Potsdam
Aerial view of Potsdam
Potsdam
Coordinates	52°24′0″N 13°4′0″E / 52.4°N 13.066667°E / 52.4; 13.066667Coordinates: 52°24′0″N 13°4′0″E / 52.4°N 13.066667°E / 52.4; 13.066667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Urban district
Lord Mayor	Jann Jakobs (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	187.28 km2 (72.31 sq mi)
Elevation	35-114 m
Population	156,906 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	838 /km2 (2,170 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	P
Postal codes	14401–14482
Area code	0331
Website	www.potsdam.de

Potsdam (German pronunciation: [ˈpɔtsdam]) is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, 24 km (15 mi) southwest of Berlin city centre.

The name "Potsdam" originally seems to have been "Poztupimi" from a West Slavonic name meaning "beneath the oaks", highlighting the area's many grand oak trees.^[2]

Potsdam has several claims to national and international notability. In Germany, it had the status Windsor has in Britain: it was the residence of the Prussian kings and German Kaisers, until 1918. Around the city there are a series of interconnected lakes and unique cultural landmarks, in particular the parks and palaces of Sanssouci, the largest World Heritage Site in Germany. The Potsdam Conference, the major post-World War II conference between the victorious Allies, was held at another palace in the area, the Cecilienhof.

Babelsberg, in the south-eastern part of Potsdam, was a major film production studio before the war and has enjoyed increased success as a major centre of European film production since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Filmstudio Babelsberg is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world.

Potsdam developed into a centre of science in Germany from the 19th century. Today, there are three public colleges and more than 30 research institutes in the city.

Geography[link]

Sanssouci

Templiner See south of Potsdam

The area was formed from a series of large moraines left after the last ice age. Today, the city is three-quarters green space, with just a quarter as urban area. There are about 20 lakes and rivers in and around Potsdam, such as the Havel, the Griebnitzsee, Templiner See, Tiefer See, Jungfernsee, Teltowkanal, Heiliger See and the Sacrower See. The highest point is the 114-metre (374 ft) high Kleiner Ravensberg.

Potsdam is divided into seven historic city districts and nine new Ortsteile (villages), which joined the city in 2003. The appearances of the city districts are quite different. The districts in the north and in the centre consist mainly of historical buildings, the south of the city is dominated by larger areas of newer buildings.

History[link]

Document from the Holy Roman Empire in 993 mentioning Poztupimi

New Palace

The area around Potsdam shows occupancy since the Bronze Age and was part of Magna Germania as described by Tacitus. After the migrations, Slavs moved in and Potsdam was probably founded after the 7th century as a settlement of the Heveller centred on a castle. It was first mentioned in a document in 993AD as Poztupimi, when Emperor Otto III gifted the territory to the Quedlinburg Abbey, then led by his aunt Matilda. A possible translation of the name might be beneath the oaks. By 1317, it was mentioned as a small town. It gained its town charter in 1345. In 1573, it was still a small market town of 2,000 inhabitants. Due to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Potsdam had lost nearly half of its population.

A continuous Hohenzollern possession since 1415, Potsdam became prominent, when it was chosen in 1660 as the hunting residence of Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg, the core of the powerful state that later became the Kingdom of Prussia. It also housed Prussian barracks.

Voltaire at the residence of Frederick II in Potsdam. Partial view of an engraving by Pierre Charles Baquoy, after N. A. Monsiau.

After the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Potsdam became a centre of European immigration. Its religious freedom attracted people from France (Huguenots), Russia, the Netherlands and Bohemia. The edict accelerated population growth and economic recovery.

Later, the city became a full residence of the Prussian royal family. The majestic buildings of the royal residences were built mainly during the reign of Frederick the Great. One of these is the Sanssouci Palace (French: "without cares", by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, 1744), famed for its formal gardens and Rococo interiors. Other royal residences include the New Palace and the Orangery.

In 1815, at the formation of the Province of Brandenburg, Potsdam became the provincial capital until 1918, however, interrupted and succeeded by Berlin as provincial capital between 1827 and 1843, and after 1918. The province comprised two governorates named after their capitals Potsdam and Frankfurt upon Oder.

