Who was the first president of Germany?
President of Germany
Friedrich Ebert (SPD) served as Germany's first president, followed by Paul von Hindenburg. The office effectively came to an end upon Hindenburg's death in 1934 and its powers merged with those of chancellor. Adolf Hitler now ruled Germany as "Führer und Reichskanzler", combining his previous positions in party and government. The office, however, was not abolished and briefly revived at the end of the Second World War when Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor as President of Germany. Dönitz agreed to the surrender to the Allies and was arrested a few days later.
2012 German presidential election
An early indirect presidential election (officially the 15th Federal Convention) was held in Germany on 18 March 2012, the last possible day following the resignation of Christian Wulff as President of Germany on 17 February 2012. Joachim Gauck was elected on the first ballot by a Federal Convention, consisting of the 620 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of members selected by the states of Germany based on proportional representation.
1932 in Germany
President
Weimar Republic
Germany became a "de facto" republic on 9 November 1918 when Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the German and Prussian thrones with no agreement made on a succession by his son Crown Prince Wilhelm, and became a "de jure" republic in February 1919 when the position of President of Germany was created. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for Germany was written and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism (with paramilitaries—both left- and right-wing) as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. Resentment in Germany towards the Treaty of Versailles was strong especially on the political right where there was great anger towards those who had signed the Treaty and submitted to fulfill the terms of it. The Weimar Republic fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never completely met its disarmament requirements and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations (by twice restructuring its debt through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan). Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the country by abandoning irredentist claims on France and Belgium, but continued to dispute the eastern borders and sought to persuade German-speaking Austria to join Germany as one of Germany's states.
Germany Foundation
The Germany Foundation () was a German organisation associated with the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, that existed from 1966 to 2007. It was founded in Rosenheim in Bavaria and incorporated in 1967. The organisation was founded by author Kurt Ziesel after a visit to Konrad Adenauer, who became its first honorary president. From 1967 to 2001 the foundation awarded the Konrad Adenauer Prize and published the magazine "Deutschland-Magazin". The foundation was viewed as an organisation of the conservative faction within CDU/CSU, and was staunchly anti-communist.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
In 1934, after the death of President Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler, already Chancellor, assumed the Presidency, but did not usually use the title of President – ostensibly out of respect for Hindenburg – and preferred to rule as "Führer und Reichskanzler" ("Leader and Reich Chancellor"), highlighting the positions he already held in party and government. In his last will in April 1945, Hitler named Joseph Goebbels his successor as Chancellor but named Karl Dönitz as "Reichspräsident", thus reviving the individual office for a short while until the German surrender.
1928 in Germany
President
1927 in Germany
President
President of Germany (1919–1945)
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany established the office of Federal President ("Bundespräsident"), which is, however, a chiefly ceremonial post largely devoid of political power.
2010 German presidential election
On 2 July 2010 Wulff was sworn into office as President of Germany.
Eduard von Simson
Martin Sigismund Eduard von Simson (10 November 1810 – 2 May 1899) was a German jurist and distinguished liberal politician of the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, who served as President of the Frankfurt Parliament as well as the first President of the German Parliament and of the Imperial Court. He was ennobled by Frederick III in 1888.
President of Germany
If the president dies, resigns or is otherwise removed from office, a successor is to be elected within thirty days. Horst Köhler, upon his resignation on May 31, 2010, became the first president to trigger this re-election process. Jens Böhrnsen, President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and at the time President of the Bundesrat, assumed the powers and duties of head of state. Similarly, when Christian Wulff resigned in 2012, it was Horst Seehofer, Minister-President of Bavaria, as President of the Bundesrat, who assumed the powers and duties of head of state. When Heinrich Lübke, on the other hand, announced his resignation in 1968, it only came into effect the following year, a mere three months before the scheduled end of his term and after the expedited election of his successor. Back in 1949 Karl Arnold, at the time Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and President of the Bundesrat, also acted as head of state for a few days: after the Basic Law had come into effect and he himself was elected as President of the Bundesrat, the first President of Germany was not yet elected and the office therefore vacant.
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a West German liberal politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1959. Beside the stern chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Heuss' cordial manners largely contributed to the stabilization of democracy in West Germany during the "Wirtschaftswunder" years.
List of heads of state of Germany
From 1871 to 1918 the head of state was the Emperor, who was the same person as the King of Prussia according to the Constitution. Germany became a republic under the Constitution of 1919 and the monarch was replaced by a President with semi-presidential powers. In 1934 when President von Hindenburg died, Chancellor Adolf Hitler called for a referendum in 1934 which was to merge the offices of President and Chancellor, after the result he became Führer and Chancellor.
Chancellor
The former German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany had the equivalent position of ' ("Chancellor of the Reich"), as the head of the executive. Between 1871 and 1918 the Chancellor was appointed by the German Emperor. During the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), the Chancellor was chosen by the ' and stood under his authority. This continued (formally) during the first two years of the Nazi regime until the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934. Between 1934 and 1945 Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial head of state "and" government of Nazi Germany was officially called """" (literally "Leader and Chancellor of the Reich").
Georg von Hertling
Georg Friedrich Karl Freiherr (From 1914, Graf) von Hertling (31 August 1843 – 4 January 1919) was a German politician who served as the Minister-President of Bavaria 1912–1917 and then as Minister-President of Prussia and Chancellor of the German Empire from 1917 to 1918. He was the first party politician to hold the office.
