Horst Köhler
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Horst Köhler (born February 22, 1943 in Skierbieszów, Poland) became president of the Federal Republic of Germany July 1, 2004. Before that he was the director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On March 4, 2004 he was nominated by members of the German political parties CDU, CSU, and FDP. They wanted him to be their common candidate for the presidential election on May 23, 2004. For this reason he gave up his position as director of the IMF.
Before his nomination he worked outside of Germany, so only 20% of the Germans knew him, and a German newspaper called 'Bild' headlined 'Horst Wer???' which means 'Horst Who???'.
On May 23, 2004 the German Bundesversammlung (Federal Assembly), which consist of 1.205 members, chose Horst Köhler as the new Bundespräsident (President of Germany) with 604 votes. That was one vote more than the needed absolute majority.
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.svg/22px-Flag_of_Germany_(2-3).svg.png){kind=small} Weimar Republic (1919–1933) |
Friedrich Ebert · Kanzler Hans Luther(acting) · Judge Walter Simons (acting) · Paul von Hindenburg |
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 Nazi Germany (1933–1945) |
Paul von Hindenburg · Adolf Hitler (as Führer and Reichskanzler) · Karl Dönitz | |
 Germany (since 1949) |
Bundesratspräsident Karl Arnold (acting) · Theodor Heuss1 · Heinrich Lubke · Gustav Heinemann · Walter Scheel · Karl Carstens · Richard von Weizsäcker2 · Roman Herzog · Johannes Rau · Horst Köhler | |
| 1 President at the time of unification with the Saar 2 President at the time of unification with East Germany | ||
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| President (1949–1960) | Wilhelm Pieck SED |  |
| Chairman of the Council of State (German: Vorsitzender des Staatsrats der DDR) (1960–1990) |
Walter Ulbricht · Deputy Chairman of the Council of State Friedrich Ebert (acting) · Willi Stoph · Erich Honecker · Egon Krenz · Manfred Gerlach LDPD | |
| President of the People's Chamber of the GDR (Präsident der Volkskammer der DDR) (1990) |
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (CDU)1 | |
| 1President at the time of unification with West Germany | ||
