Christine Lieberknecht (born Determann 7 May 1958 in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 2009 to 2014, she served as the

Minister President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. Lieberknecht was the first woman to become head of government in Thuringia and only the second woman to govern a German state.

Family, Education and Work

Christine Lieberknecht grew up as the oldest of four siblings. Her father was Protestant-Lutheran pastor. After graduation in 1976 she studied

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

theology at the Friedrich-Schiller-University

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

: * 1982 first theological examination * 1982 Vicariate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Thuringia * 1984 second theological examination * from 1984 until 1990 Pastor in the Church District of Weimar

Political career

Lieberknecht co-chaired the CDU's national conventions in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

(2004),

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

(2007),

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

(2010) and in Berlin (2014). After serving as * Thuringian Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs (1990 to 1992) * Thuringian Minister for Federal and European Affairs (1992 to 1994) * Thuringian Minister for Federal Affairs with the State Chancellery (1994 to 1999) * Speaker of the Thuringian Parliament (1999 to 2004) * Chairperson of the CDU Faction of the Thuringian Parliament (2004 to 2008) * Thuringian Minister for Social Affairs, Family and Health (2008 to 2009) Lieberknecht was the 4th

of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

from 2009 to 2014, and served as chairwoman of the CDU state party in Thuringia from 2009 to 2014. Lieberknecht has been representing the constituency ''Weimarer Land II'' in the

Landtag of Thuringia The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 90 members from six parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag ...

since 1991. Lieberknecht served as a CDU delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

in 2012,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

. In 2019, Lieberknecht was appointed by the

Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community The Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Community (german: Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat, ; ''Heimat'' also translates to "homeland"), abbreviated , is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main ...

to serve on the committee that oversaw the preparations for the 30th anniversary of German reunification.

Other activities (selection)

Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship The Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship (german: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, alternatively translated as "(Federal) Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany") is a governmen ...

, Member of the Board (since 2016) * German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2010) *

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2009) *

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United (e.g. Prussian Union) Protestant regional churches and denominations in German ...

(EKD), Member of the Committee on the Social Order *

Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU The Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU (''Evangelischer Arbeitskreis der CDU/CSU'') (EAK) is a specialized agency of the CDU and CSU. The term ''evangelical'' is not to be confused with a more conservative or radical connotation in the Engl ...

, Deputy Chairwoman (since 1991) *

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

(KAS), MemberMembers

(KAS).

References

External links

Official website

Official Thüringer Landtag profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lieberknecht, Christine 1958 births Living people Politicians from Weimar People from Bezirk Erfurt 20th-century German Lutheran clergy Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Ministers-President of Thuringia Members of the Landtag of Thuringia Women members of State Parliaments in Germany 20th-century German women politicians Women Ministers-President in Germany Women Lutheran clergy