10 January 2017

Roman Herzog, Germany's president in the 1990s, dies at 82

In this Nov. 23, 2015 file photo former German President Roman Herzog arrives for the official memorial service for former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in Hamburg, northern Germany.
Roman Herzog, who as president pressed Germany to embrace economic reform in the 1990s and also stressed the importance of remembering the Nazi Holocaust, has died. He was 82.
Current President Joachim Gauck announced Herzog's death on Tuesday, without giving details. In a message to Herzog's widow, he described the former head of state as "a distinctive personality" who "advocated readiness for reform and at the same time stood for preserving the tried and tested."

Herzog, a jovial Bavarian, served as the chief justice of Germany's highest court before winning the presidency in 1994, four years after reunification.
He was one of the first leaders to address Germany's resistance to reform and its growing economic stagnation at a time when veteran conservative Chancellor Helmut Kohl's 16-year tenure was coming to a close. Germany was struggling with double-digit unemployment, amid worries that its labor market was too inflexible.
In this June 23, 1999 file photo German President Roman Herzog stands under a chandelier in Bellevue castle in Berlin. Herzog has died, German President Joachim Gauck confirmed Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82.
Herzog drew an unfavorable comparison between the dynamism of Asia and the stagnation in Germany, pointing to problems with bureaucracy and regulation, and a resistance to change.
"Germany must feel a jolt," Herzog said in a 1997 speech, urging Germans to set aside greed and pull together to overcome "a sense of paralysis."
In this June 30, 1999 file photo German President Roman smiles during the presentation of his book titled "Courage for Renewal" in Bellevue castle in Berlin. Herzog has died, German President Joachim Gauck confirmed Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82.
"Pessimism has become a normal mindset in our country," he said. "Those who want to delay or prevent major reforms need to be aware that our nation will pay a high price for this."
However, the president, while seen as the nation's moral conscience, has a largely ceremonial job and reform was slow to come.
The following year, center-left Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder came to power saying that one of his government's tasks would be to modernize the country and deal with a "reform backlog." But it would still be several more years before Germany embarked in earnest on painful reform of the welfare state.
The reforms that Schroeder finally implemented were unpopular at the time, but they have been widely credited with putting Germany in good shape to weather economic crises.
In this May 23, 2009 file photo former German president Roman Herzog, right, and his wife, Baroness Alexandra von Berlichingen, left, arrive in front of the Reichstag, which houses the German parliament Bundestag, prior to the election of the German President in Berlin. Herzog has died, German President Joachim Gauck confirmed Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82.
Herzog — who succeeded Richard von Weizsaecker, remembered for urging his country to confront its dark past — also instituted an annual day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust, setting it on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the Auschwitz death camp's liberation.
Announcing the decision in 1996, he said remembrance must "remind future generations to be vigilant." Germany's Jewish community praised Herzog's commitment to ensuring that Nazi atrocities not be forgotten.
Herzog also reached out to countries that suffered under Nazi occupation, pleading for forgiveness when he traveled to Poland on the 50th anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
He spoke out firmly against lingering property claims by some Germans in regions that were part of Germany before its borders were moved westward at the end of World War II.
Herzog left office when his first term expired in 1999 and was replaced by Johannes Rau, a member of Schroeder's Social Democrats.
Herzog was born April 5, 1934, in Landshut in Bavaria. His father worked at a snuff factory and later directed the local museum.
In this Dec. 1, 2003 file photo former German President Roman Herzog waves after his speech at the party convention of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU) in Leipzig, eastern Germany. Herzog has died, German President Joachim Gauck confirmed Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82.
Herzog studied law at Munich University. He was brought into politics by Kohl, then governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, who named him the region's chief representative in Bonn in 1973.
He later served as culture minister and interior minister in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Herzog was named vice president of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1983 and was elevated to chief justice in 1987.
Herzog is survived by his second wife, Alexandra. 
(AP)