Johannes Rau

By Paul A. Schons

Originally published by the Germanic American Institute in July, 1999

In an earlier Kulturecke it was noted that the German president, Roman Herzog would not seek a second term in office. The presidential elections were held on May 23, 1999. The new president, Johannes Rau of the SPD party, will be inaugurated on July 1. The new president was elected by a joint committee of the two houses of parliament meeting in the Reichstag building in Berlin but will be inaugurated in Bonn. He will thus be the last German president of take the oath of office in the former capital.

Rau is the second member of the SPD party to hold the office of president. The first was Gustav Heinemann who held the office from 1969 to 1974. The other 6 presidents have been members of the FDP and CDU. Rau's wife, Christina, is the granddaughter of the first SPD president, Gustav Heinemann.

Rau was born on January 16, 1931 in Wuppertal-Barmen. His father was a Lutheran pastor. His earliest political activity was in the Pan-German People's party (Gesamtdeutsche Volkspartei) prior to his entry into SPD politics in 1957. He became the mayor of his home town in 1968. He became progressively more influential in state politics (North Rhein-Westphalia) and became the chief executive officer of the state (Ministerpräsident) in 1978. He would remain in that office until his retirement 20 years later.

Rau challenged Helmut Kohl for the office of Chancellor in 1987 but succeeded only in joining a long list of leading politicians to be defeated by Kohl. In 1993 he was his party's candidate for the office of president but was defeated by Roman Herzog.

It is no secret that Rau longed for the office of German president. A respected figure, it was widely believed that he was deserving of the honor. And certainly many felt that it was his turn. At the same time it was believed also within his own party and strongly felt within the ranks of his party's coalition partner, the Green Party, that it was time for a woman and/or an East German to hold the office. Certainly Rau has long been a supporter of increased opportunities for women and is a strong proponent of full integration of eastern Germans into the German social/political mainstream. And yet in an ironic situation in the election which represented his last chance at the presidency (Rau is now 67), he found himself a candidate against two women from eastern Germany. The CDU had nominated a woman from East Germany, Dagmar Schipanski. Also running was a token candidate nominated by the PDS (former East German communist) party, Uta Ranke-Heinemann. Although going into the election Rau was considered the most likely victor, there was some concern that feminists in the Green Party and/or Rau's own SPD might find the attraction of a woman president more compelling than party loyalty. It was also not clear until the election what role the FDP party might play.

In the end Rau was elected, though not on the first ballot. His acceptance speech was very short yet poignant. He emphasized a commitment to human dignity, and indeed the dignity and needs not only of German citizens, but also those millions of persons living and working in Germany without citizenship. Noting that the day after his election was the 50th anniversary of the German constitution (Grundgesetz) he cited the human dignity clause from the constitution, "…daß die Würde des Menschen unantastbar ist." He then added, "Da steht nicht: die Würde der Deutschen, sondern: des Menschen!" (It doesn't say: the dignity of Germans, but rather: of the human being!)

In his acceptance speech he also mentioned the war in Yugoslavia which was ongoing as he spoke. Although most at the gathering had carefully avoided mention of that subject, Rau, who had earlier publicly defended the NATO policy, felt it appropriate to bring the topic into his acceptance speech. Recognizing the affronts to human dignity which had led to the conflict he expressed the hope that by the time he assumed office (July 1), that diplomatic efforts would have succeeded in bringing the war to an end. Rau had earlier expressed support for the NATO action in Yugoslavia, but had stated also that if ground troops should at one point be needed, it should be only under the auspices of the UN.

There had been speculation that Rau, should he be elected, would be a very passive president. If his acceptance speech is an indicator, passivity will not mark his term of office. Although the speech was very short, and to the outsider fairly neutral politically, a number of the topics which he mentioned touched the political nerves of the conservative parties. There was immediate negative reaction from the most conservative political leaders. There has come to be an expectation that the president be "überparteilich" (nonpartisan). Several leaders found the short statements to be indicators of partisan politics, even direct provocations aimed at the conservatives. One of the early reactions to the Rau acceptance speech continued an earlier critique that he was too old for the office. The general secretary of the CSU party, Thomas Goppel, said, "Ein Mann von gestern hat eine Rede von vorgestern gehalten." (A man of yesterday gave a speech from the day before yesterday.)