Schröder was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he wasMinister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming chancellor. Replacing the longest-ruling chancellor in modern German history,Helmut Kohl (CDU), in the1998 federal election, he tried to address unemployment and poverty with theAgenda 2010 labour market reform, which increasedwelfare benefits. Together with French presidentJacques Chirac, in 2003, he did not join theCoalition of the Willing and vehemently criticised the United States forOperation Iraqi Freedom. Following the2005 election, which his party lost, he stood down as chancellor in favour ofAngela Merkel of the rivalChristian Democratic Union. He waschairman of the board atNord Stream AG and atRosneft but in 2022 resigned from chairmanship and paused his plans to join the board of Russian state-run gas companyGazprom. Nonetheless, he continues to be amember of the board at Rosneft. He also had roles as a global manager for investment bankRothschild, and as chairman of the board of football clubHannover 96.
After theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Schröder was criticized for his policies towardsVladimir Putin's government, his work for Russian state-owned companies, and his lobbying on behalf of Russia. In March 2022, thePublic Prosecutor General initiated proceedings related to accusations against Schröder of complicity incrimes against humanity due to his role in Russian state-owned corporations, while theCDU/CSU group demanded that Schröder be included in theEuropean Union sanctions against individuals with ties to the Russian government.[4][5] An SPD party arbitration committee ruled in March 2023 that he had not violated any party rules and would remain a member of the party.[6]
Schröder was born inBlomberg,Lippe, inNazi Germany. His father, Fritz Schröder, a lance corporal in theWehrmacht, was killed in action inWorld War II in Romania on 4 October 1944, almost six months after Gerhard's birth. His mother, Erika (née Vosseler), worked as an agricultural labourer to support herself and her two sons.[7]
After the war, the area where Schröder lived became part of West Germany. He completed an apprenticeship in retail sales in aLemgo hardware shop from 1958 to 1961 and subsequently worked in aLage retail shop and after that as an unskilled construction worker and a sales clerk inGöttingen while studying at night school for a general qualification for university entrance (Abitur). He did not have to do military service because his father had died in the war.[8] In 1966, Schröder secured entrance to a university, passing theAbitur exam at Westfalen-Kolleg,Bielefeld. From 1966 to 1971, he studied law at theUniversity of Göttingen.
In 1976, Schröder passed his second law examination, and he subsequently worked as a lawyer until 1990.[9] Among his more controversial cases, Schröder helpedHorst Mahler, a founding member of theBaader-Meinhof terrorist group, to secure both an early release from prison and permission to practice law again in Germany.[10]
In 1980, Schröder was elected to the GermanBundestag (federal parliament), where he wore a sweater instead of the traditional suit. Under the leadership of successive chairmenHerbert Wehner (1980–83) andHans-Jochen Vogel (1983–86), he served in the SPD parliamentary group. He also became chairman of the SPDHanover district.
Considered ambitious from early on in his political career, it was widely reported and never denied, that in 1982, a drunken Schröder stood outside theWest Germanfederal chancellery yelling: "I want to get in."[11] That same year, he wrote an article on the idea of a red/green coalition for a book at Olle & Wolter, Berlin; this appeared later inDie Zeit. ChancellorWilly Brandt, the SPD and SI chairman who reviewed Olle & Wolter at that time, had just asked for more books on the subject.
After the SPD won the state elections in June 1990, Schröder becameMinister-President of Lower Saxony as head of an SPD-Greens coalition; in this position, he also won the 1994 and 1998 state elections.[citation needed] He was subsequently also appointed to thesupervisory board ofVolkswagen, the largest company in Lower Saxony and of which the state of Lower Saxony is a major stockholder.
Following his election as Minister-President in 1990, Schröder also became a member of the board of the federal SPD. In 1997 and 1998, he served asPresident of theBundesrat. Between 1994 and 1998, he was also chairman of Lower Saxonian SPD.
