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Horst Köhler: Encyclopedia BETAFree Encyclopedia |
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BiographyKöhler was born in Skierbieszów in German-occupied Poland, as the seventh of eight children into a family of Germans of Bessarabia from Glückstal in Romanian (Bessarabia, now part of Moldova). His parents, Romanian citizens, had to leave their home in Bessarabia in 1940 during the Nazi-Soviet population transfers that followed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which awarded Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. As part of the Generalplan Ost, they were resettled in 1942 at Skierbieszów, a village near Zamosc, Poland (then part of the General Government). People of Skierbieszów had been expelled to make room for German settlers. As the Wehrmacht was pushed back and first parts of Poland had to be abandoned in 1944, the Köhler family fled to Leipzig. In 1953 they left East Germany for Ludwigsburg to escape from the communist regime.Köhler took his Abitur in 1963, and after a two-year military service he left the Bundeswehr as "Leutnant der Reserve" (reserve officer). He studied and finally earned a doctorate in economics and political sciences from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, where he was a scientific research assistant at the Institute for Applied Economic Research from 1969 to 1976. Köhler was appointed Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2000. The German government nominated him after their first nominee, Caio Koch-Weser, was rejected by the United States due to his low political weight. Köhler's administration within the IMF was widely critized, particularly by capital market participants who suffered heavy losses during the wake of the Argentine economic crisis in 2001 and 2002. Köhler was responsible for the approval of an $8 billion rescue package (Stand-By-Agreement), a month-long misinformation of markets and the refusal to pay out a sum of $1.3 billion at the beginning of December 2001. Köhler was aware that Argentina already could not fulfil its commitments before he secured support of the IMF on the records and before he caught IMF's Executive Board by surprise with the Eight-Billion-Augmentation during Summer 2001. The IMF itself has disclosed everything about this snapshot of Köhler's history, which takes evidence (see link below). Prior to joining the IMF, he had held positions in both the public and private sectors. He was under-secretary of state in the finance ministry from 1990 to 1993, and he served as sherpa for Chancellor Helmut Kohl, preparing G7 summits and other international economic conferences. Between 1993 and 1998 he served as chairman of the association of savings banks in Germany (Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband). In 1998 he was appointed president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. On 4 March 2004, Köhler resigned his post with the IMF after being nominated by Germany's conservative and liberal opposition parties as their presidential candidate. He was selected by then opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and endorsed by its Bavarian sister party, Christian Social Union (CSU), as well as by the small liberal party, the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP). As these parties controlled a majority of votes in the Bundesversammlung (an electoral college consisting of the membership of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates from the legislatures of each state), the result of the vote was virtually a foregone conclusion, but was closer than expected. Köhler defeated Gesine Schwan on the first ballot by 604 votes to 580; 20 votes were cast for minor candidates, while one elector was absent because of a heart attack. Köhler succeeded Johannes Rau as President on 1 July 2004, for a five-year term. Germany's presidency is a mostly ceremonial office, but carries considerable moral authority and gives the President a platform from which to represent his country internationally. While the president's regular residence Schloss Bellevue is under reconstruction he has taken his office at Charlottenburg Castle in Berlin. Upon his election, Köhler, a conservative German patriot, said that "Patriotism and being cosmopolitan are not opposites". "He appeared an enlightened patriot who genuinely loves his country and is not afraid to say so", the newspaper Die Welt wrote. Presenting his visions for Germany, Köhler also said that "Germany should become a land of ideas", and emphasized the importance of globalization, and that Germany would have to fight for its place in the 21st century. He is married to Eva Köhler, born Eva Luise Bohnet, a teacher of German, and they have two children, a daughter Ulrike (born 1972) and a son Jochen (born 1977). Horst Köhler is Protestant. External links*Official page of the German President*Biographical information (from the IMF) *[1] ([IMF-Report about Argentina]) *Horst Köhler's speech in Berlin upon his election as president (MP3) text
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