Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (German: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt fʁɪts kʊʁt ˈʃʁøːdɐ] ; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician who was the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As chancellor, he led a coalition government of the SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens. Since leaving public office, Schröder has worked for Russian state-owned energy companies, including Nord Stream AG, Rosneft, and Gazprom.[1][2]
For other people named Gerhard Schröder, see Gerhard Schröder (disambiguation).
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Glogowski
Erwin Teufel
Jürgen Gansäuer
multi-member district
multi-member district
multi-member district
Helmuth Möhring
Constituency established
Dietmar Kansy
Hans-Jürgen Mellentin
Bernadette Schuster-Barkau
Social Democratic Party (since 1963)
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Eva Schubach(m. 1968; div. 1972)
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Anne Taschenmacher(m. 1972; div. 1984)
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Hiltrud Hampel(m. 1984; div. 1997)
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Kim So-Yeon(m. 2018)
2
Schröder was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he was Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming chancellor. Following the 2005 federal election, which his party lost, and after three weeks of negotiations, he stood down as chancellor in favour of Angela Merkel of the rival Christian Democratic Union. He was chairman of the board of Nord Stream AG and of Rosneft but in 2022 resigned from the latter and opted not to join the board of Russian state-run gas company Gazprom. He also had roles as a global manager for investment bank Rothschild, and as chairman of the board of football club Hannover 96.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schröder was criticized for his policies towards Vladimir Putin's government, his work for Russian state-owned companies, and his lobbying on behalf of Russia. In March 2022, the Public Prosecutor General initiated proceedings related to accusations against Schröder of complicity in crimes against humanity due to his role in Russian state-owned corporations, while the CDU/CSU group demanded that Schröder be included in the European Union sanctions against individuals with ties to the Russian government.[3][4] An SPD party arbitration committee ruled in March 2023 that he had not violated any party rules and would remain a member of the party.[5]
Early life and education[edit]
Schröder was born in Blomberg, Lippe, in Nazi Germany. His father, Fritz Schröder, a lance corporal in the Wehrmacht, was killed in action in World War II in Romania on 4 October 1944, almost six months after Gerhard's birth. His mother, Erika (née Vosseler), worked as an agricultural labourer to support herself and her two sons.[6]
After the war, the area where Schröder lived became part of West Germany. He completed an apprenticeship in retail sales in a Lemgo hardware shop from 1958 to 1961 and subsequently worked in a Lage retail shop and after that as an unskilled construction worker and a sales clerk in Göttingen while studying at night school for a general qualification for university entrance (Abitur). He did not have to do military service because his father had died in the war.[7] In 1966, Schröder secured entrance to a university, passing the Abitur exam at Westfalen-Kolleg, Bielefeld. From 1966 to 1971 he studied law at the University of Göttingen.
In 1976, he passed his second law examination, and he subsequently worked as a lawyer until 1990.[8] Among his more controversial cases, Schröder helped Horst Mahler, a founding member of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group, to secure both an early release from prison and permission to practice law again in Germany.[9]
After chancellorship[edit]
Representative role[edit]
After leaving public office, Schröder represented Germany at the funeral services for Boris Yeltsin in Moscow (jointly with Horst Köhler and Helmut Kohl, 2007) and Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba (jointly with Egon Krenz, 2016).[83]
Schröder and Kurt Biedenkopf served as mediators in a conflict over privatization plans at German railway operator Deutsche Bahn; the plans eventually fell through.[84] In 2016, he was appointed by Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel to mediate (alongside economist Bert Rürup) in a dispute between two of Germany's leading retailers, Edeka and REWE Group, over the takeover of supermarket chain Kaiser's Tengelmann.[85]
Following the release of German activist Peter Steudtner from a Turkish prison in October 2017, German media reported that Schröder had acted as mediator in the conflict and, on the request of Gabriel, met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to secure the release.[86][87] After the 2018 and 2023 Turkish presidential elections, he represented the German government at Erdoğan's inauguration ceremony in Ankara (jointly with Christian Wulff, 2023).[88][89]
Business activities[edit]
Schröder's plans after leaving office as chancellor and resigning his Bundestag seat included resuming his law practice in Berlin, writing a book, and implementing plans for twin pipelines for Gazprom, Russia's leading energy company. He was subsequently retained by the Swiss publisher Ringier AG as a consultant.[90] Other board memberships include the following:
Views and controversies[edit]
Relationship with Russian companies[edit]
As chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline project, which planned to supply Russian gas directly to Germany, thereby bypassing transit countries.[107][108]
At the time of the German parliamentary election, according to Rick Noak of The Washington Post:[109]
Schröder has been married five times:
Doris Köpf had a daughter from a previous relationship with a television journalist. She lived with the couple. In July 2004, Schröder and Köpf adopted a child from Saint Petersburg. In 2006, they adopted another child from Saint Petersburg.[139]
Schröder rents an apartment in Berlin while retaining his primary residence in Hanover. As a former chancellor, he is entitled to a permanent office, also situated in Berlin. In late 2005, he spent time in the UK improving his English language skills.[140] In 2013, Schröder and Köpf purchased another home in Gümüşlük, Turkey, in a real estate project developed by Nicolas Berggruen.[141][142]
Schröder's fourth marriage earned him the nickname "Audi Man", a reference to the four-ring symbol of Audi motorcars.[143] Another nickname is "The Lord of the Rings".[144][145]
Schröder married for the fifth time in 2018. His wife is South Korean economist and interpreter Kim So-yeon.[146][147]
Schröder is Lutheran-Protestant.[148] He did not add the optional phrase "so help me God" (So wahr mir Gott helfe) when sworn in as chancellor for his first term in 1998.[149]
Schröder is known to be an avid art collector. He chose his friend Jörg Immendorff to paint his official portrait for the German Chancellery. The portrait, which was completed by Immendorff's assistants, was revealed to the public in January 2007; the massive work has ironic character, showing the former chancellor in stern heroic pose, in the colors of the German flag, painted in the style of an icon, surrounded by little monkeys.[150] These "painter monkeys" were a recurring theme in Immendorff's work, serving as an ironic commentary on the artist's practice. On 14 June 2007, Schröder gave a eulogy at a memorial service for Immendorf at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.[151]
