Dorothee Gisela Renate Maria Bär ( Mantel; born 19 April 1978) is a German politician of the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian-democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionalis ...

(CSU) who has been serving as a member of the German

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 ...

since 2002. From 2014 to 2021, she served in various capacities in the government of

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 Oppo ...

Early life and education

Dorothee Bär, grew up in

Ebelsbach Ebelsbach is a municipality in the district of Haßberge in Bavaria in 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, an ...

Landkreis Haßberge In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

where she still lives.Personal background information from her official website
/ref> She finished high school in

Grayslake, Illinois Grayslake is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Chicago's downtown, 14 miles (23 km) west of Lake Michigan, and 15 miles (24 km) sout ...

in 1996 and Franz-Ludwig- Gymnasium in Bamberg in 1999. Supported by a scholarship of the

Hanns Seidel Foundation The Christian Social Union of Bavaria, CSU-associated Hanns Seidel Foundation (german: Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung) is a German party-associated and taxpayer-money funded political research Foundation (charity), foundation. It was founded in November 19 ...

, Bär studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in several universities throughout

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 received her diploma in 2005 from

Otto-Suhr-Institut The Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft (''Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science'', also ''OSI'') is a prestigious research institute of the Free University of Berlin. It is the leading political science institution in Germany and one ...

of the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. After her graduation, she worked as a journalist for several radio stations and newspapers.

Political career

Bär started her political career in 1996 by joining the

Young Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (''Young Union of Germany'') or JU is the joint youth organisation of the two conservative Germany, German Political party, political parties, Christian Democratic Union of Germany, CDU and Christian Social Union in Ba ...

(JU), the youth organization of the CSU. In 1994 she became a member of the

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 ...

. In 1999, she became a member of the Board of Directors of the Junge Union for the region of Lower Franconia. From 2001 to 2003, she served as the Chairperson of the

Association of Christian Democratic Students The Association of Christian Democratic Students (german: Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in tot ...

(RCDS) of Bavaria.

Member of Parliament, 2002–present

Since the 2002 national elections, Bär has been a member of the

German Parliament 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 ...

representing the Bad Kissingen electoral district (#248) which comprises three

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which be ...

Rhön-Grabfeld Rhön-Grabfeld is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southeast and clockwise) the districts of Hassberge, Schweinfurt and Bad Kissingen, and the states of Hesse (district Fulda) and Thuringia (districts S ...

, and Haßberge. Between 2005 and 2009, Bär was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Within her parliamentary group, she served as deputy spokesperson for foreign policy between 2008 and 2009, succeeding

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Buhl-Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (born 5 December 1971), known professionally as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, is a German businessman and politician of the Christian Soc ...

. In November 2008 Bär was elected as the Deputy National Chairperson of the Young Union, under the leadership of chairman Philipp Mißfelder. In February 2009, she became the Deputy Secretary General of the

, serving alongside Secretary General

Alexander Dobrindt Alexander Dobrindt (born 7 June 1970) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Between 2013 and 2017, he served as Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the government of Chancellor Angela Mer ...

under party chairman

Horst Seehofer Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister of the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18 ...

. 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 ...

following the 2009 federal elections, Bär was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on families, integration of immigrants and culture, led by

Maria Böhmer Maria Böhmer (born 23 April 1950) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Under the leadership of successive ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2013-2017) and Sigmar Gabriel (2017), she served as Minister of State in th ...

and Hans-Joachim Otto. Between 2009 and 2013, she then served on the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as well as on the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, Bär was a member of the German-Korean Parliamentary Friendship Group and of the German-Swiss Parliamentary Friendship Group. Since 2021, Bär has been serving as one her parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of chair

Ralph Brinkhaus Ralph Brinkhaus (born 15 June 1968) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as parliamentary leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag from 2018 to 2022. Education and early career Brinkhaus was born on 15 J ...

. In this capacity, she oversees the group’s legislative activities on families and cultural affairs.

State Secretary for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, 2014–2018

In the coalition talks following the 2013 federal elections, Bär led the working group on digital policy; her co-chair was

Brigitte Zypries Brigitte Zypries (born 16 November 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between 2017 and 2018, she served as Minister for Economics and Energy in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel; she was the fir ...

of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

. In the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

government under

, she served as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure under the leadership of Minister

. In this capacity, she was also the government’s Coordinator for Freight Transport and Logistics.

