Johannes Rau
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| Johannes Rau | |
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| In office July 1, 1999 – June 30, 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Roman Herzog |
| Succeeded by | Horst Köhler |
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| Born | January 16, 1931.svg/25px-Flag_of_Germany_(2-3).svg.png){kind=small} Wuppertal, Germany |
| Died | January 27 2006 (aged 75) Berlin, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | SPD |
| Spouse | Christina Rau |
| Profession | Journalist |
| Religion | Protestant |
Johannes Rau (January 16, 1931, Wuppertal – January 27, 2006, Berlin) was a German politician of the SPD. He was the eighth President of the Federal Republic of Germany from July 1, 1999 until June 30, 2004 and minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.
[change] Education and work
He was born in Barmen, Wuppertal. His family was Protestant, and he was active in the Confessing Church, a part of the German Protestant Church which was against Nazism.
Rau left school in 1949 and worked as a journalist and publisher.
[change] Political biography
Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann, who also became a president of Germany. This party only existed from 1952 until 1957.
In 1958 Rau and Heinemann joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), where he was active in the Wuppertal branch. He served on the City Council (1964-1978), where he was as chairman of the SDP Group (1964-1967) and later as Mayor (1969-1970).
In 1958 Rau was elected a member of the Landtag (state parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1967 he became chairman of the SPD group in the Landtag, and in 1970 Minister of Science and Education in the cabinet of Minister President Heinz Kühn. He founded five universities in North Rhine-Westphalia during the 1970s. He also startedand initiated Germany's first distance learning university at Hagen (modelled on the Open University in Britain).
In 1978 Rau became Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, where he remained until 1998, winning four elections for the SPD, which became biggest party in the Landtag each time and gained an absolute majority three times, in 1980, 1985, 1990 and finally 1995. From 1995 onwards, Rau led an SPD-Greens coalition in NRW.
In 1987 Rau tried to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but lost to Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU). In 1994 Rau tried for the first time to become Federal President, but lost to Roman Herzog.
Rau twice served as President of the Bundesrat in 1982/83 and 1994/95, and was deputy for the Federal President. In 1998 Rau stepped down from his positions as SPD Chairman and Minister President, and on May 23, 1999, was elected Federal President by the Federal Assembly of Germany to succeed Roman Herzog (CDU). On July 1, 2004, he was succeeded by Horst Köhler.
In 2000 Rau was the first German head of state since the Holocaust to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in German. Some Israeli delegates to walked out, but Israeli President Moshe Katsav supported and praised him for bridging the gap between the two states.
Following a long history of heart disease, he died a few days after his 75th birthday.
[change] Private life
Johannes Rau was a practising Christian. He was sometimes called German: Bruder Johannes, "Brother John", to make fun of his intense Christian belief; but, he sometimes used this term himself.
On August 9 1982 he married the political scientist Christina Delius (born 1956). Christina Rau is a granddaughter of Gustav Heinemann, former President of Germany. The couple had three children: Anna Christina, born 1983, Philip Immanuel, born 1985 and Laura Helene, born 1986.
After leaving office, Rau lived with his family in the federal capital Berlin. However, they also kept a house in Wuppertal.
Johannes Rau died on January 27, 2006 in Berlin.
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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 | ||
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Karl Arnold • Hans Ehard • Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf • Reinhold Maier • Georg August Zinn • Peter Altmeier • Kai-Uwe von Hassel • Kurt Sieveking • Willy Brandt • Wilhelm Kaisen • Franz-Josef Röder • Franz Meyers • Hans Ehard • Kurt Georg Kiesinger • Georg Diederichs • Georg August Zinn • Peter Altmeier • Helmut Lemke • Klaus Schütz • Herbert Weichmann • Franz-Josef Röder • Hans Koschnick • Heinz Kühn • Alfons Goppel • Hans Filbinger • Alfred Kubel • Albert Osswald • Bernhard Vogel • Gerhard Stoltenberg • Dietrich Stobbe • Hans-Ulrich Klose • Werner Zeyer • Hans Koschnick • Johannes Rau • Franz Josef Strauß • Lothar Späth • Ernst Albrecht • Holger Börner • Walter Wallmann • Bernhard Vogel • Björn Engholm • Walter Momper • Henning Voscherau • Alfred Gomolka • Berndt Seite • Oskar Lafontaine • Klaus Wedemeier • Johannes Rau • Edmund Stoiber • Erwin Teufel • Gerhard Schröder • Hans Eichel • Roland Koch • Kurt Biedenkopf • Kurt Beck • Klaus Wowereit • Wolfgang Böhmer • Dieter Althaus • Matthias Platzeck • Peter Harry Carstensen • Harald Ringstorff |
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| SPD (1890-1933) | Paul Singer/Alwin Gerisch · August Bebel/Paul Singer · August Bebel/Hugo Haase · Hugo Haase/Friedrich Ebert · Friedrich Ebert · Friedrich Ebert/Philipp Scheidemann · Otto Wels/Herman Müller · Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels/Herman Müller · Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels · Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels/Hans Vogel |  |
| SPD-in-exile (SoPaDe) (1933-1945) | Otto Wels/Hans Vogel · Hans Vogel | |
| SPD (since 1946) | Kurt Schumacher · Erich Ollenhauer · Willy Brandt · Hans-Jochen Vogel · Björn Engholm · Johannes Rau · Rudolf Scharping · Oskar Lafontaine · Gerhard Schröder · Franz Müntefering · Matthias Platzeck · Kurt Beck | |
