Bernhard Vogel is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 4th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988 and the 2nd Minister President of Thuringia from 1992 to 2003. He is the only person to have been head of two different German federal states and is the longest-governing Minister President of Germany. He served as the 28th and 40th President of the Bundesrat in 1976/77 and 1987/88.
Hans-Jochen Vogel was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Mayor of Munich from 1960 to 1972,winning the 1972 Summer Olympics for the city and Governing Mayor of West Berlin in 1981,the only German ever to lead two cities with a million+ inhabitants. He was Federal Minister of Regional Planning,Construction and Urban Development from 1972 to 1974,and Federal Minister of Justice from 1974 to 1981. He served as leader of the SPD in the Bundestag from 1983 to 1991,and as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1987 to 1991. In 1993,he co-founded the organisation Gegen Vergessen –Für Demokratie. He was a member of the National Ethics Council of Germany from its beginning in 2001.
Herbert Reul is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of successive Ministers-President Armin Laschet (2017–2021) and Hendrik Wüst. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Friedbert Pflüger is a former German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a Member of the German Bundestag (1990–2006). He was Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Defence (2005–2006),and the CDU's candidate for Governing Mayor of Berlin in the 2006 Berlin state election. He was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives (2006–2011) and a member of the executive board of the CDU (2000–2010). Today,he is a businessman and teaches Energy and Climate Security at the Center for Advanced Security,Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS),University of Bonn. He is Visiting Professor at King’s College London.
Barbara Stamm was a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria. She joined the CSU in 1969,was a member of the town council of Würzburg from 1972,and a member of the Landtag of Bavaria from 1976. She was vice-chair of the CSU from 1993 to 2017,and President of the Landtag from 2008 to 2018,the first woman in the position. She was regarded as the most popular Bavarian politician and as her party's "social conscience".
Wolfgang Tiefensee is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was the Federal Minister for Transport,Building and Urban Development in the grand coalition cabinet led by Angela Merkel between 2005 and 2009. Since 2014,he has been the State Minister of Economy,Science and the Digital Society in the government of Thuringia's Minister-President Bodo Ramelow.
Eberhard Diepgen is a German lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of West Berlin from 1984 to 1989 and again as Mayor of (united) Berlin,from 1991 until 2001,as member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Sören Bartol is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Housing,Urban Development and Building in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2021. He has been a member of the German Parliament since 2002.
Stanislaw Rudi Tillich is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 3rd Minister President of Saxony from 2008 to 2017. From 1 November 2015 until 31 October 2016,he was President of the Bundesrat and ex officio deputy to the President of Germany. Tillich is of Sorbian ethnicity and lives in Panschwitz-Kuckau (Pančicy-Kukow),which is 35 kilometres north-east of Dresden near Kamenz.
Andreas Voßkuhle is a German legal scholar who served as the president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 2010 until 2020.
The 2009 Thuringian state election was held on 30 August 2009 to elect the members of the 5th Landtag of Thuringia. It was held on the same day as the 2009 Saarland state election and the 2009 Saxony state election. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by Minister-President Dieter Althaus was defeated. The CDU subsequently formed a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Althaus resigned after the election due to his party's poor performance,which was far below expectations. He was succeeded by fellow CDU member Christine Lieberknecht,who was elected as the new Minister-President.
Wolfgang Walter Wilhelm Bosbach is a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),which he joined in 1972. A lawyer by profession,Bosbach is a partner at Winter,Jansen &Lamsfußin Bergisch Gladbach.
Manuela Schwesig is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party serving as Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 4 July 2017,becoming the first woman to serve in that post. Previously she served as Federal Minister of Family Affairs,Senior Citizens,Women and Youth in the third cabinet of Angela Merkel from 2013 to 2017. On 20 October 2023,she was elected President of the Bundesrat. Her one-year term started on 1 November 2023.
Gegen Vergessen –Für Demokratie is a German organization promoting diversity,tolerance and democratic participation,and opposing racism,prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in particular on the two dictatorships on German soil,the Nazi dictatorship and the communist dictatorship of East Germany. The organization was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Berlin. Its activities are supported by the Government of Germany.
Thomas Strobl is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Deputy Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2016.
Daniel Günther is a German politician who is a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Since 28 June 2017,he has served as the Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein. From 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019,he served as President of the Bundesrat,being succeeded by Dietmar Woidke.
Annette Widmann-Mauz is a German politician of the Christian Democrats who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 1998,representing the electoral district of Tübingen. In addition to her work in parliament,she served as Parliamentary State Secretary in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet from 2009 until 2021.
The 2018 Christian Democratic Union leadership election took place during the party's 31st Congress in Hamburg at the Messehallen convention center on 7–8 December following Angela Merkel's decision in October 2018 not to stand for party leader at the 2018 party conference following the party's bad performance in the 2018 Hessian state election and the party's consistently low numbers in national polls.
Christian Hirte is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as member of the German Bundestag since 2008. From 2020 to 2022,he has been the chairman of the CDU in Thuringia and co-deputy Chairman since then.
The 2020 Thuringian government crisis,also known as the Thuringia crisis,was triggered by the election of Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) as Thuringian Minister President with votes from the AfD,CDU and FDP on February 5,2020. The election attracted considerable national and international attention because,for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany,a Minister President was elected with votes from a far-right populist party,in this case the AfD.