During Schröder's time in office, first in coalition with the environmentalist Green Party, then with a clear majority, Lower Saxony became one of the most deficit-ridden of Germany's 16 federal states, and unemployment rose higher than the national average of 12 percent.[12] Ahead of the1994 elections, SPD chairmanRudolf Scharping included Schröder in hisshadow cabinet for the party's campaign to unseat incumbentHelmut Kohl as chancellor.[13] During the campaign, Schröder served as shadow minister of economic affairs, energy and transport.
In 1996, Schröder caused controversy by taking a free ride on the Volkswagen corporate jet to attend theVienna Opera Ball, along with Volkswagen CEOFerdinand Piëch. The following year, he nationalized a big steel mill in Lower Saxony to preserve jobs.[14]
In the1998 state elections, Schröder's Social Democrats increased their share of the vote by about four percentage points over the 44.3 percent they recorded in the previous elections in 1994 – a postwar record for the party in Lower Saxony that reversed a string of Social Democrat reversals in state elections elsewhere.[15]
Following the1998 national elections, Schröder became chancellor as head of an SPD-Green coalition. Throughout his campaign for chancellor, he portrayed himself as a pragmaticnew Social Democrat who would promote economic growth while strengthening Germany's generous social welfare system.[16]
After the resignation ofOskar Lafontaine asLeader of the Social Democratic Party in March 1999, in protest at Schröder's adoption of a number of what Lafontaine considered "neo-liberal" policies, Schröder took over his rival's office as well. In April 1999, in Germany's first session in the restored Reichstag, to applause, he quoted Albanian writerIsmail Kadare, saying: "The Balkans is the yard of the European house, and in no house can peace prevail so long as people kill each other in its yard."[17] In a move meant to signal a deepening alliance between Schröder and Prime MinisterTony Blair of the United Kingdom,[18] the two leaders issued an eighteen-page manifesto for economic reform in June 1999. Titled "Europe: The Third Way",[19] or"Die Neue Mitte" in German, it called on Europe's centre-left governments to cut taxes, pursue labour and welfare reforms and encourage entrepreneurship. The joint paper said European governments needed to adopt a "supply-side agenda" to respond to globalisation, the demands of capital markets and technological change.[20]
Schröder's efforts backfired within his own party, where its left wing rejected the Schröder–Blair call for cutbacks to the welfare state and pro-business policies. Instead, the paper took part of the blame for a succession of six German state election losses in 1999 for the Social Democratic Party. Only by 2000, Schröder managed to capitalise on thedonations scandal of his Christian Democratic opposition to push through a landmark tax reform bill and re-establish his dominance of the German political scene.[21]
Throughout the build-up to the2002 German election, the Social Democrats and the Green Party trailed the centre-right candidateEdmund Stoiber until the catastrophe caused byrising floodwater in Germany led to an improvement in his polling numbers.[24] Furthermore, his popular opposition to a war inIraq dominated campaigning in the run-up to the polls.[25] At 22 September 2002 vote, he secured another four-year term, with a narrow nine-seat majority down from 21.
In February 2004, Schröder resigned as chairman of the SPD amid growing criticism from across his own party of his reform agenda;[26][27]Franz Müntefering succeeded him as chairman. On 22 May 2005, after the SPD lost to theChristian Democrats (CDU) inNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Gerhard Schröder announced he would call federal elections "as soon as possible". Amotion of confidence was subsequently defeated in theBundestag on 1 July 2005 by 151 to 296 (with 148 abstaining), after Schröder urged members not to vote for his government in order to trigger new elections. In response, a grouping of left-wing SPD dissidents and theParty of Democratic Socialism agreed to run on a joint ticket in the general election, with Schröder's rivalOskar Lafontaine leading the new group.[28]
The 2005German federal elections were held on 18 September. After the elections, neither Schröder's SPD-Green coalition nor the alliance between CDU/CSU and the FDP led byAngela Merkel achieved a majority in parliament, but the CDU/CSU had a stronger popular electoral lead by one percentage point. On election night, both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory and chancellorship, but after initially ruling out agrand coalition with Merkel, Schröder and Müntefering entered negotiations with her and the CSU'sEdmund Stoiber. On 10 October, it was announced that the parties had agreed to form a grand coalition. Schröder agreed to cede the chancellorship to Merkel, but the SPD would hold the majority of government posts and retain considerable control of government policy.[29] Merkel was elected chancellor on 22 November.
