Thomas Karl Leonard Kemmerich (born 20 February 1965) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the Minister-President of Thuringia from 5 February to 4 March 2020. With a tenure of only 28 days (3 days if his time as acting officeholder is excluded), he has been both the shortest-serving Minister-President of Thuringia and the shortest-serving head of a state government in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

(as of 2024). After

Reinhold Maier Reinhold Maier (16 October 1889 – 19 August 1971) was a German politician and the leader of the FDP from 1957–1960. From 1946 to 1952 he was Minister President of Württemberg-Baden Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Fede ...

, who had served as minister-president of

Württemberg-Baden Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. ...

(1945–1952) and, after the state's fusion with two other southwestern states, of the new state

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

(1952–1953), he was the second minister-president from the FDP in German history.

Life

Kemmerich was born in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, married, and father of six children. He completed his law studies at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

in 1989. In January 1990, just after the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, he moved to

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

and became the manager of a hairdresser's chain in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

Political career

He served as a member of the Thuringian ''Landtag'' (state parliament) from 2007 to 2014. He became the leader of Thuringia's Free Democratic Party in 2015, and was a member of the

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 ...

(federal parliament) from 2017 to 2019. He returned to the ''Landtag'' after the 2019 state election (where the FDP passed the five-percent threshold by a mere 45 votes) and served as the leader of the FDP parliamentary group consisting of five lawmakers. After the 2024 state election, Kemmerich called for the federal FDP to leave the governing coalition. The party lost all its seats in Thuringia.

Election controversy and premiership

On 5 February 2020, Kemmerich was elected to the position of minister-president in the third ballot, with the support of his FDP (being the smallest group in the state parliament) as well as lawmakers of the centre-right CDU and the far-right

AfD Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...

. Incumbent minister-president

Bodo Ramelow Bodo Ramelow (; born 16 February 1956) is a German politician who has been serving as a Member of the Bundestag, representing The Left. He has been its Vice President as of March 2025. He served as Minister-President of Thuringia from December ...

of The Left had failed to win a majority in the first two ballots. The AfD had nominated its own candidate, but abandoned him in favour of Kemmerich in the third ballot, to the surprise of CDU and FDP deputies. Kemmerich's election with AfD support violated a convention among all mainstream German political parties to refuse any co-operation with the AfD, and attracted immediate fierce criticism throughout Germany and beyond. On 6 February, one day after his election, Kemmerich delivered a statement, in which he described his position as untenable and announced a motion for the dissolution of the state parliament in order to bring about new elections. Under the provisions of the Thuringia state constitution, in order to dissolve the state parliament, a two-thirds-majority is needed, but the Thuringia AfD and CDU have both ruled out supporting a dissolution-motion. On 7 February, Kemmerich met with Birgit Keller, the President of the

Landtag of Thuringia The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from five parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag ...

, to discuss possibilities for a swift transfer of power to a new minister-president. Kemmerich announced he would stay in office until the matter is resolved in order to secure political stability for the state. On 8 February, he resigned his post but stayed in office as acting minister-president until the election of a successor, as mandated by the state constitution. As Kemmerich had not appointed any ministers, he was called a "one-man government". For the time being, the ministries were directed by state secretaries appointed under the Ramelow government. Kemmerich stayed away from the Bundesrat session on 14 February 2020, despite him being the only officeholder allowed to represent Thuringia in the chamber. Thus, the state was unrepresented for the first time since its accession to the Federal Republic in 1990. On 4 March 2020, Kemmerich was succeeded by Bodo Ramelow who was re-elected minister-president by a plurality of votes. The FDP group did not participate in this election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemmerich, Thomas Karl Leonard 1965 births Living people German Roman Catholics Members of the Landtag of Thuringia Members of the Bundestag for Thuringia Minister-presidents of Thuringia 21st-century German politicians Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)