Chancellor of Germany (1949–present)
The first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, set many precedents that continue today and established the chancellorship as the clear focus of power in Germany. Under the provisions of the Basic Law giving him the power to set guidelines for all fields of policy, Adenauer arrogated nearly all major decisions to himself. He often treated his ministers as mere extensions of his authority rather than colleagues. While his successors have tended to be less domineering, the chancellor has acquired enough ex officio authority (in addition to his/her constitutional powers) that Germany is often described by constitutional law experts as a "chancellor democracy".
The chancellor determines the composition of the Federal Cabinet. The President formally appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers, on the recommendation of the chancellor; no parliamentary approval is needed. According to the Basic Law, the chancellor may set the number of cabinet ministers and dictate their specific duties. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard had the largest cabinet, with 22 ministers, in the mid-1960s. Helmut Kohl presided over 17 ministers at the start of his fourth term in 1994; the 2002 cabinet, the second of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, had 13 ministers, and the Angela Merkel cabinet as of 22 November 2005 had 15.
History of Western civilization
Evidence of the major demographic and social shifts which have taken place within Western society since World War II can be found with the elections of national level leaders: United States (Barack Obama was elected president in 2009, becoming the first African-American to hold that office), France (Nicolas Sarkozy, a president of France of Hungarian descent), Germany (Angela Merkel, the first female leader of that nation), and Australia (Julia Gillard, also the first female leader of that nation).
Heinrich Lübke
Karl Heinrich Lübke (; 14 October 1894 – 6 April 1972) was a German politician who was the second President of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1959 to 1969. Prior to his presidency he served as Federal Minister for Agriculture. The moderate conservative suffered from his deteriorating health and is known for embarrassing statements or behavior. Besides agriculture he was interested in the state of developing countries. Lübke resigned three months before the scheduled end of his second term.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
Upon "Generalfeldmarschall" von Hindenburg's death, Adolf Hitler merged the offices of Chancellor and head of state in his person. He styled himself "Führer und Reichskanzler" ("Leader and Chancellor"), but did not use the title of Reichspräsident. Upon his suicide on 30 April 1945, Hitler nominated "Großadmiral" Karl Dönitz to be President. Dönitz was arrested on 23 May 1945 and the office was dissolved.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
The law provided that the presidency was open to all German citizens who had reached 35 years of age. The direct election of the president occurred under a form of the two round system. If no candidate received the support of an absolute majority of votes cast (i.e. more than half) in a first round of voting, a second vote was held at a later date. In this round the candidate who received the support of a plurality of voters was deemed elected. A group could also nominate a substitute candidate in the second round, in place of the candidate it had supported in the first.
Karl Renner
Karl Renner (14 December 1870 – 31 December 1950) was an Austrian politician of the Socialist Party. He is often referred to as the "Father of the Republic" because he led the first government of German-Austria and the First Austrian Republic in 1919 and 1920, and was once again decisive in establishing the present Second Republic after the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, becoming its first President after World War II (and fourth overall).
Konrad Adenauer
The Free Democrat Theodor Heuss was elected the first President of the Republic, and Adenauer was elected Chancellor (head of government) on 15 September 1949 with the support of his own CDU, the Christian Social Union, the liberal Free Democratic Party, and the right-wing German Party. It was said that Adenauer was elected Chancellor by the new German parliament by "a majority of one vote – his own". At age 73, it was thought that Adenauer would only be a caretaker Chancellor. However, he would go on to hold this post for 14 years, a period spanning most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War. During this period, the post-war division of Germany was consolidated with the establishment of two separate German states, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
Friedrich Ebert
In the first German presidential election, held on 11 February 1919, five days after the "Nationalversammlung" (constituent assembly) convened in Weimar, Ebert was elected as provisional president of the German Republic. He remained in that position after the new constitution came into force and was sworn in as "Reichspräsident" on 21 August 1919. He was Germany's first-ever democratically elected head of state, and was also the first commoner, the first socialist, the first civilian and the first person from a proletarian background to hold that position. In the whole time of the unified German Reich's existence from 1871 to 1945, he was also the only head of state who was unequivocally committed to democracy.
List of presidential trips made by Joachim Gauck
This is a list of presidential visits to foreign countries made by Joachim Gauck, the former President of Germany. Gauck was elected and assumed the office for a five-year term on 18 March 2012, following the resignation of Christian Wulff and served until 18 March 2017.
Politics of Germany
The President is not obliged by Constitution to refrain from political views. He or she is expected to give direction to general political and societal debates, but not in a way that links him to party politics. Most German Presidents were active politicians and party members prior to the office, which means that they have to change their political style when becoming President. The function comprises the official residence of Bellevue Palace.
List of Chancellors of Germany
Originally, the Chancellor was only responsible to the Emperor. This changed with the constitutional reform in 1918, when the Parliament was given the right to dismiss the Chancellor. Under the 1919 Weimar Constitution the Chancellors were appointed by the directly elected President, but were responsible to Parliament. The constitution was set aside during the 1933–1945 Nazi dictatorship. During Allied occupation, no independent German government and no Chancellor existed; and the office was not reconstituted in East Germany. The 1949 Basic Law made the Chancellor the most important office in West Germany, while diminishing the role of the President.