Governorate of Potsdam[link]

Between 1815 and 1945 the city of Potsdam served as capital of the governorate of Potsdam (German: Regierungsbezirk Potsdam). The Regierungsbezirk encompassed the former districts of Uckermark, the Mark of Priegnitz, and the greater part of the Middle March. It was situated between Mecklenburg and the Province of Pomerania on the north, and the Province of Saxony on the south and west (Berlin, with a small surrounding district, was an urban governorate and enclave within the governorate of Potsdam between 1815 and 1822, then it merged as urban district into the governorate only to be disentangled again from Potsdam governorate in 1875, becoming an own distinct province-like entity on 1 April 1881). Towards the north west the governorate was bounded by the rivers Elbe and the Havel, and on the north east by the Oder. The southeastern boundary was to the neighbouring governorate of Frankfurt upon Oder. About 500,000 inhabitants lived in the Potsdam governorate, which covered an area of about 20,700 square kilometres, divided into thirteen rural districts, named after their capitals:^[3]

The traditional towns in the governorate were small, however, in the course of the industrial labour migration some reached the rank as urban districts. The principal towns were Brandenburg upon Havel, Köpenick, Potsdam, Prenzlau, Spandau and Ruppin.^[3] Until 1875 also Berlin was a town within the governorate. After its disentanglement a number of its suburbs outside Berlin's municipal borders grew to cities, many forming urban within the governorate of Potsdam such as Charlottenburg, Lichtenberg, Rixdorf (after 1912 Neukölln), and Schöneberg (all of which, as well as Köpenick and Spandau, incorporated into Greater Berlin in 1920). The urban districts were (years indicating the elevation to rank of urban district or affiliation with Potsdam governorate, respectively):

Potsdam in the 20th century[link]

Berlin was the official capital of Prussia and later of the German Empire, but the court remained in Potsdam, where many government officials settled. In 1914, the Emperor Wilhelm II signed the Declaration of War in the Neues Palais. The city lost its status as a second capital in 1918, when Wilhelm II abdicated at the end of World War I.

At the start of the Third Reich in 1933 there was a ceremonial handshake between President Paul von Hindenburg and the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 21 March 1933 in Potsdam's Garrison Church in what became known as the "Day of Potsdam". This symbolised a coalition of the military (Reichswehr) and Nazism. Potsdam was severely damaged in bombing raids during World War II.

Potsdam Conference in 1945 with Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin

The Cecilienhof Palace was the scene of the Potsdam Conference from 17 July, to 2 August 1945, at which the victorious Allied leaders (Harry S. Truman; Winston Churchill and his successor, Clement Attlee; and Joseph Stalin) met to decide the future of Germany and postwar Europe in general. The conference ended with the Potsdam Agreement and the Potsdam Declaration.

The Glienicke Bridge, used for exchanging spies during the Cold War

The government of East Germany (formally known as the German Democratic Republic (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR)) tried to remove symbols of Prussian militarism. Many historic buildings, some of them badly damaged in the war, were demolished.

When in 1946 the remainder of the Province of Brandenburg west of the Oder-Neiße line was constituted as the state of Brandenburg, Potsdam became its capital. In 1952 the GDR disestablished its federative states and replaced them by smaller new East German administrative districts. Potsdam became the capital of the new Bezirk Potsdam until 1990.

Potsdam, south-west of Berlin, lay just outside West Berlin after the construction of the Berlin Wall. The walling off of West Berlin not only isolated Potsdam from West Berlin, but also doubled commuting times to East Berlin. The Glienicke Bridge across the Havel connected the city to West Berlin and was the scene of some Cold War exchanges of spies.

After German reunification, Potsdam became the capital of the newly re-established state of Brandenburg. There are many ideas and efforts to reconstruct the original appearance of the city, most remarkably the Potsdam City Palace and the Garrison Church.

