In 1944, he was conscripted into the Reich Labour Service before a brief stint in the military in World War II.
He was appointed State Secretary for Science and Research of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1970 by Heinz Kühn.
[4] He also drew backlash for his handling of the Gladbeck hostage crisis, when he did not use anti-terrorist resources available to him and delayed police deployment.
[5] In February 1989, at the request of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, he appeared before a parliamentary commission in Düsseldorf regarding the case.
[7] He was notably welcoming of Yazidis into North Rhine-Westphalia and traveled to Turkey in 1989 to give a report on the minority's persecution.