Frankfurt Parliament
On 18 May 1848, 379 deputies assembled in the Kaisersaal and walked solemnly to the Paulskirche to hold the first session of the German national assembly, under its chairman (by seniority) . Heinrich von Gagern, one of the best-known liberals throughout Germany, was elected president of the parliament. (See this List of deputies that attended the opening of the parliament.)
President of East Germany
The sole incumbent was Wilhelm Pieck of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), elected on 11 October 1949 and re-elected in 1953 and in 1957. Shortly after the death of Pieck on 7 September 1960, the Constitution was amended. The "Law concerning the formation of the State Council" of 12 September 1960 introduced a collective head of state instead of the presidency, the State Council of East Germany. In the last, democratic phase of East Germany in 1989/90, the State Council was abolished; President of the People's Chamber Sabine Bergmann-Pohl acted as head of state.
State Council of East Germany
When the German Democratic Republic was founded in 1949, its constitution in its formal structure resembled a bourgeois, federalist democratic system in order to portray the GDR as the legitimate continuation of the prewar Weimar Republic in opposition to the separatist Federal Republic. One of the "bourgeois" features of the constitution (in Article 66) was the office of President, which was filled by Wilhelm Pieck, formerly the leader of the eastern branch of the Communist Party of Germany and now one of the two chairmen of the Socialist Unity Party.
Nazi Germany
On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted the "Law Concerning the Highest State Office of the Reich", which stated that upon Hindenburg's death the office of president would be abolished and its powers merged with those of the chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government and was formally named as "Führer und Reichskanzler" ("Leader and Chancellor") – although eventually "Reichskanzler" was quietly dropped. Germany was now a totalitarian state with Hitler at its head. As head of state, Hitler became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The new law provide an altered loyalty oath for servicemen so that they affirmed loyalty to Hitler personally rather than the office of supreme commander or the state. On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by 90 percent of the electorate in a plebiscite.
Most Germans were relieved that the conflicts and street fighting of the Weimar era had ended. They were deluged with propaganda orchestrated by Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, who promised peace and plenty for all in a united, Marxist-free country without the constraints of the Versailles Treaty. The first major Nazi concentration camp, initially for political prisoners, was opened at Dachau in 1933. Hundreds of camps of varying size and function were created by the end of the war.
20 July plot
The "first official memorial service for the resistance fighters of July 20" was held on the tenth anniversary in 1954. In his speech at the event, Theodor Heuss, the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany, said that "harsh words" were necessary, and that "There have been cases of refusal to carry out orders that have achieved historic greatness." After this speech, public opinion in Germany began to shift.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
Under the Weimar constitution, the President was directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a term of seven years; reelection was not limited.
President of Germany
Germany has a parliamentary system of government in which the chancellor is the nation's leading political figure and "de facto" chief executive. The president has a mainly ceremonial role, but he can give direction to general political and societal debates and has some important "reserve powers" in case of political instability (such as those provided for by Article 81 of the Basic Law). The German presidents have wide discretion about how they exercise their official duties.
Otto von Bismarck
In 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia, a position he would hold until 1890, with the exception of a short break in 1873. He provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. Following the victory against Austria, he abolished the supranational German Confederation and instead formed the North German Confederation as the first German national state in 1867, leading it as Federal Chancellor. This aligned the smaller North German states behind Prussia. Later receiving the support of the independent South German states in the Confederation's defeat of France, he formed the German Empire in 1871, unifying Germany with himself as Imperial Chancellor, while retaining control of Prussia at the same time. The new German nation excluded Austria, which had been Prussia's main opponent for predominance among the German states.
Roman Herzog
Roman Herzog (5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as President of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elected after the reunification of Germany. He previously served as a judge of the Federal Constitutional Court, and he was the President of the court 1987–1994. Before his appointment as a judge he was a professor of law. He received the 1997 Charlemagne Prize.
President of Germany
The office of president is open to all Germans who are entitled to vote in Bundestag elections and have reached the age of 40, but no one may serve more than two consecutive five-year terms. As yet (2017), only four presidents (Heuss, Lübke, von Weizsäcker and Köhler) have been elected for a second term and only two of them (Heuss and von Weizsäcker) completed those terms, while Lübke and Köhler resigned during their second term. The president must not be a member of the federal government or of a legislature at either the federal or state level.
List of national founders
Václav Klaus is a Czech prominent politician, later President, which agreed on dissolution of Czechoslovakia with the Slovaks. Václav Havel was the First President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Founder of modern Czech statehood is considered the First President of Czechoslovakia Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1918–1935). The Kingdom of Bohemia was formally established in 1198 by Přemysl Ottokar I, patron Saint is Saint Wenceslaus, which murder is celebrated as Statehood Day.
Makarios III was the first President of Cyprus and is often called the Father of the Nation.
Before the national unification of Germany in 1871, German nationalists sought out multiple legendary founders of the German nation, such as Arminius, Charlemagne and - as championed by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn and Richard Wagner - Henry the Fowler.
Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), the "Iron Chancellor", engineered the unification of the numerous states of Germany in 1871. 
Modern, democratic Germany was decisively shaped by the "Fathers of the Basic Law" in the 1948 Constitutional Convention at Herrenchiemsee, and by the first German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. 