Politics[link]

Administration[link]

The Old Town Hall

Potsdam has had a mayor (Bürgermeister) and city council since the 15th century. From 1809 the city council was elected, with a mayor (Oberbürgermeister) at its head. During the Third Reich the mayor was selected by the NSDAP and the city council was dissolved; it was reconstituted in token form after the Second World War, but free elections did not take place until after reunification.

Today, the city council is the city's central administrative authority. Local elections took place on 26 October 2003 and again in 2008. Between 1990 and 1999, the Chairman of the City Council was known as the "Town President" but today the post is the "Chairman of the City Council". The mayor is elected directly by the population. In the mayoral election on 22 September 2002, no candidate gained an overall majority, and a run-off election was held between Jann Jakobs (SPD) and Hans-Jürgen Scharfenberg (PDS), with Jann Jakobs gaining the narrowest of victories, with 50.1%.

The Landtag Brandenburg, the parliament of the federal state of Brandenburg is in Potsdam. It is planned to move into the Potsdam City Palace in 2011, after its reconstruction.

International relations[link]

Twin towns — sister cities[link]

Potsdam is twinned with the following cities:^[4]

	Opole	Poland	1973		Perugia	Italy	1990
	Bobigny	France	1974		Sioux Falls	South Dakota, USA	1990
	Jyväskylä	Finland	1985		Bonn	North Rhine-Westphalia	1988
	Lucerne	Switzerland	2002

Education and research[link]

Landmark buildings of the University of Potsdam

Potsdam is a university town. The University of Potsdam was founded in 1991 as a university of the State of Brandenburg. Its predecessor was the Akademie für Staats- und Rechtswissenschaften der DDR "Walter Ulbricht", a college of education founded in 1948 which was one of the GDR's most important colleges. There are about 20,000 students enrolled at the university.

The Einstein Tower was built in 1921 to house research on the theory of relativity

In 1991 the Fachhochschule was founded as the second college; it now has 2,400 students.

In addition there is a College of Film and Television (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen "Konrad Wolf" HFF), founded in 1954 in Babelsberg, the foremost centre of the German film industry since its birth, with currently 600 students.

There are also several research foundations, including Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research and Biomedical Engineering, Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Colloids and Interfaces, and Molecular Plant Physiology, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the Potsdam Astrophysical Institute and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which employs 140 people in researching climate change.

As well as universities, Potsdam is home to reputable secondary schools. Montessori Gesamtschule Potsdam, in western Potsdam, attracts 400 students from the Brandenburg and Berlin region.

Main sights[link]

Sanssouci Palace.

Potsdam was historically a centre of European immigration. Its religious tolerance attracted people from France, Russia, the Netherlands and Bohemia. This is still visible in the culture and architecture of the city.

The most popular attraction in Potsdam is Sanssouci Park, 2 km west of the city centre. In 1744 King Frederick the Great ordered the construction of a residence here, where he could live sans souci ("without worries", in the French spoken at the court). The park hosts a botanical garden (Botanical Garden, Potsdam) and many magnificent buildings:

• The Sanssouci Palace (Schloss Sanssouci), a relatively modest palace of the Prussian royal and German imperial family
• The Orangery Palace (Orangerieschloss), former palace for foreign royal guests
• The New Palace (Neues Palais), built between 1763 and 1769 to celebrate the end of the Seven Years' War, in which Prussia ousted Austria from its centuries-long role as the dominant power in German affairs. It is a much larger and grander palace than Sanssouci, having over 200 rooms and 400 statues as decoration. It served as a guest house for numerous royal visitors. It is now housing parts of University of Potsdam.
• The Charlottenhof Palace (Schloss Charlottenhof), a Neoclassical palace by Karl Friedrich Schinkel built in 1826
• The Roman Baths (Römische Bäder), built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Ludwig Persius in 1829-1840. It is a complex of buildings including a tea pavilion, a Renaissance-style villa, and a Roman bathhouse (from which the whole complex takes its name).
• The Chinese Tea House (Chinesisches Teehaus), an 18th century pavilion built in a Chinese style, the fashion of the time.

Three gates from the original city wall remain today. The oldest is the Hunters' Gate (Jägertor), built in 1733. The Nauener Tor was built in 1755 and close to the historic Dutch Quarter. The ornate Brandenburg Gate (built in 1770, not to be confused with the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin) is situated on the Luisenplatz at the western entrance to the old town.