On 11 October 2005, Schröder announced that he would not take a postin the new cabinet and, in November, he confirmed that he would leave politics as soon as Merkel took office. On 23 November 2005, he resigned hisBundestag seat.[30]
On 14 November 2005, at an SPD conference inKarlsruhe, Schröder urged members of the SPD to support the proposed coalition, saying it "carries unmistakably, perhaps primarily, the imprint of the Social Democrats". Many SPD members had previously indicated that they supported the coalition, which would have continued the policies of Schröder's government, but had objected toAngela Merkel replacing him as chancellor. The conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal.[31]
In his first term, Schröder's government decided to phase outnuclear power, fundrenewable energies,[32] institutecivil unions for same-sex partners, and liberalise thenaturalization law.[33][34] During Schröder's time in office, economic growth slowed to only 0.2% in 2002 and Gross Domestic Product shrank in 2003, while German unemployment was over the 10% mark.[35] Most voters soon associated Schröder with theAgenda 2010 reform program, which included cuts in thesocial welfare system (national health insurance,unemployment payments, pensions), lower taxes, and reformed regulations on employment and payment. He also eliminated capital gains tax on the sale of corporate stocks in an attempt to make the country more attractive to foreign investors.[36] After the 2002 election, the SPD steadily lost support in opinion polls. Many increasingly perceived Schröder'sThird Way program to be a dismantling of the Germanwelfare state. Moreover, Germany's high unemployment rate remained a serious problem for the government.[37][38][39] Schröder's tax policies were also unpopular; when the satirical radio showThe Gerd Show releasedThe Tax Song (Der Steuersong), featuring Schröder's voice (by impressionistElmar Brandt) lampooning Germany'sindirect taxation, it became Germany's 2002 Christmas #1 hit and sold over a million copies.[40][41] The fact that Schröder served on theVolkswagen board (a position that came with his position asminister-president of Lower Saxony) and tended to prefer pro-car policies led to him being nicknamed the car chancellor (Auto-Kanzler).[42]
In 1997, Schröder joined the minister-presidents of two other German states,Kurt Biedenkopf andEdmund Stoiber, in making the case for a five-year delay in Europe's currency union.[43] After taking office, he made his first official trip abroad to France for meetings with PresidentJacques Chirac and Prime MinisterLionel Jospin in October 1998.[44] A 2001 meeting held by both leaders inBlaesheim later gave the name to a regular series of informal meetings between the French President, the German Chancellor, and their foreign ministers. The meetings were held alternately in France and Germany. At the fortieth anniversary of theElysée Treaty, both sides agreed that rather than summits being held twice a year, there would now be regular meetings of a council of French and German ministers overseen by their respective foreign affairs ministers.[45] In an unprecedented move, Chirac formally agreed to represent Schröder in his absence at aEuropean Council meeting in October 2003.[46]
Also in 2003, both Schröder and Chirac forced a suspension of sanctions both faced for breaching the European Union's fiscal rules that underpin theeuro – theStability and Growth Pact – for three years in a row. Schröder later called for a revision of theLisbon Strategy and thereby a retreat from Europe's goal of overtaking the United States as the world's most competitive economy by 2010. Instead, he urged the EU to reform the Pact to encourage growth and to seek the reorientation of the €100,000,000,000 annualEU budget towards research and innovation.[50] By 2005, he had successfully pushed for an agreement on sweeping plans to rewrite the Pact, which now allowed EU members with deficits above the original 3% of GDP limit to cite the costs of "the reunification of Europe" as a mitigating factor.[51]
Schröder was regarded a strong ally of Prime MinisterLeszek Miller ofPoland[52] and supporter of the2004 enlargement of the European Union.[53] On 1 August 2004, the sixtieth anniversary of the 1944Warsaw Uprising, he apologised to Poland for "the immeasurable suffering" of its people during the conflict; he was the first German Chancellor to be invited to an anniversary of the uprising. Both Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also supported theaccession of Turkey to the European Union.[54]
Marking a clear break with the caution of German foreign policy since World War II, Schröder laid out in 1999 his vision of the country's international role, describing Germany as "agreat power in Europe" that would not hesitate to pursue its national interests.[55] Schröder also continued the established Social Democratic political tradition ofWandel durch Handel.[56]
