Joschka Fischer

Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born April 12, 1948 near Crailsheim ) has been the German foreign minister and deputy chancellor in the red-green coalition since 1998. He is a leading figure in the German Green Party and was the party's top candidate in the 2002 election campaign, which saw an increase in votes and seats for the Green Party.

According to many inquiries, the foreign minister is the most popular politician in Germany, despite his former radicalism and alleged terrorist sympathies.

Biography

Fischer has a controversial biography for a foreign minister. He was born in Gerabronn (Baden-Württemberg) as third child of a butcher, whose family had lived in Hungary for several generations, but had to leave the country after World War II when Hungary was occupied by Stalin. Fischer dropped out of high school (Gymnasium) in 1965, and started an apprenticeship as a photographer which he quit in 1966.

In 1967 he became engaged in the German student movement and left-wing movement (post-) 68 (Spontis), first in Stuttgart but after 1968 in Frankfurt, including participation in protest marches which became violent. His close friendship with Daniel Cohn-Bendit dates from this time. In 1971 he started working at automobile maker Opel as an ordinary worker in order to agitate working class people. Some months later he was fired because of his propaganda activities, and made a living through unskilled work while doing political activism. He worked as a taxi driver from 1976 to 1981, and later on as a bookshop clerk in the Karl Marx Bookshop in Frankfurt.

In the so-called Deutscher Herbst (German Autumn, fall of 1977), Germany was confronted with leftist terrorism (Red Army Faction). According to Fischer's own account, these events made him give up violent and radical action. Instead, he engaged in the social movements and later in the newly founded German Green Party, mainly in Hesse.

From 1983 to 1985, Fischer was a member of the German Parliament for the Green party. In 1985 he became minister for the environment in the German state Hesse in the first state level red-green coalition in Germany ever (1985-1987), his appointment causing an uproar because he wore tennis shoes during his oath of office. These shoes are now on display in the German Historic Museum in Bonn.

He became minister for the environment of Hesse again from 1991 to 1994, and went on to again become a member of the Parliament working as one of the two chair persons for the Green faction. Fischer became the vice chancellor and foreign minister of Germany in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002.

In 1999 Fischer supported the German participation in the Kosovo war. This was an extremely controversial stance within the largely pacifist Green Party, because it meant that, for the first time after the Second World War, German soldiers would actively participate in combat. He justified this war with allegations that the Serbs were planning a genocide on the Kosovo Albanians.

Rumor has it that Fischer also was strongly in favor for the stationing of German troops in Afghanistan, but later on counseled German chancellor Gerhard Schröder to not join the war in Iraq. He is known as a good friend of the head of the UN, Kofi Annan, and has a reputation for his international experience. Although the first common foreign minister of the EU has yet to be elected, Fischer is considered a strong candidate for this post. Unlike former German foreign ministers, he speaks several languages fluently, and has a good experience with and reputation in the Arab world. He is the now second longest-serving foreign minister in German postwar history (after Hans-Dietrich Genscher).

In 2005, Fischer is suspected of relaxing controls on visa regulations for the Ukraine too much, thus allowing many illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe to get into the EU, especially Germany, with fake identities. A parliamentary commission (Untersuchungskommission) has been established to examine the case, and unlike with other such commissions, Fischer's statement will be broadcast live on public TV. (As to the time of this update, Apr19 2005, he didn't deliver his statement yet.) This again shows that Fischer knows how to use the mass media, and is quite self-conscious. See German Visa Affair 2005.

Fischer has an honorary degree (Dr. h.c.) from the University of Haifa.

He was married four times, to Edeltraud (1967-1984) in Gretna Green, Inge (1984-1987), Claudia (1987-1999), and Nicola (1999-2003), all marriages ending in divorce. Reportedly, he now has a girlfriend, the 30 years old Iranian film student Minu Barati.

Popularity and Dieting

Despite — or maybe because of — his controversial past, he is the most popular German politician, leading the opinion polls for several years (as of 2004) even among supporters of other parties.

This popularity may be attributed to his personal integrity as much as to his political standpoints.

Fischer achieved great respect in the public in 2000 with the completion of a stringent diet. Until then he had been formerly an outspoken connaisseur of good wines and food (regularly betting cases of expensive wine with opposition politicians on the outcome of elections), and had been overweight. He decided to abandon alcoholic drinks completely, to change his diet, and to start jogging on a daily basis. After the painful first months, he became so fit that the pictures of his bodyguards failing to catch up with him during his morning runs became his trademark. Fischer finally lost more than 35 kg and crowned his efforts by successfully completing the New York City Marathon 1999 in 3h 45min.

Fischer dieted not only for health reasons but also for philosophical reasons, to renew and find his self. He described his mental and physical development during the diet in the book titled Mein langer Lauf zu mir selbst ("my long run towards myself"), which became an immediate bestseller in Germany. Recently, Fischer has been visibly gaining weight again.

External links

• Boston Review article reviewing Fischer's biography
• Official homepage of Joschka Fischer (German)
• Biography at the German Historic Museum (German)