Volker Rühe
Volker Rühe | |
|---|---|
| Federal Minister of Defence | |
| In office 1 April 1992 – 26 October 1998 | |
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Gerhard Stoltenberg |
| Succeeded by | Rudolf Scharping |
| General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union | |
| In office 11 September 1989 – 27 October 1992 | |
| Leader | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Heiner Geißler |
| Succeeded by | Peter Hintze |
| Member of the Bundestag for Hamburg | |
| In office 14 December 1976 – 18 October 2005 | |
| Constituency | Party List Proportional Representation |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 September 1942 |
| Party | Christian Democratic Union (1963–present) |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Occupation | Teacher |
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Volker Rühe (born 25 September 1942) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as German Defence minister from 1 April 1992, succeeding Gerhard Stoltenberg during the first government of a reunified Germany in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Kohl, to the end of the fifth Kohl Cabinet on 27 October 1998. During his time at the Defence Ministry Rühe played a central role in placing NATO enlargement on the German political agenda. He unsuccessfully ran for the office of minister-president of the German state Schleswig-Holstein in the year 2000, eventually losing against incumbent Heide Simonis.