For reunified Germany, the slogan ""Wir sind das Volk!"" (""We are the people!"") became symbolic, thus making all Germans founders of modern Germany.According to Anonymus the fejedelem who made the Magyars settle into the Carpathian Basin in 896 A.D. was Árpád. His dynasty reigned over the Hungarian Kingdom from the ninth century until 1301. In Hungary Stephen I of Hungary is commonly regarded as the founder of the nation. He was Hungary's first king and united the Magyar people into the Kingdom of Hungary. Amongst others, Lajos Kossuth is supposed to be the "Pater Patriae". He is known as the leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 against the Habsburgs, and therefore founder of the modern Hungarian Republic.
The Irish Free State was established after the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), in which Éamon de Valera, Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins were key leaders. However, they became antagonists in the Irish Civil War (1922–23), in which Collins and Brugha were killed and de Valera defeated. For decades, the inheritors of the opposing factions bypassed these sensitivities to honour the earlier leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, in particular the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Éamonn Ceannt, Tom Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Plunkett.
Wehrmacht
After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Adolf Hitler assumed the office of President of Germany, and thus became commander in chief. In February 1934, the Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg, acting on his own initiative, had all of the Jews serving in the "Reichswehr" given an automatic and immediate dishonorable discharge. Again, on his own initiative Blomberg had the armed forces adopt Nazi symbols into their uniforms in May 1934. In August of the same year, on Blomberg's initiative and that of the "Ministeramt" chief General Walther von Reichenau, the entire military took the Hitler oath, an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. Hitler was most surprised at the offer; the popular view that Hitler imposed the oath on the military is false. The oath read: "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath".
Otto Grotewohl
Otto Grotewohl (; 11 March 1894 – 21 September 1964) was a German politician and the first prime minister of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 until his death in 1964.
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to strengthen cooperation in western Europe through the EEC and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe. He was the first Social Democrat chancellor since 1930.
Independent politician
Joachim Gauck, President of Germany from March 2012 to March 2017 and the first Federal President without party affiliation, was to date the most prominent independent politician. In the German presidential election of 2010 he was the candidate of the Social Democrats and Greens, in 2012 the candidate of all major parties except The Left. His presidency—though his powers are limited—constitutes an exception, as Independent politicians have rarely held high office in German history, at least not since World War II. It has nevertheless happened that a presidential candidate without any chances of election by the Federal Convention was not a party member: for example, when in 1984 the Greens came up with the writer Luise Rinser.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
The first office-holder, the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert was elected by the National Assembly on 11 February 1919 on a provisional basis.
2004 German presidential election
The President of Germany ("Bundespräsident") is the titular head of state of the Federal Republic of Germany. The president's tasks are mostly ceremonial, but for the signing of all new federal laws before they go into effect. In practice however, all presidents have had informal influence on politics and society but mostly in a non-partisan way.
Friedrich Ebert
Ebert was a pivotal figure in the German Revolution of 1918–19. When Germany became a republic at the end of World War I, he became its first chancellor. His policies at that time were primarily aimed at restoring peace and order in Germany and containing the more extreme elements of the revolutionary left. In order to accomplish these goals, he allied himself with conservative and nationalistic political forces, in particular the leadership of the military under General Wilhelm Groener and the right wing "Freikorps". With their help, Ebert's government crushed a number of socialist and communist uprisings as well as those from the right, including the Kapp Putsch. This has made him a controversial historical figure.
1949 West German presidential election
Under the 1949 Basic Law, the new office of the Federal President was given less powers than the preceding office of Reich President, due to the bad experiences of the past, especially the abuse of emergency powers. Heuss therefore assumed a largely ceremonial role. However, his duties included the nomination of the first Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. Federal President Heuss took the oath of office in front of Bundestag and Bundesrat the day following his election, on September 13, 1949.
Richard von Weizsäcker
A member of the CDU since 1954, he was elected as member of parliament in 1969. He continued to hold a mandate as member of the Bundestag until he became Governing Mayor of West Berlin, following the 1981 state elections. In 1984, Richard von Weizsäcker was elected as President of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1989 he was re-elected for a second term. As yet, he is, together with Theodor Heuss, one of only two Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany, who have served two complete five-year-terms. During his second term as President on 3 October 1990, the reorganized five states of the former German Democratic Republic and East Berlin joined the Federal Republic of Germany ("German reunification"), which made von Weizsäcker the first democratically legitimized head of state of Germany as a whole since Reich President Paul von Hindenburg had died in office on 2 August 1934.
Christian Wulff
Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff (; born 1959) is a German politician and lawyer. He served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union, he served as Prime Minister of the state of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2010. He was elected President in the 30 June 2010 presidential election, defeating opposition candidate Joachim Gauck and taking office immediately, although he was not sworn in until
East Germany
On 7 October 1949, the SED established the "Deutsche Demokratische Republik" (German Democratic Republic – GDR), based on a socialist political constitution establishing its control of the anti-fascist National Front of the German Democratic Republic (NF, "Nationale Front der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik"), an omnibus alliance of every party and mass organisation in East Germany. The NF was established to stand for election to the "Volkskammer" (People's Chamber), the East German parliament. The first and only President of the German Democratic Republic was Wilhelm Pieck. However, after 1950, political power in East Germany was held by the First Secretary of the SED, Walter Ulbricht.
