Monika Grütters (born 9 January 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien) in the government of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel from 2013-2021. She was a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from 2005 to 2025, where she served as chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Media Affairs from 2009 to 2013. Since December 2016, Grütters has also been the chairwoman of the CDU Berlin and an elected member of the CDU Federal Executive Board.

Education and professional life

After graduating from high school in 1981, Monika Grütters studied German language and literature, art history and political science at the University of Münster and at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn from 1982 onward, where she graduated in 1989 as Magister Artium. After having worked in the press and public relations department of the Bonn Opera during her studies from 1987 to 1988, she worked in the same area from 1990 to 1991 at the then Museum for Transportation and Technology in Berlin and from 1991 to 1992 for the publishing house Bouvier. Between 1992 and 1995 Grütters was spokesperson of the Senate Administration for Science and Research ( State of Berlin). From 1991 to 1999, Grütters was a lecturer in cultural management at the Hanns Eisler College of Music in Berlin. Since 1999, Grütters has been holding an honorary professorship at

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

for the Master's program ''Arts and Media Administration''. Grütters also worked as a PR officer for the Bankgesellschaft Berlin from 1996. From 1998 to 2013, she was Spokeswoman of the Board of the ''Brandenburger Tor'' Foundation. She is a member of the Central Committee of German Catholics and spokeswoman of the committee's "Culture, Education and Media" section since 2013.

Political career

Grütters joined the Young Union in 1978 and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) in 1983. Since 1998 she has been a member of the state executive of the CDU Berlin. Grütters was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives from 1995 to 2005. In this role, she was the spokesperson for science and cultural policy and from 2001 to 2005 also deputy chairwoman of the CDU Parliamentary Group.

Member of Parliament, 2005–2025

Grütters was a member of the German Bundestag from 2005 to 2025, representing the electoral district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. She always entered the Bundestag via the regional list of candidates for Berlin and chaired the Committee on Culture and Media Affairs from 2009 to 2013. In addition to her committee assignments, Grütters was a member of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group since 2005. In the 2013 federal election, she was again as the CDU's top candidate for Berlin. Following Frank Henkel's resignation from the position of chairperson to the CDU Berlin on 13 October 2016, Grütters was unanimously nominated by the executive committee and state executive of the CDU Berlin as a candidate for his successor on the following day. At a small party convention of the CDU Berlin on 2 December 2016, Grütters was elected as the new chairwoman with 78.4 percent of the votes. Additionally, Grütters was elected at the CDU's federal congress in Essen with 70.37 percent as successor to Emine Demirbüken-Wegner in the Executive Board of the CDU and thus in the party's leadership circle around chairwoman Angela Merkel.

Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, 2013–2021

On 17 December 2013, Grütters succeeded Bernd Neumann (CDU) as the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. She thus holds the title of a Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor and is head of a so-called Supreme Federal Authority (''oberste Bundesbehörde'') with headquarters in both Berlin and

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. Albeit often stated in the press, Grütters did not cover the function of a German "culture minister": according to the German Basic Law, cultural and educational matters are still subject to the sovereignty of the Länder. In the context of cooperative cultural federalism, however, the Federal Government Commissioner is responsible for cultural and media matters of national importance. During her term of office in the

third Merkel cabinet The Third Merkel cabinet ( German: ''Kabinett Merkel III'') was the 22nd Government of the Federal Republic of Germany during the 18th legislative session of the Bundestag. Installed after the 2013 federal election, it left office on 14 March ...

, the overall budget for federal cultural affairs increased by more than 30% up to 1.67 billion within the federal budget between 2013 and 2018. However, issues surrounding the 2012 Munich artworks discovery overshadowed Grütters’s first two years in office. As an institutional response to the discovery of major artworks of unclear provenance and ownership in the private Gurlitt collection, Grütters launched the German Lost Art Foundation (''Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste'') in 2015. Also in 2015, Grütters presented an amendment to the German law on the protection of cultural property (''Kulturgutschutzgesetz'') which has been subject to controversial debates. In addition, Grütters has significant responsibility for the successful state funding of the Barenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin and a national photographic archive in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

to preserve, archive and publicise the country's photographic cultural heritage. In the negotiations to form another

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

under the leadership of

Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Grütters led the working group on cultural affairs and media, alongside Dorothee Bär and Michael Roth. In February 2018, Merkel announced that she would take over Grütters for a second term in her fourth cabinet. In February 2018, Grütters presided over the CDU’s national convention in Berlin. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Grütters led efforts in 2020 to provide government financial help to cultural institutions and artists whose livelihoods were threatened. Following her party’s defeat in the 2021 elections, Grütters announced her candidacy as Vice President of the Bundestag; however, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group eventually nominated Yvonne Magwas for the position. In September 2024, Grütters announced that she would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ex-Officio Member of the Shareholder Meeting * Humboldt Forum Kultur, Ex-Officio Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board * Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (KBB), Ex-Officio Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board (2014–2021)

Non-profit organizations

* Leibniz Association, Member of the Senate (since 2022) * German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF), Member of the Board (since 2022) * Cusanuswerk, Member of the Advisory Board * Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), Member of the Board of Trustees * Jewish Museum, Berlin, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees (since 2014) * Culture Foundation of the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

(DFB), Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees * Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees * Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Member of the Board of Trustees * Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2005) * Museum Berggruen, Member of the International Council * Tarabya Academy, Deputy Chairwoman of the Advisory Board * Deutschlandradio, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2014–2021) * Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace, Ex-Officio Member of the Council (2014–2021) * Cultural Foundation of the German States (KdL), Member of the Council (2014–2021) * RIAS Berlin Commission, Ex-Officio Honorary Chairwoman (2014–2021) * German Historical Museum (DHM), Substitute Member of the Board of Trustees (2009–2013) * International Journalists’ Programmes (IJP), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (2014–2021) * Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (2005–2013) * Literarisches Colloquium Berlin (LCB), Member of the Board of Trustees (2005–2013)

Recognition

* 2017 – Julius Campe Prize * 2018 –

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

* 2019 – Order of the Aztec Eagle

Political positions

In June 2017, Grütters voted against her parliamentary group’s majority and in favor of Germany’s introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Grütters publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair. In April 2020, Grütters co-signed – alongside around 50 other members of her parliamentary group – a letter to

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

Ursula von der Leyen which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.Robert Roßmann (6 April 2020)
Mehr als 50 Unionsabgeordnete fordern Aufnahme von Flüchtlingskindern
''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

''.

References

Sources and external links