Mittler between West and East: The only West-East government leader-Bernhard Vogel died

Bernhard Vogel was a record regent: the CDU politician was the only prime minister who ruled a country in western and eastern Germany. As long as no other in Germany was at the head of state governments. The then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had already certified him “historical uniqueness”. Now the Göttingen native has died at the age of 92, as the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of the German Press Agency confirmed. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported.

The former Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate and later from Thuringia originally had other plans. “I had never come up with the idea of ​​becoming politicians,” said Vogel on the occasion of his 90th birthday in December 2022 in a kind of life balance. He studied political science, history and economy in Heidelberg when works councils of the BASF group asked him to run for the Bundestag. “At most, I was put on a period.”

His brother Hans-Jochen (1926-2020) had long been politically active-albeit in the SPD: Only as the mayor of Munich, later as Federal Minister of Justice, candidate for chancellor and party leader.

First in Mainz, then in Erfurt

The then Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Helmut Kohl then brought Bernhard Vogel to Mainz-initially as Minister of Culture, in 1976 he followed Kohl as head of government. With a bitter “God Sagittarius Rhineland-Palatinate”, Vogel said goodbye to his federal state in 1988 after he had lost a power struggle in the state CDU. He had ruled on the Rhine and Moselle for around twelve years.

After the German reunification, Vogel came to Thuringia in 1992 (“overnight”). “The idea of ​​becoming a prime minister in another German country was so absurd that nobody had it for a long time. It was not my earnings, but corresponded to an unusual historical situation.”

The office was a real challenge. “With the election as Prime Minister, the greatest adventure of my life began for me. And I hadn’t imagined that so difficult.” The removal of the damage of 40 years of the GDR has proven to be complicated. “It has not yet been completed in all areas.”

Vogel led the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation

After the “adventure of Thuringia”, Vogel took over the chief position of the Adenauer Foundation until 2009, which he had previously held. In which place was a so extensive happy? “In the cathedral in Speyer, in the cathedral in Erfurt, in Weimar, Jena, Heidelberg … A single place alone does not fit into my résumé,” said the eternal bachelor.

The Vogel, born on December 19, 1932, was unique among politicians. He not only experienced German key moments, but also shaped them. He made the oath of office as head of government seven times in Mainz and Erfurt. He is the German post -war politician with the longest term as prime minister. He led CDU all-cleans or coalitions with FDP and SPD for more than 23 years.

Swimmer and classic lover

At his place of residence in Speyer in Palatinate, political biographies and works were on the bookshelf, for example from Thomas Mann (“I have had a special sympathy for him for a long time”). When bird listened to music, then classic – often Mozart (“You can hear him immediately. Only Mozart has a certain tone”). Pop and rock are “not so much” his world. He described the Dutchman Vincent van Gogh as a favorite painter.

In his free time he was a passionate swimmer until old age. “That is still possible,” he said on his 90th birthday, “in contrast to mountaineering: I look at the peaks from below today.” Vogel was able to relax in a village in the Ötztal.

Handy companions emphasize that the doctoral policy always looked for the connecting person and was a real diplomat. Until the end he was seen on many appointments. Vogel was still speaking. So he warned the CDU of working with the AfD, but advised his party to take care of their voters.

“You shouldn’t take yourself too important”

He always called the relationship with Helmut Kohl confidentially. “Kohl was never a rival. We have been friends for decades.” The fact that the last years of the ex-Chancellor were overshadowed by a donation affair and an illness have “a touch of tragedy”.

When asked about his merits, Vogel often did this with a smile. “Some people have the impression that my brother and me are personalities who would be reminded later,” he once told the German Press Agency. Certainly they tried and committed. “But we weren’t the only ones, and we will probably be forgotten. That is a realistic thought. You shouldn’t take yourself too important.”