Schröder also began seeking a resolution and ways to compensate Nazi-era slave labourers almost as soon as he was elected chancellor. Reversing the hard-line stance of his predecessor,Helmut Kohl, he agreed to the government contributing alongside industry to afund that would compensate people forced to work in German factories by the Nazi regime and appointedOtto Graf Lambsdorff to represent German industry in the negotiations with survivors' organisations, American lawyers and the US government.[57]
Schröder sent forces toKosovo and toAfghanistan as part ofNATO operations.[58] Until Schröder's chancellorship, German troops had not taken part in combat actions sinceWorld War II. At the beginning of theIraq crisis, Schröder declared in March 2002 that Germany would not take part in the Iraq war without a UN mandate.[59] In the summer of 2002, during the federal election campaign, he proclaimed the "German Way" as an alternative to the "American warmongering" in Iraq and presented Germany as a peace power.[60]
In May 2019 atWORLD.MINDS in Belgrade, 20 years to the day after thebombing of Belgrade byNATO troops, Schröder stated unequivocally that in retrospect, if he had to make the decision again, he would authorize theaerial bombardment of the former Yugoslavia again. Schröder said that "the easiest solution would be to first accept Serbia into the European Union and then within, as an integral part the EU, find a solution [to the Kosovo issue]."[61][62] With Germany having a long experience withterrorism itself, Schröder declared solidarity with the United States after theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001.[63] When Schröder left office, Germany had 2,000 troops in Afghanistan,[64] the largest contingent from any nation other than the United States, UK, France, Canada and after two years Afghanistan.[citation needed]
During their time in government, both Schröder and his foreign ministerJoschka Fischer were widely considered sincerely, if not uncritically, pro-Israel.[70] In 2004, he declared that "the existence of a state of Israel within secure borders was an historic and political responsibility that is a pillar of our foreign policy."[71] Schröder represented the German government at the funeral service forKingHussein of Jordan inAmman on 9 February 1999.[72]
When British planes joined United States forcesbombingIraq without consulting theUnited Nations Security Council in December 1998, Schröder pledged "unlimited solidarity".[73] But, along with French PresidentJacques Chirac and many other world leaders, Schröder later spoke out strongly against the2003 invasion of Iraq and refused any military assistance in that invasion. Schröder's stance caused political friction between the US and Germany, in particular because he used this topic for his 2002 election campaign. Schröder's stance set the stage for alleged anti-American statements by members of the SPD. The parliamentary leader of the SPD,Ludwig Stiegler, compared US PresidentGeorge W. Bush toJulius Caesar while Schröder's Minister of Justice,Herta Däubler-Gmelin, likened Bush's foreign policy to that ofAdolf Hitler. Schröder's critics accused him of enhancing, and campaigning on, anti-American sentiments in Germany. After his 2002 re-election, Schröder and Bush rarely met, and their animosity was seen as a widening political gap between the US and Europe. Bush stated in his memoirs that Schröder initially promised to support the Iraq war but changed his mind with the upcoming German elections and public opinion strongly against the invasion, to which Schröder responded saying that Bush was "not telling the truth".[74] When asked in March 2003 if he was self-critical about his position on Iraq, Schröder replied, "I very much regret there were excessive statements" from himself and former members of his government (which capitalised on the war's unpopularity).[75]
On his first official trip to Russia in late 1998, Schröder suggested that Germany was not likely to come up with more aid for the country. He also sought to detach himself from the close personal relationship that his predecessor,Helmut Kohl, had with Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin, saying that German-Russian relations should "develop independently of concrete political figures."[76] Soon after, however, he cultivated close ties with Yeltsin's successor, PresidentVladimir Putin, in an attempt to strengthen the "strategic partnership" between Berlin and Moscow,[77] including the opening of a gas pipeline over the Baltic Sea exclusively between Russia and Germany (see"Gazprom controversy" below). During his time in office, he visited the country five times.