Germany
The president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (19 March 2017–present), is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the "Bundesversammlung" (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the "Bundestag" and an equal number of state delegates. The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the "Bundestagspräsident" (President of the "Bundestag"), who is elected by the "Bundestag" and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body. The third-highest official and the head of government is the Chancellor, who is appointed by the "Bundespräsident" after being elected by the "Bundestag".
President of East Germany
The President of the Republic () was the head of state of East Germany (German Democratic Republic) from 1949 until 1960. The office was created by the Constitution of 1949 (). The President of the Republic was elected by the People's Chamber ("Volkskammer") and the Chamber of States ("Landerkammer"), the two chambers of parliament. The office was more ceremonial in nature. If necessary, the President of the People's Chamber acted as the President of the Republic.
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (German: "Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland", or "Bundesverdienstorden", BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It was created by the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Theodor Heuss, on 7 September 1951, and has been awarded to over 200,000 individuals in total, both Germans and foreigners. Since the 1990s the number of annual awards has declined from over 4,000, first to around 2,300–2,500 per year, and now under 2,000, with a low of 1752 in 2011. In recent years women have made up a steady 30–31% of recipients. Colloquially, the decorations of the different classes of the Order are also known as the Federal Cross of Merit ("Bundesverdienstkreuz").
List of Germans
Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1949:
"(in chronological order)"
Friedrich Ebert
Ebert's first action as chancellor was to issue a series of proclamations asking the people to remain calm, stay out of the streets and to restore peace and order. It failed to work. Ebert then had lunch with Scheidemann at the Reichstag and, when asked to do so, refused to speak to the masses gathered outside. Scheidemann however seized upon the opportunity, and in hopes of forestalling whatever the Communist leader Karl Liebknecht was telling his followers at the now-former royal palace, proclaimed Germany a republic. A furious Ebert promptly reproached him: "You have no right to proclaim the Republic!" By this he meant that the decision was to be left to an elected national assembly, even if that decision might be the restoration of the monarchy. Later that day, Ebert even asked Prince Maximilian to stay on as regent, but was refused.
Heinrich von Gagern
At the Heidelberg meeting and the preliminary convention ("Vorparlament") of Frankfurt he deeply impressed the assemblies with the breadth and moderation of his views; with the result that when the German national parliament met (18 May), he was elected its first president. His influence was at first paramount, both with the Unionist party and with the more moderate elements of the Left, and it was he who was mainly instrumental in imposing the principle of a united empire with a common parliament, and in carrying the election of the Archduke John as regent. With the growing split between the Great Germans ("Grossdeutschen"), who wished the new empire to include the Austrian provinces, and the Little Germans ("Kleindeutschen"), who realized that German unity could only be attained by excluding them, his position was shaken.
President Friedrich Ebert Memorial
A permanent exhibition, which consists of ten rooms, follows the political stations of Ebert's life, and portrays the contemporary background to each section. On a round tour, visitors are informed of Germany's first president, and also receive insights into the history of the German labour movement and the general political history from the "Kaiserreich" up to the early years of the Weimar Republic.
Richard von Weizsäcker
Weizsäcker took office for his second presidential term on 1 July 1989, and in the course of it he oversaw the end of the Cold War and the Reunification of Germany. Thereupon, Weizsäcker became the first all-German Head of State since Karl Dönitz in May 1945. At midnight on 3 October 1990, during the official festivities held before the Reichstag building in Berlin to mark the moment of the reunification of Germany, President Weizsäcker delivered the only speech of the night, immediately after the raising of the flag, and before the playing of the National Anthem. His brief remarks, however, were almost inaudible, due to the sound of the bells marking midnight, and of the fireworks that were released to celebrate the moment of reunification. In those remarks he praised the accomplishment of German unity in freedom and in peace. He gave a longer speech at the act of state at the Berliner Philharmonie later that day.
Annemarie Renger
After the SPD, for the first time in German history, had won the majority of seats in the Bundestag in the 1972 federal election, Annemarie Renger on 13 December 1972, was elected President of the Bundestag – the first woman to hold this office in Germany and the first woman in the world holding such office in a freely elected parliament. Later Renger said: “"I myself proposed my running for this office to the members of our Bundestag parliamentary group. You think, they really had chosen me [for the job, had I not proposed that myself]"?“
Christian Wulff
Wulff was elected President of Germany on 2010 to follow Horst Köhler, who had resigned on 31 May 2010. He won 625 of 1242 votes on the third ballot of the Federal Convention. He became Germany's youngest president at the age of 51 and was sworn in on 2 July 2010 in front of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
Nazi Germany
Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, on 30 January 1933. The NSDAP then began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934 and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the offices and powers of the Chancellery and Presidency. A national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer (leader) of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitler's person and his word became the highest law. The government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitler's favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of "Autobahnen" (motorways). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity.
List of Presidents of Germany
The Weimar Constitution of August 1919 created the office of President of Germany (). Upon the death of Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934 the office was left vacant, with Adolf Hitler becoming head of state as "Führer und Reichskanzler". In April–May 1945, Karl Dönitz briefly became President upon the suicide of Hitler (in accordance with last will and testament of Hitler).
1926 in Germany
President
President of Germany
The modern-day position of German president is significantly different from the Reich President of the Weimar Republic – a position which held considerable power and was regarded as an important figure in political life.
