Lothar de Maizière (; born 2 March 1940)
is a German
Christian Democratic
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democrati ...
politician. In 1990, he served as the only premier of the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
to be democratically elected freely and fairly by the people. He was also the last leader of an independent East Germany.
Family background
Maizière belongs to a
noble family which takes its name from
Maizières-lès-Metz who, as
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
s, fled France for asylum in
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
in the late 17th century;
the
Maizière family attended French-language schools and Huguenot churches in Berlin until the beginning of the 20th century. He is a son of the lawyer Clement de Maizière. His uncle
Ulrich de Maizière
Karl Ernst Ulrich de Maizière (; 24 February 1912 – 26 August 2006) was a German general. He served in the army of three German states: the ''Reichswehr'' of the Weimar Republic, the ''Wehrmacht'' of Nazi Germany, and the German Army of We ...
was Inspector General of the ''
Bundeswehr
The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
'' (the West German Armed Forces). His cousin
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 ...
was a close advisor to Former
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
and served as the Federal Minister of the Interior from 17 December 2013 to 14 March 2018 in Merkel's
third cabinet.
Early life and education
Lothar de Maizière was born in
Nordhausen, Thuringia, and attended the ancient
Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, where he was one of the last pupils before the school closed in 1958. He next studied viola at the
Hanns Eisler College of Music in East Berlin from 1959 to 1965. He played in the
Berlin Symphony Orchestra before going on to study law (by distance learning, through the
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) from 1969 to 1975.
[Derek Lewis & Ulrike Zitzlsperger, Historical Dictionary of Contemporary Germany, Rowman & Littlefield, 18 October 2016 p.412]
Career
A longtime member of the
East German Christian Democratic Union, Maizière helped oust the party's pro-Communist leadership after the
fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
. He was elected the party's chairman in November 1989.
In the first—and as it turned out, only—
free election held in East Germany, Maizière was elected to the ''
Volkskammer
__NOTOC__
The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany).
The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house w ...
.'' One month later, he succeeded
Hans Modrow
Hans Modrow (; born 27 January 1928) is a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany.
Taking office in the middle of the Peaceful Revolution, he was the ''de facto'' leader of the country for much of the winter ...
as Premier and held this position from 12 April until 2 October 1990, heading the
de Maizière cabinet
The cabinet of Lothar de Maizière was the last cabinet of East Germany before German reunification. It was formed on 12 April 1990, following the general election in March, and existed until reunification with West Germany on 3 October 1990. ...
. He ran on a platform of speedy
reunification
A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...
with the Federal Republic of Germany (from 1949 to 1990,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
). As premier, Maizière signed the
(the so-called "Two Plus Four Treaty"), which ended the four wartime allied powers' rights and responsibilities in Berlin and Germany, and which preceded
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
. The treaty provided that it would be signed by the four allies and the two Germanies but ratified only by newly reunified Germany and the allies. In accordance with that treaty, East Germany ceased to exist on 3 October, and its territory was annexed by the Federal Republic.
After German reunification, he was appointed Minister for Special Affairs in the
CDU government of chancellor
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
, until his resignation on 17 December 1990 amid rumours that he had worked for the East German
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...
(Stasi name: IM Czerni).
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiziere, Lothar de
1940 births
Living people
German untitled nobility
People from Nordhausen, Thuringia
Lothar
Lothar is a Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, and Swedish masculine given name, while Lotár is a Hungarian masculine given name. Both names are modern forms of the Germanic Chlothar (which is a blended form of ''Hlūdaz'', meaning "fame", a ...
Leaders of East Germany
Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians
Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians
Members of the 10th Volkskammer
Foreign Ministers of East Germany
Prime Ministers of East Germany
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Members of the Bundestag for Berlin
Members of the Bundestag for Brandenburg
People of the Stasi