Bernhard Vogel

Bernhard Vogel (Template:IPA; 19 December 1932 – 2 March 2025) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 4th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988 and the second Minister President of Thuringia from 1992 to 2003. He was the only person to have been head of two different German federal states and was the longest-governing Minister President of Germany. He served as the 28th and 40th President of the Bundesrat in 1976 to 1977 and 1987 to 1988.

Life and career

Early life and education

Vogel was born in Göttingen on 19 December 1932 and grew up in Giessen.<ref name="Welt" /> He received his Abitur in Munich in 1953,<ref name="n549">Template:Cite web</ref> and began studies in political science, history, sociology, and economics, first in Heidelberg and then in Munich.<ref name="n549" /> He received his doctorate in 1960,<ref name="n549" /> while working as a research assistant at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.<ref name="t527">Template:Cite web</ref> He became a lecturer there the following year, also working in adult education.<ref name="p445">Template:Cite web</ref>

Political career

In 1960, Vogel joined the CDU.<ref name="w083">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1963, Vogel was elected to the municipal council of Heidelberg, but resigned two years later, following his election to the Bundestag.<ref name="t527" /> He joined the governing board of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in the Rhineland Palatinate in 1965.<ref name="n549" /><ref name="w083" /> From 1965 to 1967, Vogel was a member of the German Bundestag, a position from which he resigned to assume the job of State Minister of Culture and Education in Rhineland-Palatinate under Minister President Peter Altmeier.<ref name="p445" /><ref name="w083" /> He continued in the same cabinet position under Altmeier's successor in 1969, Helmut Kohl.<ref name="p445" /> In 1973, when Kohl became chair of the national CDU, Vogel succeeded him as state party chair in Rhineland-Palatinate.<ref name="e993">Template:Cite web</ref>

In December 1976, Vogel became Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate to replace Kohl, who had been elected a federal deputy.<ref name="e993" /> Vogel immediately assumed the presidency of the Federal Council<ref name="d413">Template:Cite web</ref> until 31 October 1977, at the same time becoming chairman of the supervisory board of the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF),<ref name="b168">Template:Cite web</ref>Germany's second largest public broadcaster. In the regional elections of March 1979 he maintained a bare majority of his party, with 50% of the vote and 51 regional deputies out of 100.<ref name="d780">Template:Cite web</ref> In March 1983 the party improved its position, obtaining 52% of the vote and 57 deputies.<ref name="z734">Template:Cite web</ref> Vogel became vice-president of the European Democratic Union (EDU) in 1985 and again won the regional elections on 17 May 1987 but with only a plurality of 45.1% of the vote and 48 deputies elected out of 100, ending the sixteen-year absolute majority of Christian Democrats.<ref name="a698">Template:Cite web</ref> Vogel's failure to be re-elected as state chair of his party in 1988 led to his resignation as Minister President in a famous speech which he ended with the often-quoted phrase: "May God protect Rhineland-Palatinate!", an unusual display of public piety by German standards.<ref name="r404">Template:Cite web</ref>

After his resignation, Vogel concentrated on the management of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, of which he became chairman in 1989.<ref name="n549" /> After the resignation of the first Thuringian Prime Minister Josef Duchač 1992, Vogel became Minister-President of Thuringia on 5 February.<ref name="d522">Template:Cite web</ref> From 1993 to 1999, he was chairman of the Thuringian CDU.<ref name="n549" /> He gave up the chairmanship of the Adenauer Foundation in 1993.<ref name="n549" /> 1994 CDU and SPD formed a grand coalition.<ref name="n549" /><ref name="q596">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 1999 elections, the CDU achieved an absolute majority.<ref name="s169">Template:Cite web</ref> For reasons of age, Vogel resigned from office as Minister-President on 5 June 2003.<ref name="w083" /> He was followed by Dieter Althaus.<ref>Historischer Überblick lztthueringen.de</ref>

Life after politics

Vogel in 2019

From 2001 until 2009, Vogel served again as president of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin.<ref name="c926">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012, Vogel was awarded the Mercator Visiting Professorship for Political Management at the Universität Essen-Duisburg's NRW School of Governance. He gave both seminars and lectures at the university.<ref name="h314">Template:Cite web</ref>

Vogel was nominated by his party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.<ref>17th Federal Convention, 13 February 2022, List of Members Bundestag.</ref>

Personal life and death

Gravestone of Bernhard Vogel with his brother Hans-Jochen Vogel, who died in 2020, his wife Liselotte and his parents in Munich

Vogel was a devout Roman Catholic.<ref name="v667">Template:Cite web</ref> He was single and had no children.<ref name="s826">Template:Cite web</ref> His brother was the SPD politician Hans-Jochen Vogel (1926–2020), a former mayor of Munich and Berlin, federal minister of justice and candidate for chancellorship.<ref name="s826" /> He had lived in Speyer.<ref name="g599">Template:Cite web</ref> since 1965.

Vogel died in Speyer on 2 March 2025, at the age of 92.<ref name="Welt">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Other activities

Corporate boards

• Deutsche Vermögensberatung (DVAG), member of the advisory board<ref>Tobias Romberg (19 May 2011), "Ritter der Schwafelrunde". Die Zeit.</ref>

Non-profit organizations

• donum vitae, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2001)<ref>Donum vitae gründet Stiftung Die Tageszeitung, 18 May 2001.</ref>
• CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg, member of the board of trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Template:Webarchive CARE Deutschland.</ref>
• Eugen Biser Foundation, member of the board of trustees
• European Foundation for the Speyer Cathedral, member of the board of trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Template:Webarchive European Foundation for the Speyer Cathedral.</ref>
• Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), member of the board of trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Konrad Adenauer Foundation.</ref>
• Willy Brandt Foundation, member of the board of trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Willy Brandt Foundation.</ref>

Awards

• 1984 Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany<ref name="n549" />
• 1990 Order of Merit of Rhineland-Palatinate<ref name="n549" />
• 2002 Honorary citizen of Speyer<ref name="g599" />
• 2005 Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia<ref name="n549" />

Sources

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External links

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