Johannes Rau (1931 - 2006)

Born 16 Jan 1931 in Wuppertal, Rheinprovinz, Preußen, Deutsches Reich

Ancestors

Died 27 Jan 2006 at age 75 in Berlin, Deutschland

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Biography

Preceded by 7th Bundespräsident Roman Herzog 1994 - 1999

Johannes Rau 8th Bundespräsident of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1999 - 2004

Succeeded by 9th Bundespräsident Horst Köhler 2004 - 2010

Preceded by Bundesratspräsident Klaus Wedemeier Hans Koschnick

Johannes Rau Präsident of the Bundesrat 1994 - 1995 1982 - 1983

Succeeded by Bundesratspräsident Edmund Stoiber Franz Josef Strauss

Preceded by 5th Ministerpräsident Heinz Kühn

Johannes Rau 6th Ministerpräsident of Nordrhein-Westfalen 1978 - 1998

Succeeded by 7th Ministerpräsident Wolfgang Clement

Johannes Rau is Notable.

Johannes Rau was a German politician (SPD). His family was strongly Protestant. As a schoolboy, Rau was active in the Confessing Church, a circle of the German Protestant Church which resisted Nazism.

Rau was known as a practising Christian (sometimes known as Bruder Johannes, "Brother John", in ridicule of his intense Christian position; however, he sometimes used this term himself).

Political career

Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann. In 1958, the pacifist Rau and his political mentor, Gustav Heinemann, joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

• 1958 member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
• 1967 chairman of the SPD fraction in state parliament
• 1970 Minister of Science and Education
• 1977 chairman of the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia
• 1978 Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia
• 1982 he married Christina Delius, a granddaughter of his mentor Gustav Heinemann , the former President of Germany
• 1982/83 First term as President of the Federal Council
• 1994/95 Second term as President of the Federal Council
• 1998 stepped down as SPD chairman and Minister President
• 1999 Federal President of Germany

During 2000, Rau became the first German head of state to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in German.

Rau had a long history of heart disease and died 11 days after his 75th birthday. He was already unable to attend the reception that his successor Horst Köhler gave on this occasion.

He left behind his widow Christina Rau née Delius.

Sources

• Gedbas: Johannes Rau

See also:

• Wikipedia: Johannes Rau
• Wikidata: Item Q2551, en:Wikipedia