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Bernhard Vogel, Politician and former State Premier

April 24, 2012

18.03.2012 Talking Germany - presenter Peter Craven talks with Bernhard Vogel about attracting professionals back to the eastern states, young Christian Democrats and winemaking in Berlin.

https://p.dw.com/p/SF50

79-year-old Bernhard Vogel from the conservative CDU has accomplished a feat unique in post-war German politics: He has been elected state premier in two different states.

Bernhard Vogel was born on December 19, 1932 in Göttingen. He had originally planned an academic career after studying political science. Instead, he entered politics. A native of Lower Saxony, from 1976 to 1988 he served as premier of Rheinland-Pfalz. Following German reunification, he was state premier of the eastern state of Thüringen from 1992 to 2003. After leaving active politics, Bernhard Vogel became head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a think tank associated with the CDU, until 2009. Since then he has served as a patron of various public service projects such as the construction of a youth center in Rwanda. He's the brother of another politician - Jochen Vogel from the Social Democratic party, on the other side of the political spectrum. Bernhard Vogel never married and lives in the town of Speyer on the Rhine.