President of Germany (disambiguation)
President of Germany may refer to:
Kaiser
With the Unification of Germany (aside from Austria) in 1871, there was some debate about the exact title for the monarch of those German territories (such as free imperial cities, principalities, duchies, and kingdoms) that agreed to unify under the leadership of Prussia, thereby forming the new German Empire. The first Kaiser himself preferred either "Kaiser von Deutschland" ("Emperor of Germany") or "Kaiser der Deutschen" ("Emperor of the Germans"). In the end, his chancellor Bismarck's choice "Deutscher Kaiser" ("German Emperor") was adopted as it simply connoted that the new emperor, hearkening from Prussia, was a German, but did not imply that this new emperor had dominion over all German territories, especially since the "Austrian Kaiser" would have been offended as Austria, inhabited by Germans, was still considered part of the German lands. There were only three Kaisers of the (second) German Empire. All of them belonged to the Hohenzollern dynasty, which, as kings of Prussia, had been de facto leaders of lesser Germany (Germany excluding Austria).
Hirschhorn (Neckar)
The first president of the Federal Republic of Germany, Theodor Heuss, also fondly remembers a visit to Hirschhorn in 1925 ("Von Ort zu Ort" - "From one place to another"). Lying in the grass on the left bank opposite the town and the castle, he thinks, "You can be wonderfully lazy here". Little did he know that years later this very spot would be the site of Hirschhorn's new school building. Heuss then wanted to draw some of the wooden Baroque figures in Ersheim Church - and was locked in by mistake. It was only by ringing the church bell that he was able to draw attention to his plight.
Legal status of Germany
After the "Machtergreifung" of the Nazi Party in 1933, state power had been personified more and more within Reich Chancellor ("Reichskanzler") Adolf Hitler, who upon the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934 simultaneously served as head of government and as head of state (styled "Führer" and "Reichskanzler"). Furthermore, by the final months of the war, governmental functions at all levels within Nazi Germany had been assimilated into the apparatus of the Nazi Party. Following Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945, the successor regime appointed in his political testament resigned during the cabinet's May 2 session. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, appointed Reich President in Hitler's testament, gave the task of forming a political administration to Leading Minister Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk; however, the consequent Flensburg Government did not possess any "de facto" central governmental authority within Germany, nor was it recognised by any Axis, Allied or neutral government.
President of Germany
The president is elected for a term of five years by secret ballot, without debate, by a specially convened Federal Convention which mirrors the aggregated majority position in the Bundestag (the federal parliament) and in the parliaments of the 16 German states. The convention consists of all Bundestag members, as well as an equal number of electors elected by the state legislatures in proportion to their respective populations. Since reunification, all Federal Conventions have had more than 1200 members, as the Bundestag has always had more than 600 since then. It is not required that state electors are chosen from the members of the state legislature; often some prominent citizens are chosen.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945, as World War II in Europe drew to a close. In his Final Political Testament, Hitler intended to split again the two offices he had merged: he appointed Karl Dönitz as new President, and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was to succeed him as Chancellor. Goebbels committed suicide shortly after Hitler and within days Dönitz ordered Germany's military (not political) surrender on the 7 May, which ended the war in Europe. He had by then appointed Ludwig von Krosigk as head of government and the two attempted to gather together a government. However this government was not recognised by the Allied powers and was dissolved when its members were captured and arrested by British forces on 23 May at Flensburg.
List of Presidents of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany created the office of President of the Federal Republic of Germany (). From German reunification in 1990, the President has been the head of state for all of Germany.
Philipp Scheidemann
In the German federal election held on 19 January 1919, Scheidemann was elected to the Weimar National Assembly. On 13 February 1919, the newly elected provisional German President Ebert asked him to form the first democratically elected government of Germany. A few months later, in June, he resigned with his cabinet in protest over the harsh terms imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.
Minister President of Lower Saxony
Ernst Albrecht was a candidate for the CDU nomination for President in 1979 and Chancellor in 1980, Gerhard Schröder became Chancellor of Germany in 1998, his successor Sigmar Gabriel is the current SPD chairman and Christian Wulff was elected President of Germany in 2010. Examples of Lower Saxony's influence on policy debates in federal politics include Ernst Albrecht's advocacy of financial transfers from other states and Gerhard Schröder's usage of Lower Saxony's "Bundesrat" votes in matters of fiscal and tax policy.
Council of the People's Deputies
On 13 February 1919, the Council ceased to exist and formally gave up power to the newly created government of "Ministerpräsident" Scheidemann. Scheidemann had been appointed by Friedrich Ebert, who in turn had been elected the first temporary president of Germany ("Reichspräsident") by the National Assembly.
2017 German presidential election
The 16th Federal Convention elected Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the first ballot. He entered office on 19 March 2017.
Bruno Diekmann
From May 5, 1991 – May 11, 1992, Diekmann was the oldest former Minister-President of Germany, preceded by Max Seydewitz. He is still the oldest Minister-President of the states of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), succeeded by Werner Bruschke of the GDR. If only Ministers-President of the FRG are counted, he was the oldest since March 27, 1990, preceded by Hans Ehard.
Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician (CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994 (of West Germany 1984–1990 and of the reunited Germany 1990–1994). Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, he took his first public offices in the Evangelical Church in Germany.
Christian Democratic Union of Germany
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is the think-tank of the CDU. It is named after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and first president of the CDU. The foundation offers political education, conducts scientific fact-finding research for political projects, grants scholarships to gifted individuals, researches the history of Christian democracy and supports and encourages European unification, international understanding and development-policy cooperation. Its annual budget amounts to around 120 million euro and is mostly funded by taxpayer money.
