State Commissioner (Germany)

State Commissioner (German: Landesbevollmächtigter) was the title for the provisional heads of government of the New states of Germany shortly after reunification.

Then-state commissioner Josef Duchač casting his ballot for the 1990 Thuringian state election. He succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia after his party had won the election.

German reunification took effect on 3 October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany as five re-established states. However, elections for the state governments of these five states took place on 14 October 1990 and the Landtag of these states elected the respective Minister-Presidents from late October to early November. Between the reunification and the election of the respective Minister-President, appointed state commissioner took on the role of heads of government,[1] as stipulated by the German Reunification Treaty.[2]

These state commissioner also represented their respective state in the Bundesrat, but only had an advisory vote.[3]

They had been appointed by Minister-President of the GDR Lothar de Maizière on 3 August 1990 as Landessprecher (English: State Speaker).[4] Most state commissioners had previously served as Regierungsbevollmächtigte for one of the Bezirke of the GDR that would later be re-organized to the New states; Brick for Neubrandenburg, Wolf for Potsdam, Krause for Leipzig and Duchač for Erfurt. There was some political controversy as to which Regierungsbevollmächtigter would become Landessprecher.[5]

Except for Karl-Hermann Steinberg, who was revealed to have worked for the East German Stasi, all state commissioners were elected to the respective Landtag and were appointed state ministers:

  • Martin Brick was appointed Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
  • Jochen Wolf was appointed Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Transportation of Brandenburg
  • Rudolf Krause was appointed State Minister of the Interior of Saxony

Josef Duchač succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia.

State Commissioners
State Name Term Party
Took office Left office Days
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Martin Brick
(born 1939)		 3 October 1990 27 October 1990 24 Christian Democratic Union
Brandenburg Jochen Wolf
(1941–2022)		 3 October 1990 1 November 1990 29 Social Democratic Party
Saxony-Anhalt Karl-Hermann Steinberg
(1941–2021)		 3 October 1990 28 October 1990 25 Christian Democratic Union
Saxony Rudolf Krause
(born 1939)		 3 October 1990 27 October 1990 24 Christian Democratic Union
Thuringia Josef Duchač
(born 1938)		 3 October 1990 8 November 1990
(succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia)		 36 Christian Democratic Union

References
  1. "Amtsblatt des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt vom 2. Okt. 1990" (in German). Landesbevollmächtigter des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt. 1990. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  2. Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik über die Herstellung der Einheit Deutschlands, 1990, pp. 6.
  3. Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik über die Herstellung der Einheit Deutschlands, 1990, pp. 18.
  4. "Die Wiedereinrichtung der Länder in der DDR" (in German). Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  5. ""Machtpoker um Mitteldeutschland: Die Stunde der Polit-Amateure"" (in German). 22 September 2020. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.