Steinmeier, Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter,
1956–, German politician. A member of the center-left Social Democratic party, he worked for the Lower Saxony chancellery when Gerhard SchröderSchröder, Gerhard, 1944–, chancellor of Germany (1998–2005), b. Mosenburg, Germany. A telegenic lawyer and Social Democrat, he entered politics as a Marxist student in the 1960s and was elected to the Bundestag in 1980.
..... Click the link for more information. was premier and served as Schröder's chief of staff (1999–2005) when he became German chancellor. Steinmeier was foreign minister twice (2005–9, 2013–17) and vice chancellor (2007–9) in coalition governments led by Angela MerkelMerkel, Angela
, 1954–, German politician, b. Hamburg as Angela Dorothea Kasner. The daughter of a Lutheran pastor, she grew up in what was then East Germany. She trained as a physicist (Ph.D., Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. . As foreign minister he worked with Russian and Ukrainian leaders to diffuse tensions during the Ukraine crisis that began in 2015. In 2017 he was elected to the largely ceremonial office of German president, succeeding Joachim GauckGauck, Joachim,
1940–, German political and human-rights activist, president of Germany (2012–17), b. Rostock. An anticommunist from his youth, Gauck was ordained a Lutheran minister and was pastor of a church in Mecklenberg, East Germany.
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