kids encyclopedia robot

Winfried Kretschmann facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Winfried Kretschmann
180913 Jungfernfahrt Hybrid Faehre 01 (cropped).jpg
Kretschmann in 2018
Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg
Assumed office
12 May 2011
Deputy
  • Nils Schmid
  • Thomas Strobl
Preceded by Stefan Mappus
President of the Bundesrat
In office
1 November 2012 – 31 October 2013
First Vice President Horst Seehofer
Preceded by Horst Seehofer
Succeeded by Stephan Weil
Personal details
Born (1948-05-17) 17 May 1948 (age 76)
Spaichingen, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, French occupation zone, Allied-occupied Germany (now Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
Political party Alliance 90/The Greens
(1979–)
Other political
affiliations		 Communist League of West Germany
(1973–1975)
Spouses
Gerlinde Kretschmann, née Kienle
​
(m. 1975)​
Alma mater University of Hohenheim
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Teacher
Website www.winfried-kretschmann.de
Military service
Allegiance  Germany
Branch/service Bundeswehr
Years of service 1968–1970

Winfried Kretschmann (born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ex officio deputy to the President of Germany from 2012 to 2013. He is the first member of the Greens to serve in these offices. Identifying himself as a green conservative, Kretschmann has been associated with both culturally and economically liberal policies.

Kretschmann has been a member of the state parliament, the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg, since 1980, in the constituency of Nürtingen. In 2006 he was the frontrunner in the Baden-Württemberg state election for his party, as he was in the state election on 27 March 2011. He was also the chairman of his party's parliamentary group.

Following the state election of 2011, Kretschmann was elected on 12 May 2011 by the combined Green-SPD majority in the Landtag to succeed Stefan Mappus as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, becoming the first ever Green Minister-President of any German state. Kretschmann has wide personal popularity; if it were possible to elect the Minister-President directly during the Baden-Württemberg election of March 2016, Kretschmann would have won an outright majority according to polls; he was even favored by 45% of CDU supporters. Kretschmann was re-elected in May 2016 as Minister-President while leading a new coalition with the Christian Democrats.

On 12 October 2012 he was elected President of the German Bundesrat for the term from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2013. This was the first time since 1953, and only the second time ever, that the President was not drawn from the ranks of either the CDU/CSU or the SPD, until November 1, 2021, when Bodo Ramelow of The Left was elected president of the Bundesrat.

Early life and education

Kretschmann was born at Spaichingen in Baden-Württemberg. His parents were expellees from the mostly Roman Catholic region of Ermland (East Prussia) after World War II. He grew up on the rural Swabian Alb (southern Baden-Württemberg). Kretschmann attended a Catholic boarding school in Sigmaringen and passed his Abitur in Riedlingen. Following his military service, he studied to be a teacher of biology and chemistry (later ethics) at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, graduating in 1977.

  • Cabinet Kretschmann
  • Green conservatism

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Winfried Kretschmann para niños Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Winfried Kretschmann para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Winfried Kretschmann Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.