Thomas de Maizière

Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière (French pronunciation: [də mɛˈzi̯ɛːɐ̯]; born 21 January 1954) is a German politician (CDU), currently serving as the Minister of Defence (since 3 March 2011) in the Second Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A close confidant of Merkel, he served as Chief of Staff at the Chancellor's Office and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the First Cabinet Merkel from 2005 to 2009. Prior to his appointment to the federal cabinet, he served as a cabinet minister of the state of Saxony, including as Chief of Staff, Minister of Finance and Minister of Justice. In the federal cabinet, prior to his appointment as Minister of Defence, he served as Minister of the Interior.

Background

Thomas de Maiziere was born in Bonn to the later Inspector general of the Bundeswehr, Ulrich de Maizière. He graduated at the Aloisiuskolleg in Bonn and studied law and history at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster and the University of Freiburg, he passed his first state examination in law in 1979 and his second 1982, earning his doctorate of law (Dr. jur.) in 1986.^[2]

He belongs to a noble family originally from Maizières-lès-Metz who, as Huguenots, had fled France for asylum in Prussia in the late 17th century. The Maizière family still attended French-language schools and Huguenot churches in Berlin until the beginning of the 20th century. His cousin Lothar de Maizière is also a CDU politician and was the last, and only democratically elected, Premier of the German Democratic Republic, who later served as Federal Minister of Special Affairs in the Kohl government. Thomas de Maizière is married to Martina de Maizière, with whom he has three children.

Political career

He worked for the Governing Mayor (Prime Minister) of Berlin (Richard von Weizsäcker and Eberhard Diepgen), before he was part of the West German delegation to negotiations on German reunification. After 1990 he worked with re-establishing democratic structures in states that were part of the former German Democratic Republic. He became Secretary of State in the Ministry of Culture of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in November 1990. From December 1994 to 1998 he was Chief of Staff of the Chancellery of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Cabinet minister in Saxony

He served as Chief of the Saxon Chancellery from 1999 to 2001, with the rank as a cabinet minister. From 2001 to 2002 he served as Minister of Finance of Saxony, from 2002 to 2004 Minister of Justice, and from 2004 to 2005 Minister of the Interior.

Chief of the German Chancellery

On 17 October 2005, he was nominated for membership of the Federal Government, as Chief of the Chancellor's Office and Federal Minister of Special Affairs in the First Cabinet Merkel. He took office on 22 November 2005 after Merkel's election by the Bundestag. In his capacity as Chief of Staff of the Chancellery, he also functioned as Deputy President of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Federal Minister of the Interior

He took office as Federal Minister of Interior in the Second Cabinet Merkel.

Federal Minister of Defence

On March 2, 2011, Chancellor Merkel announced that Maizière would be the successor of Federal Minister of Defence zu Guttenberg, who had resigned from office the previous day. On 3 March 2011 he was appointed.^[3]

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