Hermann Otto Solms (born Hermann Otto Prinz zu

Solms-Hohensolms-Lich Solms-Hohensolms-Lich was at first a County and later Principality with Imperial immediacy in what is today the federal Land of Hessen, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Solms, originally from Solms. Grafschaft The county was o ...

; 24 November 1940) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Between 1980 and 2013, he was a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

, from 1991 to 1998 as Chairman of the FDP parliamentary party and from 1998 to 2013 as Vice President of the Bundestag. Since 2017 he has again been a member of the Bundestag.

Early life

Solms was

born posthumously A posthumous birth is the birth of a child after the death of a biological parent. A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person. Most instances of posthumous birth involve the birth of a child af ...

, the third son and fifth child of Hermann Otto Erbprinz zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1902–1940).Gothaisches Genealogisches Handbuch der Fürstlchen Häuser, Band I. Verlag des Deutschen Adelsarchivs. Marburg. 2015. pp. 471–476. (German). . His father was the heir to the fortune and legacy of the

Princes A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in some Euro ...

, a noble family known in Germany since 1129, whose

Imperial count Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

y was made a principality of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

in 1792, but

mediatized Mediatization or mediatisation may refer to: * German mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by ...

under the sovereignty of the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

in 1806. Hermann Otto's father died while serving as a lieutenant in the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Neuruppin Neuruppin (; North Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) and therefore also referred to as ''Fonta ...

on 3 July 1940. His mother, ''née'' Baroness Gertrude von Werthern-Beichlingen (1913–1987), was remarried in 1950 to Hans Joachim Sell of

Neustettin Szczecinek ( ; German until 1945: ''Neustettin'') is a historic city in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland, with a population of more than 40,000 (2011). Formerly in the Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–1998), it has been the capital of Szczecin ...

. After completing his secondary education (

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

) in 1960, Solms carried out his obligatory military service and then completed a commercial apprenticeship in 1964. He studied

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, USA, finishing in 1969 with an economics degree and in 1975 with a

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

(''Dr. agr.''). In 1970 he began working as a researcher at the Institute for Environmental Management Studies at

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

and in 1973 he became the personal advisor of

vice president

Liselotte Funcke Liselotte Funcke (20 July 19181 August 2012) was a German liberal politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). She was a member of the German Bundestag parliament from 1961 to 1979, serving as its vice president from 1969. She then was appoi ...

. Since 1976 he has been an independent consultant.

Political career

Since 1971, Solms has been a member of the FDP, holding the post of Treasury Secretary from 1987 to 1999. After the death of his successor,

Günter Rexrodt Günter Rexrodt (12 September 1941 – 19 August 2004) was a German politician. He lived in Berlin. Education and work After the Abitur in 1960 in Arnstadt, Thuringia and an extra year in West Berlin, he graduated with a Diplom in business s ...

, Solms was again appointed Secretary of the Treasury in the middle of 2004, confirmed on 5 May 2005 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

by a majority of 90.6%.

Member of Parliament, 1980–2013

Solms was a member of the

(MdB) between 1980 and 2013, serving as Deputy Chairman from 1985 to 1991, and as Chairman of the FDP Bundestag parliamentary group from 15 January 1991 to 26 October 1998. Following the 1998 elections Solms was selected to serve as Vice President of the Bundestag, under the leadership of President

Wolfgang Thierse Wolfgang Thierse (; born 22 October 1943) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11th President of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005. Early life and career Thierse was born in Breslau (Wrocław in present ...

. In his capacity as vice president, he was also a member of the parliament's Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. He was selected for this office again in 2002, 2005 and 2009. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with the Christian Democrats – both the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the

Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...

(CSU) – following the 2009 federal elections, Solms led the FDP delegation in the working group on taxes, national budget, and financial policy; his counterpart from the CDU was

Thomas de Maizière Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière (; born 21 January 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence f ...

. He did not run for a parliamentary seat in the 2013 elections after having failed to be selected for the first position on the Hesse FDP state list in December 2012. His term as Member of Bundestag expired on 22 September 2013.

Member of Parliament, 2017–present

In the 2017 federal elections, Solms was again elected to the Bundestag. At the age of 76 years, he opened the parliament's first session. In the (unsuccessful) negotiations to form a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

following the elections, he was part of the FDP delegation. Since 2018, he has been serving as deputy chairman of the Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Circle of Friends. In late 2019, Solms announced that he would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics at the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Deutsche Vermögensberatung Deutsche Vermögensberatung (DVAG), which loosely translates into English as "German wealth advisors", is a company based in Frankfurt, Germany. The DVAG is active in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Founded in 1975 by Reinfried Pohl, the company ...

(DVAG), Member of the Advisory Board * Piper Deutschland AG, Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

* Deutsche Stiftung Eigentum, Chairman of the Board of Trustees *

Friedrich Naumann Foundation The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (german: Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit) (''FNF''), is a German foundation for liberal politics, related to the Free Democratic Party. Established in 1958 by Theodor Heuss, the first pres ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Herbert Giersch Stiftung, Member of the Advisory Board * Peace of Westphalia Prize, Member of the JuryMembers of the Jury
Wirtschaftliche Gesellschaft für Westfalen und Lippe. * Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (2009–2013) *

German Institute for International and Security Affairs The German Institute for International and Security Affairs (german: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; SWP) is a German think tank in international relations and security studies. A semi-official organization with close links to the federal gov ...

(SWP), Member of the Council (2002–2005)

Personal life

From 1969 to 1971 Solms was married to Margit Mayer (born 1944), by whom he had no children. In 1989 he married Christiane Meyer zu Eisen (born 1955), with whom he had three daughters.

Awards

* :

Order of Propitious Clouds The Order of Propitious Clouds () is a civilian order of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The center of the medal features a picture of clouds, as a token of auspiciousness. This order was instituted in 1941 and classified into nine ranks. As with ...

with Grand Cordon (2019).