Hanns Martin Schleyer

Hanns Martin Schleyer

Hans "Hanns" Martin Schleyer (German pronunciation: [ˈhans ˈmaʁtiːn ˈʃlaɪɐ]; 1 May 1915 – 18 October 1977) was a German business executive, and employer and industry representative, and SS officer who served as president of two powerful commercial organizations, the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (German: Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI). Schleyer became a target for radical elements of the German student movement in the 1970s for his role in those business organisations, positions in the labour disputes, aggressive appearance on television, conservative anti-communist views, position as a prominent member of the Christian Democratic Union, and past as an enthusiastic member of the Nazi student movement and a former SS officer. He was kidnapped on 5 September 1977 by the far left Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion, RAF) and subsequently murdered; his driver and police escort of three policemen were also killed when his car was ambushed. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Hanns Martin Schleyer has received more than 375,610 page views. His biography is available in 20 different languages on Wikipedia. Hanns Martin Schleyer is the 221st most popular social activist (down from 191st in 2019), the 1,942nd most popular biography from Germany (down from 1,759th in 2019) and the 17th most popular German Social Activist.