Birgit Breuel (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Münchmeyer; born 7 September 1937 in Hamburg-Rissen) is a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, representative of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She is the former President of the

Treuhand The ("Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. Cre ...

Agency, and Commissioner General of the

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

, and later worked in several honorary positions. Birgit Münchmeyer came from a

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

family of traders and private bankers. She is the daughter of merchant bankers who owned the bank ''Münchmeyer & Co.''. On 8 August 1959 she married the Hamburg merchant Ernst-Jürgen Breuel (born 7 October 1931 in Hamburg). Birgit Breuel 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 ...

at the Universities of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. In 1966, she entered into the CDU. From 1978 to 1986 she was Minister of Economy and Transport in

, then to 1990 was the Lower Saxony Finance Minister. In 1990, Breuel was elected to the executive board of the

- a holding firm responsible for the sale of

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

state assets. A year later she became the successor of

Detlev Karsten Rohwedder Detlev Karsten Rohwedder (16 October 1932 – 1 April 1991) was a German manager and politician, as member of the Social Democratic Party. He was named president of the Treuhandanstalt, responsible for the privatisation of state-owned property in ...

. While Rohwedder had been cautious about the sale of most state assets, favouring a worker-owned solution if possible, Breuel favoured quick privatization. She departed in 1995 from this office. Breuel then became Commissioner-General of the

World Expo A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

Expo 2000 in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Literature

* Birgit Breuel (Hg.): ''Ohne historisches Vorbild. Die Treuhandanstalt 1990 bis 1994 - eine kritische Würdigung.'' Berlin 2005 * ''

Deutsches Geschlechterbuch The ''Deutsches Geschlechterbuch'', until 1943 known as the ''Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien'', is a major German genealogical handbook of bourgeois or patrician families. It is the bourgeois and patrician equivalent of the '' Gen ...

.'' Band 128 der Gesamtreihe (Hamburg Band 10), p. 69/70, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1962, .

References

External links

Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands web site

Fem biography
Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Ministers of the Lower Saxony State Government 1937 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford Politicians from Hamburg University of Geneva alumni University of Hamburg alumni Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Germany-CDU-politician-stub

Literature

See also

References

External links