The Presidents of Germany: Difference between revisions

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* Christian Wulff—Christian Democrat. Former minister president of Lower Saxony. He was accused of getting a loan from a businessman for better conditions, which tripped an avalanche of other accusations. When it got so bad that he might have lost his immunity, he abdicated after less than two years in office.

* Joachim Gauck—Independent. Former Lutheran pastor from [[East Germany]],<ref>which means that for several years, the head of state ''and'' the [[The Chancellors of Germany|head of government]] were former GDR citizens</ref> who appeared on the political stage during the time of the [[Hole in Flag]] revolutions. After the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]], he was the head of the government agency responsible for investigating the crimes of [[The Stasi]] (the GDR's infamous [[Secret Police]]).

* Frank-Walter Steinmeier—Social Democrat. Formerly Germany's Foreign Minister. Often accused of putting (german) money over human rights concerns. Firm opponent of the death penalty. Refused to meet the Dalai Lama to not upset the Chinese Communist Party. Was the firmest opponent of the recognition of Armenian Genocide by the German government, on top of it saying it "downplayed the Holocaust"(Hitler himself had admitted similarities to what he was going to do to what happened to the Armenians in 1939).

* Frank-Walter Steinmeier—Social Democrat. Formerly Germany's Foreign Minister.

[[East Germany]] had a president until 1960 (only one office-holder, Wilhelm Pieck), then replaced that office with a collective council of state, which had a chairman.