government, in consideration of the fact that it had lost its effective parliamentary majority and that parliamentary work was stalled, reacted by deliberately losing a vote of confidence, which then allowed the President of Germany, Gustav Heinemann to dissolve the Bundestag and call early elections, which Brandt and the SPD handily won. 1972 was the only time between the war and German reunification that saw the SPD place first in a federal German election, and it still represents the SPD's high-water mark as a vote share. That year's elections had the highest turnout of any German federal election at 91.1%, one of the highest turnouts ever recorded in national elections without mandatory voting. Within the CDU group of the German parliament, Barzel's credibility suffered when it became apparent that he had lied about substantial outside income from work as a lawyer outside parliament. It was neither the lost no-confidence motion nor the lost parliamentary elections that, on 8 May 1973, eventually prompted Barzel to resign from both the CDU party chair and the leadership of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. It was the refusal by the parliamentary group to support a government bill for the accession of both German states to the United Nations. In 1982, Barzel married the political scientist Helga Henselder-Barzel. He resigned from politics in 1984 after he was accused of being entangled in the Flick affair, a charge rejected by the Flick inquiry committee and the prosecuting authorities two years later. Barzel died in Munich, Bavaria, after a long illness, on 26 August 2006, aged 82. Publications Gesichtspunkte eines Deutschen. Düsseldorf, Econ 1968 Unterwegs – Woher und wohin? München, Droemer Knaur 1982 Im Streit und umstritten. Anmerkungen zu Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard und den Ostverträgen. Berlin, Ullstein 1986 Geschichten aus der Politik. Persönliches aus meinem Archiv. Berlin, Ullstein 1987 Die Tür blieb offen – Ostverträge-Misstrauensvotum-Kanzlersturz. Bonn, Bouvier 1998, Ein gewagtes Leben. Stuttgart, Hohenheim 2001, Notes References Further reading Michael F. Feldkamp (ed.), Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt - Funktion - Person. 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007, 1924 births 2006 deaths German World War II pilots People from Braniewo German Roman Catholics Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 1983–1987 Members of the Bundestag 1980–1983 Members of the Bundestag 1976–1980 Members of the Bundestag 1972–1976 Members of the Bundestag 1969–1972 Members of the Bundestag 1965–1969 Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965 Members