Germany's Third SPD Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder

by Paul A. Schons

Originally published by the Germanic American Institute in March, 1999

Since the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 Gerhard Schröder is the third member of the Social Democratic Party to attain the office of chancellor. All others (Adenauer, Erhard, Kiessinger and Kohl) have been members of the CDU, Christian Democratic Union. The first of the SPD chancellors was Willy Brandt. He was followed in office by Helmut Schmidt. Schröder's predecessor in office, Helmut Kohl, had held the position of chancellor since 1982.

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder was born in the Lippe district of eastern Westphalia on April 7, 1944. Schröder never knew his father who died in the war only a few days after his son's birth. His mother faced constant financial difficulties attempting to care on her own for 5 children during the very difficult years following the war. Since a university education seemed unattainable due to the family's situation, Schröder followed a trade school track in his early education. His free time was devoted to a position as mid-fielder on the village soccer team. After finishing school he was admitted to an apprenticeship in Lemgo. He then found work in Göttingen. He was, however, not at all satisfied with the limitations his education and station in life allowed. "Ich wollte da raus." He thus attended night school in Göttingen.

In 1966, at age 22, he gained the Abitur which would allow him admission to a university. In 1966 he began law studies at the University of Göttingen. His decision to study law, he remembers, was conditioned by watching an American TV series, "Perry Mason". With very limited finances he worked in construction to support himself during his university studies. His struggles during these years began to condition an entry into the SPD (1963) and a political goal, "Ich möchte eine modernisierte Gesellschaft, aber eine, in der alle die gleichen Chancen haben." (I would like a modernized society, but one in which all have equal chances.) He attributes much of his ideological development in these years to the model provided by Helmut Schmidt.

In 1968 he married his first wife, Eva Schubach. (He is currently married to Doris Köpf.) His political/social views were intensified in these years by participation in a "Young Political Leaders" exchange in the U.S.A. Schröder was much impressed with the degree of freedoms enjoyed by Americans but was deeply shocked by the extent and depth of the poverty which was commonplace in the "land of unlimited opportunity". Combined with his own experience with financial limitations, the experience with American poverty added a degree of intensity to his political commitment to equal opportunity.

His political career continued after his return to Germany. In 1971 he became the head of the Juso (the youth organization of the SPD) district of Hannover. He completed his law studies and was admitted to the bar in Hannover in 1976. In 1980 he began to gain national recognition as a member of the Bundestag (parliament). As a young representative of the left in those days, he made a symbolic statement by refusing to wear a tie at sessions of the Bundestag. (That "radical" act of those days was vastly outdone by the early representatives of the Green Party when they first entered parliament.)

He was a candidate for the office of Ministerpräsident (governor) in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) in 1986 but lost to Ernst Albrecht. In the next election, however, in a coalition with the Green Party and was elected Ministerpräsident. He was a contender for his party's candidate for chancellor in 1993, but was eclipsed by Rudolf Sharping. He became the potential economics minister in Scharping's cabinet, but, of course, the SPD was not successful in the parliamentary elections and Helmut Kohl continued as chancellor.

Leading up to the elections of 1998 the two leading SPD candidates to challenge Kohl and the CDU were Oskar Lafontaine and Gerhard Schröder. The decisive event tipping the party leadership to Schröder was the election in Niedersachsen on March 1, 1998. In that election Schröder led his party to a decisive victory and with that victory emerged as his party's candidate for chancellor in the national elections to be held in September.

Schröder was able to form the first national coalition with the Green Party during the campaign and campaigned against Kohl's party with an appeal to youth, a constant emphasis on the unemployment problem and emphasis on the problems of ethnic minorities in Germany. The red/green coalition won a majority in the national elections. On October 27th, 1998 Gerhard Schröder became the seventh chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. The vice chancellor and foreign minister, a member of the Green Party, is Joschka Fischer. Former rival, Oskar Lafontaine, is the finance minister. Former rival, Rudolf Scharping, is the minister of defense.