Fortunaportal and St. Nicholas' Church on the Alter Markt (the church has since been renovated see photo)

The old town (main shopping street, Brandenburger Straße)

The Old Market Square (Alter Markt) is Potsdam's historical city centre. For three centuries this was the site of the City Palace (Stadtschloß), a royal palace built in 1662. Under Frederick the Great, the palace became the winter residence of the Prussian kings. The palace was severely damaged by bombing in 1945 and demolished in 1961 by the Communist authorities. In 2002 the Fortuna Gate (Fortunaportal) was rebuilt in its original historic position, which marks the first step in the reconstruction of the palace.

The Old Market Square is dominated today by the dome of St. Nicholas' Church (Nikolaikirche), built in 1837 in the classical style. It was the last work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who designed the building but did not live to see its completion. It was finished by his disciples Friedrich August Stüler and Ludwig Persius. The eastern side of the Market Square is dominated by the Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus), built in 1755 by the Dutch architect Jan Bouman (1706–1776). It has a characteristic circular tower, crowned with a gilded Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders.

Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate

North of the Old Market Square is the oval French Church (Französische Kirche), erected in the 1750s by Boumann for the Huguenot community.

Another landmark of Potsdam is the two-street Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel), an ensemble of buildings that is unique in Europe, with about 150 houses built of red bricks in the Dutch style. It was built between 1734 and 1742 under the direction of Jan Bouman to be used by Dutch artisans and craftsmen who had been invited to settle here by King Frederick Wilhelm I. Today, this area is one of Potsdam's most visited districts.

North of the city centre is the Russian colony of Alexandrowka, a small enclave of Russian architecture (including an Orthodox chapel) built in 1825 for a group of Russian immigrants. Since 1999, the colony has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

East of the Alexandrowka colony is a large park, the New Garden (Neuer Garten), which was laid out from 1786 in the English style. The site contains two palaces; one of them, the Cecilienhof, was where the Potsdam Conference was held in July and August 1945. The Marmorpalais (Marble Palace) was built in 1789 in the style of classicism. Nearby is the Biosphäre Potsdam, a tropical botanical garden.

Another interesting district of Potsdam is Babelsberg, a quarter south-east of the centre, housing the UFA film studios (Babelsberg Studios), and an extensive park with some historical buildings, including the Babelsberg Palace (Schloß Babelsberg, a neo-Gothic palace designed by Schinkel). The Einstein Tower was built between 1920 and 1924 by architect Erich Mendelsohn on the top of the Telegraphenberg within an astronomy compound.

There are many parks in Potsdam, most of them included in UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Some of them are:

• Parks in Potsdam
• 

  The Belvedere near Sanssouci Park

• 

  View from Babelsberg Park to Berlin.

• 

  The Chinese House

Potsdam also includes a memorial centre in the former KGB prison in Leistikowstraße.

The Kaiserbahnhof at Park Sanssouci

Transport[link]

• Rail transport: Potsdam, included in the fare zone "C" (Tarifbereich C)^[5] of Berlin's public transport area, is served by the S7 S-Bahn line. The stations served are Griebnitzsee, Babelsberg and the Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), the main and long-distance station of the city. Other DB stations in Potsdam are Charlottenhof, Park Sanssouci (including the monumental Kaiserbahnhof), Medienstadt Babelsberg (formerly Drewitz), Rehbrücke and Pirschheide. The city also possesses a 27 km-long tramway network.

• Road transport: Potsdam is served by several motorways: the A 10, a beltway better known as Berliner Ring, the A 115 (using part of the AVUS) and is closely linked to the A 2 and A 9. The B 1 and B 2 federal roads cross the city. Potsdam counts a network of urban and suburban buses and trolleybuses.

