Bernhard Vogel

Who is Bernhard Vogel?

Bernhard Vogel is a German politician.

Vogel was born in Göttingen. He was Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988, where he was succeeded by Carl-Ludwig Wagner, and of Thuringia from 5 February 1992 to 5 June 2003, where he was succeeded by Dieter Althaus. He is the only person to have been premier of two different German federal states and is the longest governing Minister-President of Germany. His brother is the SPD politician Hans-Jochen Vogel. He twice served as President of the Bundesrat in 1976/77 and 1987/88.

From 1965 to 1967, Vogel was a member of the German Bundestag, a position from which he resigned to assume the job of Minister of Culture and Education in Rhineland-Palatinate under Premier Peter Altmeier. He continued in the same cabinet position under Altmeier's successor in 1969, Helmut Kohl. In 1973, when Kohl became chair of the national CDU, Vogel succeeded him as state party chair in Rhineland-Palatinate. His failure to be re-elected to this party office in 1988 led to his resignation as premier in a famous speech which he ended with the often-quoted phrase: "May God protect Rhineland-Palatinate!", an unusual display of public piety for German standards. Vogel is a devout Roman Catholic.