Horst Köhler

Ancestors

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Biography

Preceded by 8th Bundespräsident Johannes Rau 1999 - 2004

Horst Köhler 9th Bundespräsident of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland 2004 - 2010

Succeeded by 10th Bundespräsident Christian Wulff 2010 - 2012

Horst Köhler is Notable.

Origin

Horst Köhler was born in Skierbieszów, Poland. The place, which today belongs to the Lublin Voivodeship, was then in the General Government for the occupied Polish territories. After the German occupation in 1939, the place Skierbieszów was renamed "Heidenstein".

Descendant of a Black Sea German

His parents Elisabeth and Eduard Köhler were Bessarabian Germans from Rîșcani in Romanian Bessarabia (near Bălți, present-day Moldova). They had to leave their home in Bessarabia in 1940 during the Nazi-Soviet population transfers that followed the invasion of Poland and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which awarded Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. As part of the Generalplan Ost, they were resettled in 1942 at Skierbieszów, a village near Zamość, Poland (then part of the General Government). As the Wehrmacht was pushed back and the first parts of Poland had to be abandoned in 1944, the Köhler family fled to Leipzig. In 1953, they left the Soviet Zone – via West Berlin – to escape from the communist regime. The family lived in refugee camps until 1957, when they settled in Ludwigsburg. Horst Köhler hence spent most of his first 14 years as a refugee.

A teacher recommended that the refugee boy should apply for the Gymnasium, and Köhler took his Abitur in 1963. After two years of military service at a Panzergrenadier battalion in Ellwangen, he left the Bundeswehr as Leutnant der Reserve (Reserve Lieutenant). He studied and finally gained a doctorate in economics and political sciences from the University of Tübingen.

Köhler has been married to Eva Luise Köhler since 1969, who was at times involved in local politics as a member of the SPD. They have two children.

Working life

• 1976-1980 active in the policy department of the Federal Ministry of Economics
• 1981 Horst Köhler became a member of the CDU
• 1981-1987 in the state chancellery of the state government of Schleswig-Holstein
• 1987-1993 Head of Department and State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance
• 1993-1998 President of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association
• 1998-2000 Head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• 2000-2004 Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• 2004-2010 Federal President
• 2017-2019 UN special envoy for Western Sahara

On 31 May 2010, he announced his resignation from the office of Federal President, which he justified by criticizing his statements in the debate on the Bundeswehr's mission in Afghanistan.

Köhler is considered a great expert on Africa. His successor, Joachim Gauck, therefore repeatedly asked Köhler to officially represent him on state trips to Africa.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Horst Köhler
• Wikidata: Item Q2542, en:Wikipedia