Sport[link]

• 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, one of the most successful German female football clubs (Bundesliga (women))
• SV Babelsberg 03, football club (3. Bundesliga)
• Olympic training centre Potsdam
• USV Potsdam, Rugby union (2nd Rugby-Bundesliga) and Football (Kreisklasse)
• List of football clubs in Potsdam
• The Potsdamer Schlössermarathon (Potsdam Palace Marathon) is a marathon in that is held annually in June. Thousands of runners run the course past the palaces for the half marathon and several hundred repeat the course to complete the full marathon.

Famous people[link]

Famous people from Potsdam who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Paul Sigel, Silke Dähmlow, Frank Seehausen und Lucas Elmenhorst, Architekturführer Potsdam Architectural Guide, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-496-01325-7.

External links[link]

Germany portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Potsdam

• Official municipal website in German and English
• Interactive aerial tour of Potsdam

v t e Urban and rural districts in the state of Brandenburg in Germany Urban districts Brandenburg an der Havel Cottbus Frankfurt (Oder) Potsdam Rural districts Barnim Dahme-Spreewald Elbe-Elster Havelland Märkisch-Oderland Oberhavel Oberspreewald-Lausitz Oder-Spree Ostprignitz-Ruppin Potsdam-Mittelmark Prignitz Spree-Neiße Teltow-Fläming Uckermark

v t e Capitals of states of the Federal Republic of Germany Capitals of area states Dresden (Saxony) Düsseldorf (North Rhine-Westphalia) Erfurt (Thuringia) Hanover (Lower Saxony) Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein) Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt) Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Munich (Bavaria) Potsdam (Brandenburg) Saarbrücken (Saarland) Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg) Wiesbaden (Hesse) Citystates1 Berlin City of Bremen (State of Bremen) Hamburg Capitals of former states Freiburg im Breisgau (South Baden, 1949–1952) Stuttgart (Württemberg-Baden, 1949–1952) Tübingen (Württemberg-Hohenzollern, 1949–1952) 1 Unlike the mono-city states Berlin and Hamburg the State of Bremen consists of two cities, thus state and capital are not identical.

v t e Capitals of the former East German Bezirke East Berlin · Cottbus · Dresden · Erfurt · Frankfurt (Oder) · Gera · Halle · Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) · Leipzig · Magdeburg · Neubrandenburg · Potsdam · Rostock · Schwerin · Suhl

Guido Westerwelle
Westerwelle at a meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in 2010
Foreign Minister of Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 October 2009
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
In office 28 October 2009 – 16 May 2011[1]
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Succeeded by	Philipp Rösler
Chairman of the Free Democratic Party
In office 4 May 2001 – 13 May 2011
Preceded by	Wolfgang Gerhardt
Succeeded by	Philipp Rösler
Member of the Bundestag
Incumbent
Assumed office 1996
Constituency	Nordrhein-Westfalen, list (no. 01)
Personal details
Born	(1961-12-27) 27 December 1961 (age 50) Bad Honnef, West Germany (now Germany)
Political party	Free Democratic Party
Domestic partner	Michael Mronz
Residence	Berlin (Official) Bonn (Private)
Alma mater	University of Bonn Distance University of Hagen
Profession	Lawyer
Website	guido-westerwelle.de

Guido Westerwelle (German pronunciation: [ˈɡiːdo ˈvɛstɐˌvɛlə]; born December 27, 1961) is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has been serving as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions. He has been the chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) since May 2001, but stepped down in 2011.^[2] A lawyer by profession, he has been a member of the Bundestag since 1996.

Early life and education[link]

Guido Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He graduated from Ernst Moritz Arndt Gymnasium in 1980 after academic struggles resulted in his departure from previous institutions where he was considered an average student at best, but substandard otherwise.^[3] He studied law at the University of Bonn from 1980 to 1987. Following the First and Second State Law Examinations in 1987 and 1991 respectively, he began practicing as an attorney in Bonn in 1991. In 1994, he earned a doctoral degree in law from FernUniversität Hagen.

Career in the FDP[link]

Westerwelle joined the FDP in 1980. He was a founding member of the Junge Liberale, the youth organization of that party, and was its chairman from 1983 to 1988.

Having been a member of the Executive Board of the FDP since 1988, he first gained national prominence in 1994, when he was appointed Secretary General of the party. As such, he was a notable proponent of an unlimited free market economy and took a leading part in drafting a new party programme.

