Winfried Kretschmann: Wife has to undergo surgery after fall

Shock for Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (76): His wife Gerlinde (78) is in hospital after a fall. , Gerlinde Kretschmann fell on a staircase and broke her shoulder. She is scheduled to undergo surgery today, Tuesday.

According to the report, Prime Minister Kretschmann does not leave his wife’s side in this difficult hour. For them, he canceled their participation in an appointment in Konstanz on Lake Constance: The plan was actually for the Green politician to take part in a citizens’ dialogue in the evening at the council together with Schwarz and the rest of the state parliamentary group. But now the family comes first.

Gerlinde Kretschmann’s accident hits the couple in a special year: in 2025 the two want to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, 50 years of marriage together. They met in 1973 during a Spanish course at the University of Hohenheim. Just two years later, the wedding bells were already ringing.

The marriage resulted in three children, and the Kretschmanns are now also multiple grandparents. They live together in the tranquil Sigmaringen district of Laiz. Nearby, in Bingen, Gerlinde Kretschmann worked as a primary school teacher until her retirement and was involved in local politics for the Greens.

This is not the first health setback for the couple. It was only in spring 2021, shortly before the state elections, that Winfried Kretschmann announced that his wife had breast cancer. Back then, too, he canceled appointments during the election campaign so that he could be there for her.

But Gerlinde Kretschmann fought her way through. In September 2021, she happily announced that she had beaten cancer. She then resumed her involvement in numerous volunteer positions, including organizing hiking tours with the Swabian Alb Association.