Lothar de Maizière
| Lothar de Maizière | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) |
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In office 12 April 1990 – 2 October 1990 |
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| President | Sabine Bergmann-Pohl |
| Preceded by |
Hans Modrow (as Prime Minister of East Germany) |
| Succeeded by | Helmut Kohl (as Chancellor of Germany) |
| Deputy Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (with Christa Luft and Peter Moreth) |
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In office 18 November 1989 – 12 April 1990 |
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| President |
Egon Krenz Manfred Gerlach Sabine Bergmann-Pohl |
| Prime Minister | Hans Modrow |
| Preceded by |
Günther Kleiber Alfred Neumann |
| Succeeded by | Klaus Reichenbach |
| Minister of Church-Affairs of East Germany | |
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In office 18 November 1989 – 12 April 1990 |
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| President |
Egon Krenz Manfred Gerlach Sabine Bergmann-Pohl |
| Prime Minister | Hans Modrow |
| Preceded by | Klaus Gysi (as Minister of Church-Affairs of East Germany) |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Schirmer (as Minister of Culture of East Germany) |
| Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (with Rudolf Seiters, Hans Klein, Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, Günther Krause, Rainer Ortleb and Hansjoachim Walther) |
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In office 3 October 1990 – 17 December 1990 |
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| President | Richard von Weizsäcker |
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
2 March 1940 Nordhausen, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party |
East German Christian Democratic West German Christian Democratic |
| Profession | Musician, lawyer, politician |
Lothar de Maizière (German pronunciation: [də mɛˈzi̯ɛːɐ̯]; born 2 March 1940) is a German Christian Democratic politician. In 1990, he served as the only democratically elected prime minister of the German Democratic Republic, and as such was the last leader of an independent East Germany.
De Maizière was born in Nordhausen, Thuringia, and attended the ancient Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, where he was one of the last pupils before the school closed in 1958. He next studied viola at the Hanns Eisler College of Music in East Berlin from 1959 to 1965. He played in the Berlin Symphony Orchestra before going on to study law (by distance learning, through the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) from 1969 to 1975.
He belongs to a noble (unsupported) family originally from Maizières-lès-Metz who, as Huguenots, had fled France for asylum in Prussia in the late 17th century. The still attended French-language schools and Huguenot churches in Berlin until the beginning of the 20th century. His cousin Thomas de Maizière is a close advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel and currently serving as the Federal Minister of the Interior.
A longtime member of the East German Christian Democratic Union, de Maizière helped oust the party's pro-Communist leadership after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He was elected the party's chairman in November. In the first—and as it turned out, only—free election held in East Germany, de Maizière was elected to the Volkskammer. One month later, he succeeded Hans Modrow as Premier and held this position from 12 April until 2 October 1990. He ran on a platform of speedy reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany (from 1949 to 1990, West Germany). As premier, de Maizière signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (the so-called "Two Plus Four Treaty"), which ended the four wartime allied powers' rights and responsibilities in Berlin and Germany, and which preceded German reunification. The treaty provided that it would be signed by the four allies and the two Germanies but ratified only by newly reunified Germany and the allies. In accordance with that treaty, East Germany ceased to exist on 3 October, and its territory was reunited with the Federal Republic.
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