Windelen was born in
Bolkenhain,
Silesia (now
Bolków, Poland), the third of eight children of Engelbert and Anna Windelen. His father was an active member of the
Zentrumspartei and the
Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold. Former Chancellor
Joseph Wirth visited Windelen's family several times. Windelen passed his
Abitur in 1939 in
Striegau and was drafted to the mandatory
Reichsarbeitsdienst. In 1940, he began studying physics and chemistry at the
University of Breslau. In 1941, he was conscripted into the
Wehrmacht and became a POW in 1945 with the rank of a
Feldwebel. Notably, he did not become an officer because of his distance to the Nazi regime. He came as a
refugee to
West Germany following
The Expulsion in 1945, and became a member of the CDU in 1946. Windelen was a member of the Bundestags from 1957 to 1990. In 1969, he became Federal Minister for the Expellees. Windelen was Vice-president of the Bundestages (1981–1983) and Bundesminister for intra-German relations (1983–1987). He was honorary chairman of CDU in
North Rhine-Westphalia. He died at the age of 93 on 16 February 2015. == Honours ==