Schröder was criticised in the media, and subsequently by Angela Merkel, for calling Putin a "flawless democrat" on 22 November 2004, only days before Putin prematurely congratulatedViktor Yanukovich during theOrange Revolution.[78] In 2005, Schröder suggested at the ceremonial introduction of theAirbus A380 in Toulouse that there was still "room in the boat" ofEADS for Russia.[79]
In his last days in office in 2005 he signed a deal between Germany and Russian state-ownedGazprom to buildNord Stream 1 before leaving office and almost immediately joining the pipeline company's board.[80] He rejected criticism of the move and announced legal action over reports he would be paid between €200,000 (£134,000) and €1m a year.[81] In 2022 he was reportedly paid about $270,000 a year as chairman of the shareholder committee.[82]
Only a few days after his chancellorship, Schröder joined the board of directors of the Nord Stream joint venture, thus bringing about new speculations about his prior objectivity. In his memoirsDecisions: My Life in Politics, Schröder still defends his friend and political ally, and states that "it would be wrong to place excessive demands on Russia when it comes to the rate of domestic political reform and democratic development, or to judge it solely on the basis of the Chechnya conflict."[83] Schröder's continued close connection to Vladimir Putin and his government after his chancellorship has been widely criticized inGermany.[84]
Schröder andKurt Biedenkopf served as mediators in a conflict over privatization plans at German railway operatorDeutsche Bahn; the plans eventually fell through.[86] In 2016, he was appointed by Vice-ChancellorSigmar Gabriel to mediate (alongside economistBert Rürup) in a dispute between two of Germany's leading retailers,Edeka andREWE Group, over the takeover of supermarket chain Kaiser's Tengelmann.[87]
Following the release of German activist Peter Steudtner from a Turkish prison in October 2017, German media reported that Schröder had acted as mediator in the conflict and, on the request of Gabriel, met with PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan to secure the release.[88][89] After the2018 and2023 Turkish presidential elections, he represented the German government at Erdoğan's inauguration ceremony inAnkara (jointly withChristian Wulff, 2023).[90][91]
Schröder's plans after leaving office as chancellor and resigning his Bundestag seat included resuming his law practice in Berlin, writing a book, and implementing plans for twin pipelines for Gazprom, Russia's leading energy company. He was subsequently retained by the Swiss publisherRingier AG as a consultant.[92] Other board memberships include the following:
Nord Stream 1, chairman of the Shareholders' Committee (since 2006)[93]
As chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of theNord Stream 1 pipeline project, which planned to supply Russian gas directly to Germany, thereby bypassing transit countries.[109][110]
In 2005, Russian President Vladimir Putin's friend Schroeder hastily signed the deal just as he was departing the office from which he had been voted out days earlier. Within weeks, he started to oversee the project implementation himself, leading the Nord Stream AG's shareholder committee.