In 1996, Westerwelle was first elected a member of the Bundestag, filling in for Heinz Lanfermann, who had resigned from his seat after entering the Ministry of Justice. In 1998, Westerwelle was re-elected to parliament.

In 2001, he succeeded Wolfgang Gerhardt as party chairman, who, however, remained chairman of the FDP's parliamentary group. Westerwelle, the youngest party chairman at the time, emphasized economics and education, and espoused a strategy initiated by his deputy Jürgen Möllemann, who, as chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of party, had led his party back into the state parliament, gaining 9.8% of the vote. This strategy, transferred to the federal level, was dubbed Project 18, referring both to the envisioned percentage and the German age of majority. Leading up to the 2002 elections, he positioned his party in equidistance to the major parties and refused to commit his party to a coalition with either the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. He was also declared the FDP's candidate for the office of chancellor. Since the FDP had never claimed such a candicacy (and hasn't done since) and had no chance of attaining it against the two major parties, this move was widely seen as flippant political marketing alongside other moves, such as driving around in a campaign van dubbed Guidomobile, wearing the figure 18 on the soles of his shoes or appearance in the Big Brother TV show.^[4] Eventually, the federal elections yielded a slight increase of the FDP's vote from 6.8% to 7.4%. Despite this setback, he was reelected as party chairman in 2003.

Westerwelle speaking at an election rally in Hamm

In the federal elections of 2005, Westerwelle was his party's frontrunner. When neither Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats and Greens nor a coalition of Christian and Free Democrats, favoured by Angela Merkel and Westerwelle, managed to gain a majority of seats, Westerwelle rejected overtures by Chancellor Schröder to save his chancellorship by entering his coalition, preferring to become one of the leaders of the disparate opposition of the subsequently formed "Grand Coalition" of Christian and Social Democrats, with Merkel as Chancellor. Westerwelle became a vocal critic of the new government. In 2006, according to an internal agreement, Westerwelle succeeded Wolfgang Gerhardt as chairman of the parliamentary group.

Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany[link]

In the federal elections of 2009, Westerwelle committed his party to a coalition with Dr Merkel's CDU/CSU, ruling out a coalition with Social Democrats and Greens, and led his party to unprecedented 14.6%.^[5] In accordance with earlier announcements, he formed a coalition government with CDU/CSU. On October 28, he was sworn in as Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor, becoming the head of the Foreign Office.^[6][7][8] In 2010 he announced he wouldn't be taking his husband to hostile countries.^[9]

His deputies at the Foreign Office are Werner Hoyer and Cornelia Pieper as Ministers of State. Hoyer previously held the same office in the Cabinet Kohl V.

By May 2011 however his party had collapsed in several states, including Rhineland-Palatinate and Bremen where they failed to secure the 5% threshold to be seated in parliament.^[10] Westerwelle then stepped down as party leader. By July the party was only receiving 3% support in opinion polls, a record low,^[11] reflecting what political insiders had called his "last stand" in January, comparing Westerwelle and his party to Captain Ahab and the Pequod.^[12]

In July 2011 Westerwelle was the President of the United Nations Security Council as he headed the German delegation to the United Nations.^[13]

Positions[link]

Westerwelle is a staunch supporter of the free market and has proposed reforms to curtail the German welfare state and deregulate German labor law. In an interview in February 2003, Westerwelle described trade unions as a "plague on our country" and said union officials were "the pall bearers of the welfare state and of the prosperity in our country".^[14] He has called for substantial tax cuts and smaller government, in line with the general direction of his party. In 2001, he was one of the first politicians to push for a biometric passport.^[15]

He opposes Google Street View and stated "I will do all I can to prevent it.".^[16]

Controversy[link]

His chairmanship has also seen considerable controversy. Critics inside and outside the FDP have accused him of focusing on public relations, as opposed to developing and promoting sound public policy, especially in the election campaign of 2002. Westerwelle himself, who was made party chairman particularly because his predecessor Wolfgang Gerhardt had been viewed by many as dull and stiff, has labeled his approach as Spaßpolitik (fun politics) in the past.^[17]

On September 27, 2009, at a press conference after the election, Westerwelle refused to answer a question in English from a BBC reporter, stating that "it is normal to speak German in Germany".^[18][19]

He made public statements in 2010 about the "welfare state",^[20] claiming that promising the people effortless prosperity may lead to "late Roman decadence", in reference to a verdict in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany regarding Hartz IV. This caused quite a stir in Germany.

