Joachim Gauck
| Joachim Gauck | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| President of the Federal Republic of Germany | |
|
In office 18 March 2012 – 18 March 2017 |
|
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Christian Wulff |
| Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records | |
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In office 4 October 1990 – 10 October 2000 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Marianne Birthler |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
24 January 1940 , Germany |
| Political party |
New Forum/Alliance 90 (1989–1990) Independent (1990–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Gerhild Radtke (1959–1991) |
| Domestic partner | Daniela Schadt (2000–present) |
| Children | 4 |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
| Signature |  |
Joachim Gauck (German: [joːˈʔaxiːm ɡaʊ̯k]; born 24 January 1940) is the President of Germany, serving since March 2012. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany.
During the 1989 revolution, he was a co-founder of the New Forum opposition movement in East Germany, which contributed to the downfall of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). In 1990 he served as a member of the only freely elected People's Chamber for the Alliance 90. Following German reunification, he served for a single day as a member of the Bundestag in 1990 before being elected by the Bundestag as the first Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, serving from 1990 to 2000. As Federal Commissioner, he earned recognition as a "Stasi hunter" and "tireless pro-democracy advocate," exposing the crimes of the communist secret police.
He was nominated as the candidate of the SPD and the Greens for President of Germany in the 2010 election, but lost in the third draw to Christian Wulff, the candidate of the government coalition. His candidacy was met by significant approval of the population and the media; Der Spiegel described him as "the better President" and the Bild called him "the president of hearts." Later, after Christian Wulff stepped down, Gauck was elected as President with 991 of 1228 votes in the Federal Convention in the 2012 election, as a nonpartisan consensus candidate of the CDU, the CSU, the FDP, the SPD and the Greens.
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