President of Germany
With the promulgation of the Grundgesetz in 1949, the office of President of the Federal Republic (in German: "Bundespräsident") was created in West Germany. Partly due to the misuse of presidential powers in the Weimar Republic, the office's powers were significantly reduced. Not only is he indirectly elected, but most of the real power was transferred to the chancellor.
Erich Eyck
Eyck enjoyed a friendship with Theodor Heuss, the first President of postwar Germany. In 1953 Heuss awarded him the Grand Cross of Merit.
List of Presidents of the Reichstag (Germany)
The President of the Reichstag was the presiding officer of the German legislature from 1871 to 1918, under the German Empire and again from 1920 to 1945, under the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.
Chancellor of Germany
When the Nazis came to power on 30 January 1933, the Weimar Constitution was "de facto" set aside. After the death of President Hindenburg in 1934, Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial party leader and chancellor, took over the powers of the president. The new official title became "Führer und Reichskanzler" (meaning "Leader and Chancellor of the Realm").
Paul von Hindenburg
The new republic held its first election on 19 January 1919. Parties representing a broad range of different constituencies ran candidates and voting was with proportional representation, so inevitably governments were formed by coalitions of parties: this time Social Democrats, Democrats, and Centrists. Ebert was elected as provisional chancellor; then the elected representatives assembled in Weimar to write a constitution. It was based on the Constitution of the German Empire written in 1871, with many of the kaiser's powers now given to a president elected for a term of seven years. The president selected the chancellor and the members of the cabinet, but with the crucial stipulation that his nominees had to be ratified by the Reichstag, which because of proportional representation required support from several parties. The constitution was adopted on 11 August 1919. Ebert was elected as provisional president.
1959 West German presidential election
An indirect presidential election (officially the 3rd Federal Convention) was held in West Germany on 1 July 1959. For the first time in the Federal Republic, the incumbent president, Theodor Heuss, was not eligible for reelection. In the buildup to the election, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer initially declared his candidacy, but then withdrew for political reasons. The Christian Democratic Union instead nominated Heinrich Lübke. The Social Democrats nominated Carlo Schmid who had been the party's caucus chair at the Parliamentary Council. The Free Democratic Party nominated the chair of its Bundestag caucus, Max Becker. Like the first contested presidential election ten years prior, it took two rounds to determine a winner. Heinrich Lübke fell two vote short of the absolute majority in the first round, winning the election with 526 votes in the second.
Legal status of Germany
Under the Potsdam Agreement the three Allied Powers, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, had agreed that a final peace agreement would have to wait on the re-establishment of a German government adequate for the purpose of agreeing to Allied peace terms. In the interim, it was intended that the Allied Control Council would act exercise all sovereign authority within Germany; while the Council of Foreign Ministers would oversee the development of new German State institutions. France was invited to membership of both bodies (although De Gaulle had not been invited to Potsdam, and refused to be bound by any agreements made there); but France from the first pursued a policy of obstructing any joint Allied actions that might lead to the re-emergence of Germany as a single unified state. Consequently, any establishment of formal institutions or agencies that might eventually restore unified German sovereignty was initially stalled by French objections. Subsequently, as Cold War antagonisms grew, the same institutions came to be largely nullified by disputes between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. The United States and the United Kingdom therefore came round to the French view that a unified German state partially subject to Soviet authority could not be allowed to emerge while the Soviet Bloc remained in eastern Europe, and so the three Western Allies resolved upon the foundation of a West German federation consisting of the territories in their three zones of occupation. This was established on 23 May 1949 with the promulgation of the Basic Law as it had been adopted by the Parliamentary Council and approved by the Western occupation forces. The Federal Republic created by the Basic Law was empowered to act upon the federal election held on August 14, the constitutive meeting of the Bundestag parliament on September 7, the investiture of the first Federal President, Theodor Heuss on September 13, the appointment of Konrad Adenauer as the first Federal Chancellor on September 15 and the accession of the Federal Cabinet on September 20, 1949. In turn the Soviet Military Administration on October 7 implemented the People's Chamber ("Volkskammer") parliament in the Soviet occupation zone and East Berlin, which passed the Constitution of East Germany, officially named "German Democratic Republic" (GDR). The Council of Ministers of the GDR assumed office on October 12, 1949.
Theodor-Heuss-Platz
Theodor-Heuss-Platz (colloquially called "Theo" by locals) is a large city square in the Westend district of Berlin, Germany. It is named after Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), the first President of Germany after World War II
President of Germany
The President of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (), is the head of state of Germany.
1931 in Germany
President
Germany
West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the Marshall Plan and used this to rebuild its industry. Konrad Adenauer was elected the first Federal Chancellor ("Bundeskanzler") of Germany in 1949 and remained in office until 1963. Under his and Ludwig Erhard's leadership, the country enjoyed prolonged economic growth beginning in the early 1950s, that became known as an "economic miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder"). The Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957.
President of Germany (1919–1945)
Ebert intended to stand in presidential elections in 1922 when the outcry about assassination of Walther Rathenau seemed to generate a pro-republican atmosphere. However, National Liberal politician Gustav Stresemann persuaded the other centrist parties that the situation was still too turbulent to hold elections. Hence, the Reichstag extended Ebert's term to June 30, 1925, a move that contravened the constitution's text but was passed by two-thirds of the Reichstag, the majority needed for changes or deviations from the constitution. Ebert died in office in February 1925.
