Klaus Wowereit
| Klaus Wowereit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Governing Mayor of Berlin | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office June 16, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Eberhard Diepgen |
| Member of the Berlin House of Representatives | |
| In office 1995 – 26 October 2011 | |
| Vice Chairman of SPD with Hannelore Kraft, Manuela Schwesig and Olaf Scholz | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 13 November 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Frank-Walter Steinmeier Peer Steinbrück Andrea Nahles |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 October 1953 West Berlin, West Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) |
| Domestic partner | Jörn Kubicki |
| Residence | Berlin |
| Alma mater | Free University of Berlin |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[1] |
| Signature |  |
| Website | klaus-wowereit.de (German) |
Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician, member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party), and has been the Governing Mayor of Berlin since the 21 October 2001 state elections, where his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat (the fourth highest office in Germany) in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections. He was also sometimes mentioned as a possible SPD candidate for the Chancellorship of Germany (Kanzlerkandidatur) in the next German federal election, but that never materialized.
Background
Wowereit was born in Berlin. Until 1973, Wowereit attended the Ulrich-von-Hutten-Oberschule in Berlin-Lichtenrade. Afterwards, he studied law at the Free University Berlin (State Exams, 1981 and 1984).
Political career
After 3 years as a civil servant in the Senate office of the Interior, Wowereit stood for election as municipal councillor in the Tempelhof district. At the age of 30, he was, therefore, the youngest councilor in the city of Berlin. After eleven years as a District Councillor he stood for the Berlin House of Deputies (Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin) which serves as the City's Landtag or state legislature in 1995. In December 1999, he was elected chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Abgeordnetenhaus. Since June 2001 he has served as Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) of Berlin. Previously, the SPD had left the grand coalition with the CDU and initiated new elections. After this election and following long-time negotiations, Wowereit finally started a coalition with the PDS.
In the elections held on 17 September 2006, Wowereit's SPD finished as the strongest party. A coalition with Die Linke was continued. However the 16th Abgeordnetenhaus re-elected Wowereit as Governing Mayor on 23 November 2006, in the second ballot with only a 75:74 majority. CDU, Free Democrats and the Green Party voted against him. In the elections held on 18 September 2011 he and his party were again the strongest party.[2]
In 2011 he wrote a book as a response to the controversial book "Germany Abolishes Itself" written by former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank - Thilo Sarrazin.[3]
Personal life
Wowereit is youngest to two brothers and two sisters and grew up without a father. One of his brothers supported his studies and later he took care of his brother, who was paralyzed after an accident, as well as his mother, who was suffering from cancer.
Wowereit is one of the most famous German politicians who is openly gay. In coming out, prior to the 2001 mayoral elections, he coined the now famous German phrase "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so." ("I'm gay, and that is a good thing.") In his autobiography, Wowereit states that his decision to come out in public was made because after his nomination as candidate to become the Mayor of Berlin, he felt that the German tabloids were already "on the right track". With his coming out, Wowereit wanted to beat the tabloids to it and prevent them from writing wild, sensational and fabricated stories about his private life. Wowereit said those now famous words during a convention of the Berlin SPD. After the end of his speech, there was half a second of surprised silence, then spontaneous cheering and loud applause to support him.
In a 2010 interview with Time Magazine, he said that coming out may actually have strengthened his campaign. [4]
His election as mayor made Berlin one of three major European cities with an openly gay mayor, along with Paris, whose mayor is Bertrand Delanoë, and Hamburg, whose mayor was Ole von Beust at that time, who both also took office in 2001. However, von Beust resigned in 2010, making Wowereit the only gay mayor of a major German city. Previously, the largest city with a gay mayor had been Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with mayor Glen Murray. Berlin being the largest and Hamburg being the 2nd largest city in Germany, they are also German states in their own right, having made both Wowereit and von Beust also state premiers.
In September 2007, Wowereit published an autobiographical book titled "…und das ist auch gut so.", after his famous coming-out phrase (ISBN 3896673343).
Wowereit's civil partner, Jörn Kubicki, is a neurosurgeon. They have been in a relationship since 1993.
References
- ↑ http://www.ardmediathek.de/ard/servlet/content/3517136?documentId=8240692
- ↑ Center-left wins Berlin state elections; upstart Pirate Party wins seats
- ↑ Von Klaus Wowereit (13 October 2011). "Auch die Wowereits waren Migranten" (in German). Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ William Lee Adams (18 January 2010). "Europe's Gay Leaders: Out at the Top". Time (in English). Retrieved 2013-10-20.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Klaus Wowereit. |
- Konsequent Berlin (Personal website for British and French readers)
- CityMayors.com profile
- Interview with Klaus Wowereit in Exberliner magazine
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Eberhard Diepgen |
Governing Mayor of Berlin 2001–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
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