Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born April 12, 1948) is the German vice chancellor and foreign minister in the red-green coalition since 1998. He is seen as a leading figure in the German Green Party and was top candidate in the 2002 election campaign, which supposedly lead to an increase in votes and seats for the Green Party.
Joschka Fischer
Biography
Being a foreign minister, Fischer has a very unusual biography. He was born in Gerabronn (Baden-Württemberg) as third child of a butcher, whose family had lived in Hungary for several generations, but left the country after WWII. Fischer dropped out of highschool (Gymnasium) in 1965, started an apprenticeship as a photographer, of which he dropped out in 1966.
In 1967 he became engaged in the left movement (post-)68 (Spontis), first in Stuttgart but since 1968 in Frankfurt am Main, including participation in protest marches becoming violent. His close friendship with Daniel Cohn-Bendit dates from this time. In 1971 he started working at automobile maker Opel as an ordinary worker in order to agitate working class people. Some months later he was fired because of his propaganda activities. During his time as a political activist he made a living with unskilled work. He was working as a taxi driver from 1976 till 1981, and later on as a bookshop clerk in the Karl Marx Bookshop in Frankfurt.
In the so-called Heißer Herbst (fall of 1977), Germany was confronted with leftists terrorism (Red Army Faction). According to Fischer's own account, these events made him give up violent and radical action. Instead, he engaged in the social movements and later in the newly found German Green Party, mainly in Hesse.
From 1983 to 1985, Fischer was member of the German Bundestag for the Green party. In 1985 he became minister for the environment in the German state Hesse in the first state level red-green coalition in Germany ever (1985-1987). His 1985 appointment as minister in Hesse caused uproar because he was wearing tennis shoes during his oath of office. These shoes are now on display in the German Historic Museum in Bonn.
He became minister for the environment of Hesse again from 1991 to 1994. Since 1994, Fischer is a a Member of the Bundestag, again, working first as one of the two chair persons for the Green faction. Since 1998, he is the vice chancellor and foreign minister of Germany, re-elected in 2002.
Fischer has an honorary degree (Dr. h.c.) from the University of Haifa.
He was married four times, to Edeltraud (1967-1984) in Gretna Green, Inge (1984-1987), Claudia (1987-1999), and Nicola (1999-2003), all marriages ending in divorce.
Despite -- or maybe because -- of his very controversial biography, which he never tried to hide, he is the most popular German politician, leading the opinion polls since several years (as of 2004).
External links
Referenced By
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