His official trips as foreign minister have included his partner Michael Mronz, an event manager, and Ralf Marohn, a partner in his brother's company,^[21] also causing controversy. Westerwelle and the FDP defended this by saying that it is normal for foreign ministers to take industry representatives on their trips, ignoring the fact that these particular representatives had a personal relationship with him.

In late November 2010, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables revealed that American diplomats considered Westerwelle an obstacle to deeper transatlantic relations and were skeptical of Westerwelle's abilities, with one cable comparing Westerwelle unfavorably to former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.^[22]

The Ministry and the Past[link]

In 2010, the Foreign Ministry released a report prepared for Westerwelle called The Ministry and the Past, which alleged the ministry's collusion with the Nazis. Westerwelle said the report "shamed" the institution.^[23]

Espionage[link]

On December 3, 2010, Westerwelle dismissed his personal assistant Helmut Metzner following a Wikileaks diplomatic cables release which led to Metzner admitting that he regularly spied for the Americans.^[24]

Personal life[link]

Westerwelle (right) and his longtime partner Michael Mronz (2009)

On July 20, 2004, Westerwelle attended Angela Merkel's 50th birthday party accompanied by his partner, Michael Mronz, thereby tacitly acknowledging that he is gay. It was the first time he had attended an official event with his husband.^[25] The couple registered their partnership on September 17, 2010 in a private ceremony in Bonn.^[26][27]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Guido Westerwelle, the Liberals' Top Gun Profile in Deutsche Welle, 20 July 2005

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Guido Westerwelle

• Westerwelle's personal website (in German)
• Westerwelle's website as member of the Bundestag (in German)

v t e The Second Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel (2009–present) Vice-Chancellor Guido Westerwelle (2009–2011)  · Philipp Rösler (2011–present) Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Guido Westerwelle (2009–present) Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière (2009–2011)  · Hans-Peter Friedrich (2011–present) Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (2009–present) Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble (2009–present) Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Rainer Brüderle (2009–2011)  · Philipp Rösler (2011–present) Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Franz Josef Jung (2009)  · Ursula von der Leyen (2009–present) Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Ilse Aigner (2009–present) Federal Minister of Defence Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (2009–2011)  · Thomas de Maizière (2011–present) Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Women and Youth Ursula von der Leyen (2009)  · Kristina Schröder (2009–present) Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler (2009–2011)  · Daniel Bahr (2011–present) Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs Peter Ramsauer (2009–present) Federal Minister for the Environment Norbert Röttgen (2009–2012)  · Peter Altmaier (2012–present) Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan (2009–present) Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel (2009–present) Federal Minister for Special Tasks, Head of the Chancellery Ronald Pofalla (2009–present)

v t e Foreign Ministers of Germany German Empire (1871–1918) Thile Balan B.E. v. Bülow Radowitz Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst Limburg-Stirum Busch Hatzfeld zu Trachenberg H. v. Bismarck Bieberstein B. von Bülow Richthofen Tschirschky-Bögendorff Schoen Kiderlen-Waechter Jagow Zimmermann Kühlmann Hintze Solf Brockdorff-Rantzau Weimar Republic (1918–1933) Brockdorff-Rantzau Müller Köster Simons Rosen Wirth Rathenau Rosenberg Stresemann Curtius Brüning Neurath Nazi Germany (1933–1945) Neurath Ribbentrop Seyss-Inquart Schwerin von Krosigk German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (1949–1990) Dertinger Ackermann Bolz Winzer O. Fischer Meckel de Maizière Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) Adenauer Brentano Schröder Brandt Scheel Genscher Kinkel J. Fischer Steinmeier Westerwelle