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Preceded by 7th Bundespräsident Roman Herzog 1994 - 1999 |
Johannes Rau 8th Bundespräsident of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
Succeeded by 9th Bundespräsident Horst Köhler 2004 - 2010 |
Preceded by Bundesratspräsident Klaus Wedemeier Hans Koschnick |
Johannes Rau Präsident of the Bundesrat 1982 - 1983 |
Succeeded by Bundesratspräsident Edmund Stoiber Franz Josef Strauss |
Preceded by 5th Ministerpräsident Heinz Kühn |
Johannes Rau 6th Ministerpräsident of Nordrhein-Westfalen |
Succeeded by 7th Ministerpräsident Wolfgang Clement |
Johannes Rau was a German politician (SPD). His family was strongly Protestant. As a schoolboy, Rau was active in the Confessing Church, a circle of the German Protestant Church which resisted Nazism.
Rau was known as a practising Christian (sometimes known as Bruder Johannes, "Brother John", in ridicule of his intense Christian position; however, he sometimes used this term himself).
Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann. In 1958, the pacifist Rau and his political mentor, Gustav Heinemann, joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
During 2000, Rau became the first German head of state to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in German.
Rau had a long history of heart disease and died 11 days after his 75th birthday. He was already unable to attend the reception that his successor Horst Köhler gave on this occasion.
He left behind his widow Christina Rau née Delius.
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