Wolfgang Böhmer (born 27 January 1936) is a German politician ( CDU) and was the 5th

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 ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...

from 16 May 2002 to 19 April 2011. He served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the Bundesrat in 2002/03. He formerly worked as a medical doctor.

Political career

Böhmer was born in

Dürrhennersdorf Dürrhennersdorf ( hsb, Suche Hendrichecy) is a municipality in the district Görlitz, in Saxony, Germany. Notable people * Wolfgang Böhmer (born 1936), politician * Willi Hennig Emil Hans Willi Hennig (20 April 1913 – 5 November 1976) ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, and joined the CDU of East Germany in 1990. Böhmer publicly spoke out against

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 instead endorsed

Edmund Stoiber Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he r ...

as the party's candidate to challenge incumbent Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

in the 2002 federal elections. During his own campaign to unseat incumbent

Reinhard Höppner Reinhard Höppner (2 December 1948 – 9 June 2014) was a German politician ( SPD) and writer. Höppner held a Dr. rer. nat. in mathematics. In 1990, in the first (and last) free election in the assembly's history, he was elected a member of th ...

of Saxony-Anhalt in the state elections, he focused on economic recovery and received strong backing from Stoiber. Böhmer is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

Recognition

* 2007 –

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 2015 – Order of Merit of Saxony-AnhaltWolfgang Böhmer bekommt Verdienstorden des Landes

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

, October 9, 2015.

References

1936 births Living people Presidents of the German Bundesrat People from Görlitz (district) Ministers-President of Saxony-Anhalt Members of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt German Protestants Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Germany-CDU-politician-stub