Rudolf Kiefner, who has been the local supervisor of the city of Ronsperg since 1960, has been a member of the Sudetenland Landsmannschaft since 1956. He was Kreisobmann, Deputy State Chairman of Hessen and member of the Federal Assembly of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft. As the Heimatkreisbetruer of his home district, Bischofteinitz, he endeavored to preserve the cultural heritage in the Patenshaft of Furth i. Wald.
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For example, Rudolf Kiefner was awarded the Federal Medal of Merit for 1973 as a youngster, and in 1985 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on the ribbon from the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
He received high honors from the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft, such as the awarding of the gold medal, the honorary certificate of the speaker, the Lodgman badge, the Adalbert-Stifter Medal for the Egerlander Trachtengruppe in 1965, and the People's Prize of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft in 1981 and recognition of the ethnic group.
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As a local politician, he had been active in the municipal council and in the city and county parliament since 1960, and in 1986 was named honorary councilor of the city of Felsberg. Always connected to his homeland, the Egerland, Hater worked for the state of Hessen and was honored with the honorary letter of the country.
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With the support of his family, and in particular his wife Rosemarie, he has always endeavored to work for his Sudeten German homeland as well as for culture and culture. Photograpy had been his fondness for years and a foundation for several documentaries.
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Rudolf Kiefner's funeral was on February 5, 1993 in Wolfershausen. The gap he leaves not only touches on his family, who have our most sincere condolences, but also on his hometown of Bischofteinitz the Egerlander and the Sudeten Germans into the USA and Canada. He remains our example!
Rudi Kiefner