On 24 October 2005, just a few weeks before Schröder stepped down as chancellor, the German government guaranteed to cover 1 billion euros of the Nord Stream project cost, shouldGazprom default on a loan. However, this guarantee was never used.[112] Soon after stepping down as chancellor, Schröder accepted Gazprom's nomination for the post of the head of the shareholders' committee ofNord Stream AG, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest.[citation needed]
German opposition parties expressed concern over the issue, as did the governments of countries over whose territory gas was pumped at the time.[113] In an editorial entitledGerhard Schroeder's Sellout, the American newspaperThe Washington Post also expressed sharp criticism, reflecting widening international ramifications of Schröder's new post.[114] DemocratTom Lantos, chairman of theUnited States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, likened Schröder to a "political prostitute" for his recent behaviour.[115] In January 2009, theWall Street Journal reported that Schröder would join the board of the oil companyTNK-BP, a joint venture between oil majorBP and Russian partners.[116]
In 2016, Schröder switched to become manager ofNord Stream 2, an expansion of the original pipeline in which Gazprom is sole shareholder.[117]
In 2017, Russia nominated Schröder to also be an independent director of the board of its biggest oil producer,Rosneft.[118] At the time, Rosneft was underinternational sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.[118] Schröder toldBlick that he would be paid about $350,000 annually for the part-time post.[119] His decision caused an outcry in Germany and abroad, especially in a climate of fear about any potential Russian interference in the2017 German elections.[120] GermanChancellorAngela Merkel criticized her predecessor, saying in August 2017: "I do not think what Mr Schröder is doing is okay".[121]
Schröder at Putin's inauguration with Dmitry Medvedev andPatriarch Kirill on 7 May 2018
In 2019 Schröder and his wife hosted theNordstream Race, a sailing competition which finished inSaint Petersburg at the mouth of the undersea pipeline.[110]
In early February 2022, Schröder was nominated to the board of directors of Gazprom.[122] Later that year, facing criticism in Germany, he decided against taking on the role.[citation needed]
Especially as tensions between Russia and NATO mounted before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Schröder's stance as a "Putinversteher" was criticized.[123] Schröder criticized the behaviour of the western countries as "saber rattling". ARD journalist Georg Schwarte stated that Schröder would no longer be "a former chancellor. At best", he would be an "ex-chancellor with a sense of money."[124] The former German chancellorOlaf Scholz (SPD) said in early February 2022 that "I don't want his advice."[125] On 24 February 2022, Schröder condemned theRussian invasion of Ukraine and said that "even Russia's security interests do not justify the use of military means."[126] In March 2022, Schroder met with both Ukrainian and Russian officials as an unofficial mediator between the two sides inpeace talks.[127]
In 2022, it was reported that Schroeder was paid nearly $1 million per year by Russian energy companies.[3]
In their bookDie Moskau Connection, journalists Bingener and Wehner describe the network around Schröder and his support for Putin's policies. Their conclusion is:[128]
Schröder would have had quite a few opportunities to take a different path after his chancellorship. While researching this book, the authors did hear several explanations for why he did not, including defiance, greed and stubbornness. His actions nevertheless remain a mystery.
AfterAlexei Navalny was poisoned and hospitalized in Germany, Schröder was found to be relativizing the alleged attack on Navalny. Navalny, after hearing of Schröder's apologizing of Putin's regime, called Schröder, inPaul Lendvai's translation a "Laufbursche Putins" (roughly "Putin's footman").[129]
In April 2002, Schröder sued the DDP press agency for publishing an opinion ofpublic relations consultant Sabine Schwind saying that he "would be more credible if he didn't dye his gray hair". The court decided to ban the media from suggesting that he colours his hair.[130] The Chancellor's spokesman said: "This is not a frivolous action taken over whether he does or doesn't dye his hair, but is a serious issue regarding his word." The agency's lawyer said that they could not accept a verdict which "does not coincide with freedom of the press".
