Thomas Schäfer (; 22 February 1966 – 28 March 2020) was a German lawyer and politician for the

Christian Democratic Union of Germany The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (german: link=no, Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands ; CDU ) is a Christian democratic and liberal conservative political party in Germany. It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right ...

(CDU). He was Minister of Finance of Hesse between 2010 and 2020.

Early life and education

Schäfer was born in Hemer and grew up in Biedenkopf. After completing the

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 1985, he trained as a banker at the . He studied law at the University of Marburg, graduating in 1997. From 1995 to 1998, Schäfer taught private and public law at the in Marburg.Dr. Thomas Schäfer
(in German) Hessisches Finanzministerium From 1998 onward he worked as a lawyer for the

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambur ...

in Frankfurt am Main. In 1999, he earned a doctorate under the supervision of .

Political career

in 1980, Schäfer joined the CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

youth organisation Junge Union and was a board member from 1985 to 1999. After the

1999 Hessian state election The 1999 Hessian state election was held on 7 February 1999 to elect the members of the Landtag of Hesse. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Hans Eichel was defeated. Th ...

, Schäfer led the office of

Christean Wagner Christean Wagner (12 March 1943 in Königsberg (Prussia, Germany)) is a German politician for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). He served as minister for Culture and Justice in the state of Hesse and was chair of the CDU fraction i ...

, the minister of justice in Hesse, and from 2002 the office of Minister President Roland Koch. From November 2005 until 2009, he was secretary of state for Jürgen Banzer, minister of labour, family and health. During the financial crisis of 2007–08, he coordinated state efforts to rescue

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

, based in Rüsselsheim am Main, in conjunction with the other three states where Opel had plants. In February 2009, he became secretary of state for , the minister of finance. In August 2010, Schäfer became Hesse's state minister of finance, the head of the , under the new minister president,

Volker Bouffier Volker Bouffier (born 18 December 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister President of the German state of Hessen from 31 August 2010 to 31 May 2022. From 1 November 2014 until 31 October 2015 ...

. He was a member of the

Hessischer Landtag The Landtag of Hesse (german: link=no, Hessischer Landtag) is the unicameral parliament of the State of Hesse in the Federal Republic of Germany. It convenes in the Stadtschloss in Wiesbaden. As a legislature it is responsible for passing l ...

, the state parliament, from 2014 onward. In 2018, he was re-elected, this time directly. He was regarded as a likely successor to Bouffier. On 27 March 2020, he announced, together with the minister of economy,

Tarek Al-Wazir Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir ( ar, طارق محمد الوزير; born 3 January 1971) is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been deputy to the Hessian Minister-President, and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, T ...

, the state's financial help in the COVID-19 pandemic for freelancers and small businesses. Schäfer stated, "The fight against the Corona crisis will not fail because of money." ("")

Death

On the morning of 28 March 2020, his body was found next to the

Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line The Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway (german: Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Rhein/Main) is a railway line in Germany, connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt. Its route follows the Bundesautobahn 3 for the greater part, and currently the ...

near Hochheim am Main, and police speculated that he had killed himself.German state finance minister Thomas Schäfer found dead

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

. 28 March 2020. Schäfer's death came "as a shock", as days prior he had expressed that his work was "a pleasure and an honour". He was known as a jovial man with good humor, though he had visibly lost weight for "some time". According to Bouffier, Schäfer was concerned about managing the financial response to the coronavirus pandemic. He was survived by his wife and two children. His successor as minister of finance is

Michael Boddenberg Michael Boddenberg (born 15 July 1959) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister of Finance of Hesse since 3 April 2020. Career Born in Troisdorf, Boddenberg completed school in 1978. He t ...

.Amtseinführung / Michael Boddenberg wird neuer Finanzminister
(in German) Hesse 31 March 2020

References

External links

*
Dr. Thomas Schäfer
Landtag Hessen

(in German) 30 August 2010 ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Thomas 1966 births 2020 deaths Ministers of finance of Hesse Ministers of the Hesse State Government Members of the Landtag of Hesse People from Marburg-Biedenkopf Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians German bankers 20th-century German lawyers University of Marburg alumni 21st-century German politicians Suicides by train Suicides in Germany 2020 suicides