KARL BRAHMS

Karl Brahms (Karl Johann Brahms, born 16 March 1913 in Merseburg (Germany), died 3 September 2010 in Iefte (Kronenburg)) was a Kronenburg CFK politician and in that capacity minister of foreign affairs from 1965 to 1969.

Family
Karl Brahms was a communist and therefore he fled nazi-Germany in 1937, together with his wife Christine Wittgenstein (1916 - 1987). Through Canada they arrived in Kronenburg, where the local national-socialist party, NSPK, had just lost the elections of 1936. The NSPK committed a coup d'état however in 1938. Three years later things had become too dangerous for the Brahmses and they fled back to Europe, this time to Ireland. In 1942 their daughter Sonja was born there, in 1944 their son Werner. In 1947 the family returned to Kronenburg. Both children became politicians in their adult lives: Sonja became minister of social affairs and subsequently the fourth prime minister of Kronenburg; Werner was chairman of the Westkamer from 1989 to 1997 and after that Kronenburg ambassador in Gissel and Norway.

CFK-politician
After the war, Karl Brahms became an active member of the CFK, the communist party of Kronenburg. He was noted by the general public for his touching German accent. For a while he was chairman of the party (1952 to 1954) and a member of the municipal council of Friescheburg, and from 1957 to 1965 he was a member of the Noordkamer for his party. In 1965 he became minister of foreign affairs in the all CFK government under vice-president Max Fultsema. During his term, he had great trouble communicating with the United States, that regarded the Kronenburg communist government with great suspicion.

The 1968 elections proved disastrous for the CFK; unexpectedly, as polls had indicated otherwise, the party lost its majority and went into opposition. It was often thought that the elections were rigged and in 2011 even some wikileaks suggested that, but official proof of it has not yet been found. Karl Brahms was very disappointed and left politics in 1969.