The first presidential election was held in 1925. After the first ballot had not resulted in a clear winner, a second ballot was held, in which Paul von Hindenburg, a war hero nominated by the right-wing parties after their original candidate had dropped out after the first ballot, managed to win a majority. Hindenburg served a full term and was reelected in 1932, this time nominated by the pro-republican parties who thought only he could prevent the election of Adolf Hitler to the office. Hindenburg died in office in August 1934, a little over two years after his reelection, having since appointed Hitler as Chancellor. Hitler then assumed the powers of head of state, but did not use the title of President until his own death, when he named Karl Dönitz his successor as President in his Final Political Will and Testament.The Weimar constitution granted the president sweeping powers in the event of a crisis. Article 48 empowered the president, if "public order and security [were] seriously disturbed or endangered" to "take all necessary steps to re-establish law and order". These permissible steps included the use of armed force and the suspension of many of the civil rights otherwise guaranteed by the constitution. Most importantly, the president could take over the legislative powers of the Reichstag by issuing "Notverordnungen", (emergency decrees) which had the same rank as conventional acts of parliament.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
On 12 February 2017 Germany's 16th Federal Convention elected Steinmeier President on the first ballot, with 931 votes out of a total of 1,260.
List of German presidents by longevity
The longest-lived president was Walter Scheel, who died at the age of 97 years and 47 days. Scheel became the longest-lived president by living to 15 October 2008. On that day, he became one day older than Karl Dönitz, the previous holder of the oldest president record. The oldest living president, Joachim Gauck, will tie Scheel if he lives to 12 March 2037. The shortest-lived president was Friedrich Ebert, who died at the age of 54 years, 24 days.
Hermann Höpker-Aschoff
Hermann Höpker-Aschoff (31 January 1883 – 15 January 1954) was a German politician, finance minister, a member of Parlamentarischer Rat and a jurist. He was the first President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
President of Germany
In Germany, former presidents are usually referred to as "Altbundespräsidenten" (President emeritus). There are three living former German presidents:
Weimar Republic
The German peace delegation in France signed the Treaty of Versailles, accepting mass reductions of the German military, the prospect of substantial war reparations payments to the victorious allies, and the controversial "War Guilt Clause". Explaining the rise of extreme nationalist movements in Germany shortly after the war, British historian Ian Kershaw points to the "national disgrace" that was "felt throughout Germany at the humiliating terms imposed by the victorious Allies and reflected in the Versailles Treaty...with its confiscation of territory on the eastern border and even more so its 'guilt clause'." Adolf Hitler repeatedly blamed the republic and its democracy for accepting the oppressive terms of this treaty. The Republic's first "Reichspräsident" ("Reich President"), Friedrich Ebert of the SPD, signed the new German constitution into law on 11 August 1919.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Steinmeier took office as President of Germany on 19 March 2017, after the expiration of his predecessor's term in office, and he took on 22 March 2017 the oath that, in accordance with the Basic Law, newly invested Presidents must take before a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
Christian Wulff
Wulff was born in Osnabrück and is Roman Catholic. He was the first Roman Catholic to hold the post of President of Germany since Heinrich Lübke (1959–1969) and the first President to have been born in the post-World War II period. His father left the family, and he grew up with his mother. As a teenager, he took responsibility for the care of his younger sister, after his mother developed multiple sclerosis. After completing his Abitur at the Ernst Moritz Arndt Gymnasium in Osnabrück, Wulff studied law with a specialisation in economics at the University of Osnabrück. He joined the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in 1975. In 1987 and 1990, he passed the first and second state examinations in law, and has since worked as an attorney.
National Democratic Party of Germany
In November 2008, shortly after the 2008 United States presidential election, the NPD published a document entitled "Africa conquers the White House" which stated that the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States was the result of "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes" and that Obama aimed to destroy the United States' "white identity". The NPD claimed, "A non-white America is a declaration of war on all people who believe an organically grown social order based on language and culture, history and heritage to be the essence of humanity" and "Barack Obama hides this declaration of war behind his pushy sunshine smile." The NPD also stated that the extensive support for Obama in Germany "resembles an African tropical disease."
President of Germany
The 12th and current officeholder is Frank-Walter Steinmeier who was elected on 12 February 2017 and started his first five-year term on 19 March 2017.
President of Germany
(2)
President of Germany (1919–1945)
The Reichspräsident was the German head of state under the Weimar constitution, which was officially in force from 1919 to 1945. In English he was usually simply referred to as the President of Germany. The German title "Reichspräsident" literally means President of the Reich, the term "Reich" referring to the federal nation state established in 1871.
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler (; born 22 February 1943) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union, and served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on 23 May 2004 and was subsequently inaugurated on 1 July 2004. He was reelected to a second term on 23 May 2009. Just a year later, on 31 May 2010, he resigned from his office in a controversy over his comment on the role of the German Bundeswehr in light of a visit to the troops in Afghanistan. During his tenure as German President, whose office is mostly concerned with ceremonial matters, Köhler was a highly popular politician, with approval rates above those of both chancellor Schröder and later chancellor Merkel.