During a heated dispute between Russia andEstonia in May 2007 overthe removal of a Soviet-era war memorial from the centre of the Estonian capitalTallinn to a military cemetery, Schröder defended the Kremlin's reaction. He remarked that Estonia had contradicted "every form of civilised behaviour".[131] Consequently, the Estonian government cancelled a planned visit by Schröder in his function as chairman ofNord Stream 1 AG, which promotes the petroleum pipeline from Russia to Germany.[citation needed]
Schröder has criticised some European countries' swift decision to recogniseKosovo as an independent state after it unilaterallydeclared independence fromSerbia in February 2008. He believes the decision was taken under heavy pressure from the US government and has caused more problems, including the weakening of the so-called pro-EU forces in Serbia.[132]
In 2006, Schröder caused controversy when he called for direct talks with theHamas-controlledPalestinian Authority to resolve theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict, and criticised the Israeli government's plans to "draw a unilateral border". His words drew criticism from all major German political parties.[133]
In March 2014, Schröder likened Russia'sintervention in Crimea withNATO bombing of Yugoslavia, citing both cases as violations ofinternational law and theUN Charter.[135][136] He further stated that there had been "unhappy developments" on the outskirts of the former Soviet Union since the end of theCold War, leading Putin to develop justifiable "fears about being encircled".[137] On 13 March 2014, an attempt by the German Green Party to ban Schröder from speaking in public about Ukraine was narrowly defeated in the European parliament.[138] His decision to celebrate his 70th birthday party with Putin inSaint Petersburg'sYusupov Palace in late April elicited further criticism from several members of Merkel's grand coalition, including human rights spokespersonChristoph Strässer. [de][139]
In August 2022, Schröder filed a suit with the Berlin administrative court against theBundestag that sought to reinstate his privileges as former chancellor, appealing a decision to close his office and reallocate its remaining staff.[141][142] He lost cases with two Berlin courts to reverse the decision in 2023 and 2024, respectively.[143]
Doris Köpf had a daughter from a previous relationship with a television journalist. She lived with the couple. In July 2004, Schröder and Köpf adopted a child fromSaint Petersburg. In 2006, they adopted another child from Saint Petersburg.[145]
Schröder rents an apartment in Berlin while retaining his primary residence in Hanover. As a former chancellor, he is entitled to a permanent office, also situated in Berlin. In late 2005, he spent time in the UK improving his English language skills.[146] In 2013, Schröder and Köpf purchased another home inGümüşlük,Turkey, in a real estate project developed byNicolas Berggruen.[147][148]
Schröder's fourth marriage earned him the nickname "Audi Man", a reference to the four-ring symbol ofAudi motorcars.[149] Another nickname is "The Lord of the Rings".[150][151]
Schröder married for the fifth time in 2018. His wife is South Korean economist and interpreter Kim So-yeon.[152][153]
Schröder isLutheran-Protestant.[154] He did not add the optional phrase "so help me God" (So wahr mir Gott helfe) when sworn in as chancellor for his first term in 1998.[155]
Schröder is known to be an avid art collector. He chose his friendJörg Immendorff to paint his official portrait for theGerman Chancellery. The portrait, which was completed by Immendorff's assistants, was revealed to the public in January 2007; the massive work has ironic character, showing the former chancellor in stern heroic pose, in the colors of the German flag, painted in the style of anicon, surrounded by little monkeys.[156] These "painter monkeys" were a recurring theme in Immendorff's work, serving as an ironic commentary on the artist's practice. On 14 June 2007, Schröder gave a eulogy at a memorial service for Immendorff at theAlte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.[157]
Croatia: Knight Grand Cross of theGrand Order of Queen Jelena, "for exceptional merit in the recognition of Croatia and the support of Croatia on the road to the EU". (2007)
On 24 February 2006, Schröder became an honorary citizen of his hometown ofHanover. In March 2022, in response to his collusion with Russia andVladimir Putin, the city council of Hanover initiated proceedings to strip Schröder of his honorary citizenship. Shortly before the formal vote to strip him of the honorary citizenship, Schröder countered by writing to the mayor that he relinquished the honorary citizenship "for eternity".[161]
^Reinhard Bingener, Markus Wehner:Die Moskau Connection. Das Schröder-Netzwerk und Deutschlands Weg in die Abhängigkeit. C.H. Beck, München 2023, p. 275.
Béla Anda, Rolf Kleine:Gerhard Schröder. Eine Biographie. Ullstein, Berlin 1996,ISBN3-550-07092-6 (updated 2nd edition Ullstein, 2002,ISBN3-548-36387-3).
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