what primeministers studied in Germany

Submitted by myth (Germany), Jul 10, 2011 at 09:10

The prime ministers of the German substates and the chancellor hold the political power in Germany. I collected basic information on wikipedia. What university education and background leads to a government function ?

The information is in three tables. The first block is western substates, the second eastern, the third all Germany. The list contains:

substate, population, capitol, primeminister, year of birth, party, miltary service (BW for West-German-Army NVA for East German Army), subject studied, university

• Nordrhein-Westfalen,18Mill,Düsseldorf,Hannelore Kraft,1961,SPD,female,economy,Duisburg (West)
• Hessen,6Mill,Wiesbaden,Volker Bouffier,1951,CDU,none,law,Giessen (West)
• Rheinland-Pfalz,4Mill,Mainz,Kurt Beck,1949,SPD,BW,none,none
• Saarland,1Mill,Saarbrücken,Peter Müller,1955,CDU,none,law,Saarbrücken (West)
• Bayern,12Mill,München,Horst Seehofer,1949,CSU,none,none,none
• Baden-Württemberg,11Mill,Stuttgart,Winfried Kretschmann,1948,Green,BW,biology and chemistry teacher,Hohenheim (West)
• Niedersachsen,8Mill,Hannover,David McAllister,1971,CDU,none(Berlin resident),law,Hannover (West)
• Hamburg,1.8Mill,Hamburg,Olaf Scholz,1958,SPD,none,law,Hamburg (West)
• Bremen,0.7Mill,Bremen,Jens Böhrnsen,1949,SPD,CS,law,Hamburg (West)
• Berlin,3Mill,Berlin,Klaus Wowereit,1953,SPD,none(Berlin resident),law,Berlin (West)
• Schleswig-Holstein,3Mill,Kiel,Peter Carstensen,1947,CDU,none,agriculture,Kiel (West)
Brandenburg,2.5Mill,Potsdam,Matthias Patzek,1953,SPD,NVA,cybernetics,Ilmenau (East)
• Sachsen,4Mill,Dresden,Stanislaw Tillich,1959,CDU,DDR-borderpatrol,engineering,Dresden (East)
• Sachsen-Anhalt,2Mill,Magdeburg,Reiner Haseloff,1954,CDU,none,physics,Dresden and Berlin (East)
• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,1.6Mill,Schwerin,Erwin Sellering,1949(West),SPD,none,law,Heidelberg Bochum Münster (all West)
• Thüringen,2Mill,Erfurt,Christine Lieberknecht,1958,CDU,female,protestant theology,Jena (East)
Germany,82Mill,Berlin,Angela Merkel,1954,CDU,female,physics,Leipzig (East)

observations:

The primeministers were all born between 1949 and 1961 and studied during the late sixties to late seventies. The women are among the youngest of primeministers. McAllister is the exception being born 1971. The rest studied in a seperated Germany and took power in a unified country.

No particular university stands out. People studied close to home. Both patterns, the distribution of universities and the regional ties, reflect the federal design of substates.

The majority of western heads-of-substate did no military service (as mentioned in their wikipedia articles). One exception is noteworthy: Kretschman who is member of the pacifist Green party did military service.

A study of law in the west translated into politcal power. A study of technical subjects and theology in Cold-War-East-Germany led to politcal power after reunification.

None of the primeministers chose a study charged with politcal ideas such as sociology, history and the like.

In the case of Cold-War-East-Germany I suspect that politically active people retreated into neutral subjects under regime pressure. In the west the power is linked to the study of law which I find bureaucratic. The sixties political movements were active in fields of social studies. However those students have not made it to political power today.

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