State Minister for Digitization, 2018–2021

In the negotiations to form a fourth cabinet under Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Bär again led the working group on digital policy, this time alongside

Helge Braun Helge Reinhold Braun (born 18 October 1972) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Between 2018 and 2021, he served as Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the fourth coalition governmen ...

and

Lars Klingbeil Lars Klingbeil (born 23 February 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party who has been serving as the party's Co-Leader since 2021, together with Saskia Esken. Klingbeil previously was the General Secretary of the Social Demo ...

. Following the formation of the new government, she was appointed to the newly established post of State Minister for Digitization at the Federal Chancellery. Together with investor

Frank Thelen Frank Thelen (born 10 October 1975) is a German businessman, investor and author based in Bonn. Career Thelen was a co-founder of companies such as ip.labs and doo. As of 2014, he is the CEO of venture capital firm e42, now Freigeist Capital, ...

she also been co-chaired the German Innovation Council at the Federal Chancellery. Ahead of the

2021 elections Many elections occurred in 2021. The National Democratic Institute maintains calendar of elections around the world * 2021 United Nations Security Council election * 2021 national electoral calendar * 2021 local electoral calendar Africa * 2021 ...

, CDU chairman

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 3 ...

included Bär in his eight-member shadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats’ campaign; she was the only CSU politician selected for this role.

Other activities

Government agencies

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, german: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, B ...

(BpB), Member of the Board of Trustees (2005–2009)

Corporate boards

FC Bayern München Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2019) * ÖPP Deutschland AG, Ex-officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2013-2017) * CNC Communications & Network Consulting, Member of the Board of Experts (2009–2013) * Quadriga University of Applied Sciences Berlin, (2009–2013) *

Rhön-Klinikum Rhön-Klinikum is a German cooperation of hospitals and clinics headquartered in Bad Neustadt an der Saale, Germany. It is a leading private hospital group in Germany. Recent news Founder Eugen Münch tried to sell Rhön-Klinikum to rival Freseni ...

, Member of the Advisory Board (2009–2013) *

RTL Television RTL (from '), formerly RTL plus and RTL Television, is a German-language free-to-air television channel owned by the RTL Group, headquartered in Cologne. Founded as an offshoot of the German-language radio programme '' ,'' RTL is consider ...

, Member of the Program Committee (2009–2013)

Non-profits

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * International Journalists’ Programmes (IJP), Member of the Board of Trustees * AFS Intercultural Programs - Germany, Member of the Board of Trustees * German Academy for Literature for Children and Young Adults, Member of the Advisory Board *

Kissinger Sommer The Kissinger Sommer is a classical music festival held every year in the summer in the city of Bad Kissingen in Bavaria, Southern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986. At the beginning the focus of the festival was on the improvem ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * ''cnetz'', Member of the Advisory Board * ''Total E-Quality'' initiative, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Wasserwacht The Wasserwacht (; ''water watch'' or ''water guard'') is a German lifeguard service. It is one of the five voluntary societies of the German Red Cross. The Wasserwacht is a non-profit organization made up of on volunteers. Tasks The main tas ...

of the Bavarian Red Cross, Chairwoman *

Atlantik-Brücke Atlantik-Brücke (, ''Atlantic Bridge'') is a leading private non-profit association to promote German-American understanding and Atlanticism. Founded in Hamburg in 1952, it was located in Bonn between 1983 and 1999 and is now located in Berli ...

, Member * 2017 German Computer Games Award, Member of the Jury * German Federal Film Board (FFA), Member of the Supervisory Board (2005–2013)

Political positions

Ahead of the 2021 national elections, Bär endorsed

Markus Söder Markus Thomas Theodor Söder (born 5 January 1967) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) since 2019. Background, education and military service Söde ...

as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeed

.Second CDU premier drops support for Laschet's German chancellery run
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

'', April 16, 2021.

Personal life

Bär is married to lawyer and fellow CSU politician Oliver Bär. The couple has two daughters and a son.Bundestag

References

External links

Official Website of M.P. Dorothee Bär

M.P. Dorothee Bär in the Official Website of the German Parliament
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bar, Dorothee 1978 births Living people People from Bamberg German Roman Catholics Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Female members of the Bundestag Free University of Berlin alumni 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Parliamentary State Secretaries of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria