Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
Encyclopedia
Karl-Theodor Freiherr
zu Guttenberg (full name: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg; born 5 December 1971) is a German
politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU)
.
A Member of Parliament from 2002 until March 2011, Guttenberg briefly held the post of Secretary General of his party before he was appointed as Federal Minister for Economics and Technology
in the first Merkel cabinet on 10 February 2009. After taking office as a cabinet minister, he quickly became one of Germany's most popular politicians.
From 28 October 2009, Guttenberg served as the Minister of Defence of Germany
in the second Merkel cabinet
;
the discovery and widespread criticism of extensive plagiarism in his doctoral thesis led to his resignation as Minister of Defence on 1 March 2011 and from the Bundestag on 3 March, when he was succeeded as Minister of Defence by Thomas de Maizière
.
He is the grandson of two prominent politicians, Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg
, a West German CSU politician, and Jakob von und zu Eltz, a Croatian politician of the 1990s. He is married to Stephanie zu Guttenberg
, an activist against child abuse and a member of the Bismarck family
. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is a descendant of, notably, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
and Aloys II, Prince of Liechtenstein.
, Guttenberg joined the Gebirgsjäger
brigade 23 based in Mittenwald
as a conscript. He subsequently left the army as a Reserve Sergeant
.
Guttenberg studied law
at the University of Bayreuth
, where he passed the first legal state examination
(said to be the equivalent of a master's degree
) in 1999. Guttenberg chose not to pursue the second state examination (the equivalent of a bar exam), and focused on running the Munich-based “Guttenberg GmbH” holding where, along with a few employees, he managed his family’s significant assets and various participations. Due to the holding's low turnover and small number of employees, it was said that Guttenberg had exaggerated his business experience. At the time the Guttenberg GmbH had a capital stock of 1,000,000 Euro and assets of more than a quarter billion Euro. These assets include a 26.5 percent share in the Rhön-Klinikum
hospital chain, where Guttenberg was a member of the Supervisory board
from 1996 to 2002. In 2002, that stake was sold to HypoVereinsbank
in a transaction valued at 260 million Euro.
In addition, Guttenberg also studied political science at the Munich School of Political Science.
During his university studies he also worked as an intern at two law firms in Frankfurt and New York. The fact, that Guttenberg in his CV lists these internships as "professional experience" (German: "berufliche Stationen") was referred to by some media as a common CV overstatement. Guttenberg later joined the daily Die Welt
, first as an intern, then as a freelancer.
and held different positions within the party, including that of secretary general.
Guttenberg is also a member of (selection)
American Council on Germany
Aspen Institute
Assembly of the Western European Union (until 2005)
Atlantik-Brücke
European Council on Foreign Relations
German Council on Foreign Relations
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(until 2005)
In the tradition of his grandfather Karl Theodor von und zu Guttenberg he is a strong proponent of German-American friendship and Transatlantic Cooperation
Guttenberg was elected to the Bundestag
as the representative of Kulmbach
. He was reelected in 2005
, winning 60.0% of the votes in his constituency. In 2009, he was reelected again with 68.1 % of the votes in his district, obtaining the highest percentage of votes of all elected representatives in Germany for that election cycle.
From October 2005 to November 2008 Guttenberg served as chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group
in the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee and as spokesman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag’s Committee on disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. He also chaired the CSU Foreign Policy Expert Committee and the German-British parliamentary group during that time.
In early 2004, Guttenberg introduced the concept of a Privileged Partnership
between Turkey
and the European Union
as a viable alternative to Ankara’s ambitions to join the EU as a regular member
into the German political discourse. Germany’s center-right CDU/CSU parties have been champions of this Privileged Partnership approach ever since. Guttenberg based his opposition to full Turkish membership in the EU on the country’s insufficient fulfillment of relevant accession criteria, for example with regard to the Cyprus dispute
, as well as a potential overburdening of the EU. At the same time, he continously stressed the necessity of maintaining good relations with Turkey and was therefore critical of a French
initiative to criminalize the denial of the Armenian Genocide
.
Guttenberg also repeatedly warned of the looming threat posed to German and European security by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs
. However, he rejected taking rash military action against Iran
and instead called for an international diplomatic effort to deal with Tehran’s nuclear program.
As a Member of Parliament, he was a strong critic of the far-left party Die Linke, which he accused of links to terrorists.
and lost its absolute majority in the Bavarian Landtag
- for the first time in 46 years. As a result of this political defeat the CSU party leadership stepped down and Horst Seehofer
, the new CSU chairman and minister-president
of Bavaria, appointed Guttenberg as secretary general of the CSU in November 2008.
As secretary general Guttenberg called for tax cuts, an increase in family benefits and structural reforms within the CSU to foster more direct political participation of the party base. In addition to domestic policy he also emphasized his focus on international affairs.
on 9 February 2009 Guttenberg became Federal Minister of Economics and Technology
in the First Cabinet Merkel.
Guttenberg, the youngest economics minister in German post-war era, came to office in the midst of a deep global financial crisis
and recession.
In his inaugural speech to the German Bundestag
Guttenberg emphasized his commitment to the principles of Germany’s social market economy
and to free market
.
In the wake of the global financial crisis, several major German banks were near failure, including Hypo Real Estate
, which received a 102 billion euros of credit and guarantees from Germany's bank rescue fund. In this case, Guttenberg opposed an overly hasty nationalization of Hypo Real Estate, which he considered only as “'ultissima ration',a measure of the very last resort”. A few months later he drafted a legislative proposal to minimize the financial risks of failing banks, which caused controversy but was later groundwork for the German bank restructuring bill.
In the case of troubled German companies asking for state aid, including automaker Opel
and now-defunct mail-order service Arcandor/Quelle
, Guttenberg was reluctant to commit government resources. He insisted on strict conditionality, including restructuring, and limited support to only those companies, which were otherwise competitive but were temporarily affected by the crisis.
In November 2008, Opel had appealed for governmental assistance because of severe financial problems facing its US parent General Motors (GM)
. In 2009, Opel employed 25.000 workers in Germany and indirectly supported 50.000 additional jobs through its supplier network.
In March 2009, Guttenberg made his first visit to the US as economics minister, focusing his trip on the future of Opel. In his talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner, the director of the United States National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers
, and Rick Wagoner
, then CEO of General Motors, Guttenberg demanded that GM provide a viable restructuring plan for Opel as a precondition for receiving financial assistance from the German state. Guttenberg and Wagoner agreed on the necessity of a private investor for Opel.
In a speech on the global economic crisis at the Washington-based Peterson Institute Guttenberg warned of rising protectionism.
After Guttenberg’s visit to the US, negotiations between the German government, GM, and potential Opel investors, including Fiat
and Canada’s Magna International
, were stalled by GM and the U.S. Treasury
. In contrast to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and to other German political leaders, Guttenberg preferred insolvency for Opel rather than the infusion of unconditional financial assistance from German state. Because of resulting financial risks for the German state, Guttenberg opposed the sale of Opel to Magna International, favoured by the German Chancellor Merkel, and – according to media coverage – even offered his resignation over the controversy. The Opel-Magna-deal later failed and Opel remained a subsidiary of GM, which had to reimburse financial assistance to Germany.
As economics minister Guttenberg also initiated several stimulus packages for the small firm sector.
In the summer of 2009, he surpassed Chancellor Angela Merkel
as the most popular politician in Germany.
of CDU
/CSU
and SPD
was replaced by a center-right coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP
.
According to German press reports, Chancellor Merkel offered Guttenberg the choice between the interior
and the defence
ministries while negotiating the distribution of ministerial posts within the new coalition government. Guttenberg decided to opt for the defence portfolio and took the oath of office on 28 October 2009 as part of the Second Cabinet Merkel. He was the youngest-ever German defence minister
in the post-war era.
The first political challenge facing defence minister Guttenberg was dealing with the Kunduz airstrike
of 4 September 2009. Initially, he adopted the position of his predecessor Jung
and defended the air strike as “militarily appropriate”. However, in contrast to Jung, Guttenberg conceded that the strike had also caused civilian casualties. After Guttenberg had received additional information and investigative reports dating back to the tenure of his predecessor Jung, Guttenberg changed his position concerning the “Kunduz airstrike” and dismissed Bundeswehr
Chief of Staff
Schneiderhahn
and Parliamentary State Secretary of Defence Wichert on 26 November 2009.
Jung, who in the meantime had assumed the position of labor minister
in the second Merkel cabinet, took full political responsibility for the delay in sharing relevant Kunduz air strike information and resigned the following day.
At the demand of the opposition parties, the Bundestag subsequently established a special investigative committee to shed light on the defense ministry’s communications policy in connection with the Kunduz air strike.
The final report of the Bundestag’s special investigative committee cleared Guttenberg from the accusation that he had been responsible for the defence ministry’s inadequate communications policy following the Kunduz strike. The findings were supported by members from the ruling CDU/CSU-FDP coalition while the opposition parties criticized the special investigative committee’s report and later published their own account of the investigation.
Shortly after taking office, Guttenberg publicly compared the situation faced by Bundeswehr soldiers in Afghanistan
to “war”.
In doing so, Guttenberg broke a major political taboo since up until then Germany’s political leadership – including the Chancellor and previous defense ministers – had only referred to the Afghanistan intervention as a “stabilization deployment”.
The new classification of the Bundeswehr’s Afghanistan deployment as “war” improved the legal status of German soldiers operating under international law.
Guttenberg also boosted Germany’s military presence in Afghanistan, through the deployment of heavy weapons and better training for the Bundeswehr soldiers stationed there.
Guttenberg further attempted to elevate public perception of Germany’s Afghan mission by personally participating - sometimes along with the Chancellor - at funeral services held for fallen Bundeswehr soldiers.
In November 2010, Guttenberg established the Combat Action Medal of the Bundeswehr
, which is awarded for bravery in combat and to soldiers who were the targets of terrorist or military attacks.
At the political level, Guttenberg spoke out strongly against a precipitous military withdrawal from Afghanistan. He specifically warned against imposing fixed troop withdrawal timetables that do not take into account the security situation on the ground. Furthermore, Guttenberg also demanded a stronger involvement of key neighboring states such as Russia, India, and China in the resolution of the Afghan conflict.
In light of the traditionally challenging security situation in Afghanistan, Guttenberg called for the development of an internationally coordinated long-term security strategy – based on the use of special forces and close intelligence cooperation within the coalition – to stabilize the country even after the eventual withdrawal of all foreign troops.
During his tenure as defense minister, Guttenberg made nine visits to Afghanistan and the German soldiers deployed there. To gain a first-hand understanding of the situation on the ground and the military risks of the Bundeswehr’s mission, Guttenberg went several times to the frontlines of the Afghan conflict. He also invited journalists to accompany him on these trips in an effort to educate the wider German public about the nature of the Bundeswehr deployment in Afghanistan. In December 2010, Guttenberg traveled to Afghanistan along with his wife Stephanie to visit with the troops before the Christmas holidays. In addition, he was also accompanied by German TV moderator Johannes B. Kerner
, who hosted his prime-time talk show at the Bundeswehr camp in Mazar-i-Sharif featuring the Guttenbergs and German soldiers deployed there. While other German media and the opposition parties sharply criticized Guttenberg for allowing Kerner to host his show in Afghanistan, the reaction by the German troops and the general public was predominantly positive.
In early 2010, Guttenberg decided to push for fundamental Bundeswehr reforms in an effort to address the structural deficits within the German armed forces and to deal with declining defense budgets. The overall goal was to boost the Bundeswehr’s expeditionary capabilities while, at the same time, achieving cost reductions. To accomplish these reforms, Guttenberg proposed to reduce the armed forces to 165,000 active duty soldiers and to suspend the draft, resulting in the most comprehensive restructuring of the Bundeswehr since its founding in 1955.
Guttenberg’s reform plans were supported by a blue-ribbon “Bundeswehr Structural Commission” that the minister created in April 2010. The proposals triggered a major debate about the country’s draft system and were met with significant political opposition, not least in Guttenberg’s own political party. In the end, Guttenberg’s view won out and on 29 October 2010, the CSU general party convention approved the minister’s motion to suspend the draft by a large majority. Several weeks later, Chancellor Merkel’s CDU held its own party convention and also voted in favor of suspending the draft.
At a meeting of European defense ministers in Ghent
in November 2010 Guttenberg called for closer military cooperation among EU member states, especially in the areas of procurement and training, to cope with rising budgetary pressures. His proposed three-step cooperation model served as the basis for the German-Swedish "pooling and sharing" initiative, which has had a lasting impact on European procurement projects.
In November 2010, a United States diplomatic cables leak
revealed that American diplomats viewed Guttenberg positively, with one cable describing him as a "foreign policy expert, a transatlanticist
and a close and well-known friend to the United States".
, with a dissertation on the development of constitutional law in the United States
and the European Union
.
In February 2011, evidence was made public that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had violated academic standards by copying many passages from sources such as newspaper articles, speeches or term papers in his dissertation. On 18 February 2011, Guttenberg announced that he would "temporarily stop using his doctor's title". On 21 February 2011, Guttenberg made a statement declaring that he would no longer use the academic title. He requested that the University of Bayreuth revoke his doctoral degree due to "serious errors" on his part. The university revoked the degree two days later on 23 February 2011, based on their own investigation and citing "extensive violations" of doctorate regulations by the omission of source citations.
On 24 February 2011, Bundestagspräsident Norbert Lammert
declared that Guttenberg had used six reports by the parliament’s research service for his doctoral thesis without prior approval. However, Lammert acknowledged the fact that it was widespread practice among Bundestag Members to use documents prepared by the parliamentary research service without first obtaining the necessary approval. On 13 April 2011 it was reported that the Bundestag would not press charges against Guttenberg.
Both Guttenberg's plagiarism and Merkel's backing caused anger in the German academic community, which resulted in over 51,000 doctoral students and researchers signing an open letter to Merkel.
Since 7 March 2011, the matter had been the subject of a pending investigation by the local district attorney’s office in Hof (Bavaria). By giving up his Bundestag seat and the associated parliamentary immunity on 1 March, Guttenberg made the formal launch of this investigation possible. Only one of the authors copied by Guttenberg pressed charges.
On 11 March 2011, the University of Bayreuth announced the expansion of the commission investigating Guttenberg’s dissertation while having no legal basis for such an investigation given that the university had already revoked his title. During his resignation speech on 1 March 2011, Guttenberg nonetheless had already emphasized his willingness to cooperate with this commission in an effort to shed light on the matter.
On 8 April 2011, there was a first leak of the commission’s initial findings to the press, in which Guttenberg was accused of deliberate deception. Guttenberg’s lawyer sharply criticized the commission’s leaks as an unfair “prejudgment” of his client given that the press reports were published both before the end of the investigation and before the 26 April deadline Guttenberg had been given by the university to respond to the commission’s report before its public release. His lawyer also pointed out that the leaks were a violation of Guttenberg’s personal rights. Critics accused Guttenberg of trying to prevent the public release of the commission’s final report, an allegation that he rejected.
After Guttenberg sent his response to the commission’s draft report on 26 April, the university released the report to the public on 6 May 2011. According to that document, he had "grossly violated standard research practices and in so doing deliberately deceived" and it further stated that it was "obvious that plagiarism was involved". In his response, Guttenberg once again denied that he had deliberately deceived the university and instead blamed severe “errors in workmanship” for the grave deficiencies in his doctoral thesis.
The University of Bayreuth’s handling of the matter was sharply criticized by its former Vice-President and law professor Walter Schmitt-Glaeser, who, while agreeing that revoking the doctoral degree was justified, described the additional measures taken by the institution as an attempt at character assassination (“Treibjagd”). The professor also criticized the lack of conclusive evidence to prove the university's assertion that there was "deliberate deception" on the part of Guttenberg, who, in his conviction, had not committed intentional cheating. Professor Schmitt-Glaeser and others also criticized the commission’s final report for not decrying the university’s own lack of due diligence in the matter and noted that the university had first awarded Guttenberg’s degree with the highest possible distinction (“summa cum laude”).
Back in March 2011, as a means of taking responsibility for his error, Guttenberg sent personal apology letters to all those authors who were not properly quoted in his thesis.
The analysis of Guttenberg's thesis was done on the crowd-source
Guttenplag Wiki, and triggered similar initiatives on VroniPlag Wiki
.
In August 2011, the authors of the platforms were accused of running a partisan campaign after it emerged that the founder of VroniPlag, who also played a key role in the Guttenplag Wiki effort, is a member of the opposition SPD party.
In November 2011, the prosecution dropped the charges, having found 23 relevant copyright violations but only marginal economic damage. Guttenberg had also made a 20,000 Euro payment to a charitable society.
-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
as a Distinguished Statesman and assumed the leadership of a new forum for transatlantic dialogue dedicated to strengthening the relations between the United States
and Europe
.
At the Halifax International Security Forum
in November 2011, Guttenberg made his first public appearance since joining CSIS. During a plenary session on the economic and financial crisis he voiced pessimism about the current state of the EU, which, in his view, was characterized by a lack of creativity and understanding for the concerns of regular citizens. In particular, Guttenberg decried a severe "crisis of political leadership".
, known since 1158 and conferred the title of Baron
by the Holy Roman Emperor
in 1700. Since the adoption of Germany's 1919 Weimar Constitution
, which abolished the nobility's privileges, "noble titles form part of the name only". By courtesy and tradition, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is addressed as a Baron socially in his hometown of Guttenberg, Bavaria
, and occasionally is referred to as such by German and international media.
His grandfather, Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (1921–1972), was a CSU politician and hard-line conservative during the Cold War
, noted for his opposition to the Ostpolitik
. His grandmother, Rosa Sophie Prinzessin von Arenberg, is a member of the House of Arenberg
.
Guttenberg's father is Enoch zu Guttenberg
, a well known conductor, who has been decorated with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Officer's Cross) as well as the Bavarian Order of Merit
. He has received many awards for his contributions to classical music, including the German Cultural Award and the Echo Klassik award.
Previously, Enoch zu Guttenberg also owned the winery estate Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl
.
Both his grandfather and his great-great-uncle, the Catholic monarchist Karl Ludwig zu Guttenberg
, took part in the military resistance to the Nazi regime; the latter was executed after the 20 July plot.
Guttenberg's mother, Christiane zu Eltz is a member of the Eltz
family, which has strong ties with Croatia
. She is the daughter of Jakob von und zu Eltz, a former President of the Association of Winemakers in Rheingau
who became active in Croatian politics after Croatian independence. She divorced Enoch zu Guttenberg in 1977, and Karl-Theodor grew up with his father. His mother married secondly Adolf Richard Barthold von Ribbentrop, owner of an Eltville
art gallery and son of Joachim von Ribbentrop
, in 1985, and has two children from her second marriage. In addition to his half-brothers Rudolf and Friedrich von Ribbentrop (born 1989 and 1990), Guttenberg has a younger brother, Philipp Franz zu Guttenberg (born 1973), who married a daughter of Godfrey James Macdonald, the 8th Baron Macdonald
.
In February 2000, Guttenberg married Stephanie Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen
(born 1976), a great-great-granddaughter of the first Chancellor of Germany Otto von Bismarck
. They have two daughters. Guttenberg is Catholic
, while his wife is Protestant
(Lutheran
).
. He lives at his family castle in Guttenberg, Bavaria
(district of Kulmbach), a village whose history is closely associated with the House of Guttenberg
, and in a mansion in a noble part of Berlin, Berlin-Westend. The castle has been in the possession of the Guttenberg family since 1482.
During the run-up to Germany's federal election in September 2009, he pulled a T-shirt with a logo of his favorite rock group, AC/DC
, over his dress shirt as an AC/DC cover band began the song "Highway to Hell."
In July 2011 it was reported in the German media that Guttenberg would temporarily relocate to the United States. His wife confirmed these plans in an interview several weeks later but emphasized that the family had every intention of returning to Germany. In September 2011 it became known that Guttenberg had bought a house for his family in Greenwich (Connecticut)
, close to New York City
.
In 2010, the German news magazine Focus
named him "Man of the Year".
In 2011, the Carneval Association
of Aachen
awarded him the "Order Against Dead Seriousness" (Orden wider den tierischen Ernst), although he did not attend the ceremony in person, sending instead his younger brother.
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
zu Guttenberg (full name: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg; born 5 December 1971) is a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU)
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
.
A Member of Parliament from 2002 until March 2011, Guttenberg briefly held the post of Secretary General of his party before he was appointed as Federal Minister for Economics and Technology
Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is a ministry of the German Federal Government since 1998...
in the first Merkel cabinet on 10 February 2009. After taking office as a cabinet minister, he quickly became one of Germany's most popular politicians.
From 28 October 2009, Guttenberg served as the Minister of Defence of Germany
Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Defence is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany...
in the second Merkel cabinet
Cabinet Merkel II
The Merkel Cabinet II is the current government of Germany since October 28, 2009, during the 17th legislature of the Bundestag. Led by the Christian Democrat Angela Merkel , it is supported by a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union , Christian Social Union of Bavaria and the Free...
;
the discovery and widespread criticism of extensive plagiarism in his doctoral thesis led to his resignation as Minister of Defence on 1 March 2011 and from the Bundestag on 3 March, when he was succeeded as Minister of Defence by Thomas de Maizière
Thomas de Maizière
Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière is a German politician , currently serving as the Minister of Defence in the Second Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel....
.
He is the grandson of two prominent politicians, Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg
Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg
Karl Theodor Maria Georg Achaz Eberhardt Josef Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg was a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria...
, a West German CSU politician, and Jakob von und zu Eltz, a Croatian politician of the 1990s. He is married to Stephanie zu Guttenberg
Stephanie zu Guttenberg
Stephanie Freifrau von und zu Guttenberg , née Stephanie Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen, is a German activist against child abuse, and the President of Innocence in Danger, an NGO advocating Internet censorship of child pornography and a co-author of a book about these topics.She is the wife of...
, an activist against child abuse and a member of the Bismarck family
Bismarck family
The House of Bismarck is a German noble family that rose to great prominence with 19th century statesman Otto von Bismarck, who was conferred the hereditary title of Prince of Bismarck in 1871, and additionally a hereditary comital title in 1865 and a ducal title, Duke of Lauenburg, held only for...
. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is a descendant of, notably, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
and Aloys II, Prince of Liechtenstein.
Education and professional background
After finishing high school (Gymnasium) in RosenheimRosenheim
Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...
, Guttenberg joined the Gebirgsjäger
Gebirgsjäger
Gebirgsjäger, in English Mountain Riflemen, is the German designation for mountain infantry. The word Jäger is the traditional German term for rifleman...
brigade 23 based in Mittenwald
Mittenwald
Mittenwald is a German municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria.-Geography:Mittenwald is located approx. 16 kilometers to the south-east of Garmisch-Partenkirchen...
as a conscript. He subsequently left the army as a Reserve Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
.
Guttenberg studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at the University of Bayreuth
University of Bayreuth
The University of Bayreuth is a public research university situated in Bayreuth, Germany. It was founded in 1975 as a campus university focusing on international collaboration and interdisciplinarity...
, where he passed the first legal state examination
Staatsexamen
The ' is a German government licensing examination that future doctors, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists and jurists have to pass to be allowed to work in their profession. The examination is generally organized by government examination agencies which are under the authority of the...
(said to be the equivalent of a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
) in 1999. Guttenberg chose not to pursue the second state examination (the equivalent of a bar exam), and focused on running the Munich-based “Guttenberg GmbH” holding where, along with a few employees, he managed his family’s significant assets and various participations. Due to the holding's low turnover and small number of employees, it was said that Guttenberg had exaggerated his business experience. At the time the Guttenberg GmbH had a capital stock of 1,000,000 Euro and assets of more than a quarter billion Euro. These assets include a 26.5 percent share in the Rhön-Klinikum
Rhön-Klinikum
Rhön-Klinikum is a German cooperation of hospitals and clinics head quartered in Bad Neustadt an der Saale, Germany. It is a leading private hospital group in Germany....
hospital chain, where Guttenberg was a member of the Supervisory board
Supervisory board
A supervisory board or supervisory committee, often called board of directors, is a group of individuals chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and supervise the executive directors and CEO.Corporate governance varies...
from 1996 to 2002. In 2002, that stake was sold to HypoVereinsbank
HypoVereinsbank
UniCredit Bank Aktiengesellschaft is the sixth-largest private German financial institution, with a strong presence in Bavaria. The company is based in Munich, and together with Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Postbank, it belongs to the Cash Group...
in a transaction valued at 260 million Euro.
In addition, Guttenberg also studied political science at the Munich School of Political Science.
During his university studies he also worked as an intern at two law firms in Frankfurt and New York. The fact, that Guttenberg in his CV lists these internships as "professional experience" (German: "berufliche Stationen") was referred to by some media as a common CV overstatement. Guttenberg later joined the daily Die Welt
Die Welt
Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer AG company.It was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces, aiming to provide a "quality newspaper" modelled on The Times...
, first as an intern, then as a freelancer.
Political career
Guttenberg is a member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU)Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
and held different positions within the party, including that of secretary general.
Guttenberg is also a member of (selection)
American Council on Germany
Aspen Institute
Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. The organization is dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." The...
Assembly of the Western European Union (until 2005)
Atlantik-Brücke
Atlantik-Brücke
Atlantik-Brücke is the leading private non-profit association to promote German-American understanding and Atlanticism. Founded in Bonn in 1952, it is now located in Berlin....
European Council on Foreign Relations
European Council on Foreign Relations
The ' is the first pan-European think tank. Launched in October 2007, its objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent and effective European values based foreign policy....
German Council on Foreign Relations
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
(until 2005)
In the tradition of his grandfather Karl Theodor von und zu Guttenberg he is a strong proponent of German-American friendship and Transatlantic Cooperation
Atlanticism
Atlanticism is a philosophy of cooperation among Western European and North American nations regarding political, economic, and defense issues, with the purpose to maintain the security of the participating countries, and to protect the values that unite them: "democracy, individual liberty and...
Member of Parliament
In 2002German federal election, 2002
The 15th German federal election, 2002 was conducted on 22 September 2002, to elect members to the Bundestag of Germany.-Issues and campaign:...
Guttenberg was elected to the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
as the representative of Kulmbach
Kulmbach
Kulmbach is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is famous for Plassenburg Castle, which houses the largest tin soldier museum in the world, and for its famous sausages, or Bratwürste.-Location:...
. He was reelected in 2005
German federal election, 2005
German federal elections took place on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th German Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany. They became necessary after a motion of confidence in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder failed on 1 July...
, winning 60.0% of the votes in his constituency. In 2009, he was reelected again with 68.1 % of the votes in his district, obtaining the highest percentage of votes of all elected representatives in Germany for that election cycle.
From October 2005 to November 2008 Guttenberg served as chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group
CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU, unofficially also referred to as the Union parties or the Union, is the name of the Bundestag parliamentary faction comprising the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria , considered to be sister parties...
in the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee and as spokesman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag’s Committee on disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. He also chaired the CSU Foreign Policy Expert Committee and the German-British parliamentary group during that time.
In early 2004, Guttenberg introduced the concept of a Privileged Partnership
Privileged partnership
Privileged partnership is the term coined by the German conservative party CDU for their model of the future relation between Turkey and the European Union, which falls short of full membership...
between Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
as a viable alternative to Ankara’s ambitions to join the EU as a regular member
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
into the German political discourse. Germany’s center-right CDU/CSU parties have been champions of this Privileged Partnership approach ever since. Guttenberg based his opposition to full Turkish membership in the EU on the country’s insufficient fulfillment of relevant accession criteria, for example with regard to the Cyprus dispute
Cyprus dispute
The Cyprus dispute is the result of the ongoing conflict between the Republic of Cyprus and Turkey, over the Turkish occupied northern part of Cyprus....
, as well as a potential overburdening of the EU. At the same time, he continously stressed the necessity of maintaining good relations with Turkey and was therefore critical of a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
initiative to criminalize the denial of the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
.
Guttenberg also repeatedly warned of the looming threat posed to German and European security by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs
Nuclear program of Iran
The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
. However, he rejected taking rash military action against Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and instead called for an international diplomatic effort to deal with Tehran’s nuclear program.
As a Member of Parliament, he was a strong critic of the far-left party Die Linke, which he accused of links to terrorists.
Secretary General of the CSU
In September 2008 the CSU suffered heavy losses in the Bavaria state electionBavaria state election, 2008
The 2008 Bavarian state election was held on September 28, 2008. Voters of the German state of Bavaria elected members to the Bavarian Landtag .-Outcome:...
and lost its absolute majority in the Bavarian Landtag
Landtag of Bavaria
The Landtag of Bavaria is the unicameral legislature of the state of Bavaria in Germany. Between 1946 and 1999 there was an upper house, the Senate of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum....
- for the first time in 46 years. As a result of this political defeat the CSU party leadership stepped down and Horst Seehofer
Horst Seehofer
Horst Lorenz Seehofer is a German politician . He was Federal Minister for Health and Social Security from 1992 to 1998 and served as Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the cabinet of Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2008...
, the new CSU chairman and minister-president
Minister-President
A minister-president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, in which a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government prevails, who presides over the council of ministers...
of Bavaria, appointed Guttenberg as secretary general of the CSU in November 2008.
As secretary general Guttenberg called for tax cuts, an increase in family benefits and structural reforms within the CSU to foster more direct political participation of the party base. In addition to domestic policy he also emphasized his focus on international affairs.
Federal Minister of Economics
After the resignation of Michael GlosMichael Glos
Michael Glos is a German politician who served as Minister for Economics and Technology from November 22, 2005, until February 10, 2009....
on 9 February 2009 Guttenberg became Federal Minister of Economics and Technology
Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is a ministry of the German Federal Government since 1998...
in the First Cabinet Merkel.
Guttenberg, the youngest economics minister in German post-war era, came to office in the midst of a deep global financial crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
and recession.
In his inaugural speech to the German Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
Guttenberg emphasized his commitment to the principles of Germany’s social market economy
Social market economy
The social market economy is the main economic model used in West Germany after World War II. It is based on the economic philosophy of Ordoliberalism from the Freiburg School...
and to free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
.
In the wake of the global financial crisis, several major German banks were near failure, including Hypo Real Estate
Hypo Real Estate
The Hypo Real Estate Holding AG is a holding company based in Munich, Germany which comprises a number of real estate financing banks. The company's activities span three sectors of the real estate market: commercial property, infrastructure and public finance, and capital markets and asset...
, which received a 102 billion euros of credit and guarantees from Germany's bank rescue fund. In this case, Guttenberg opposed an overly hasty nationalization of Hypo Real Estate, which he considered only as “'ultissima ration',a measure of the very last resort”. A few months later he drafted a legislative proposal to minimize the financial risks of failing banks, which caused controversy but was later groundwork for the German bank restructuring bill.
In the case of troubled German companies asking for state aid, including automaker Opel
Opel
Adam Opel AG, generally shortened to Opel, is a German automobile company founded by Adam Opel in 1862. Opel has been building automobiles since 1899, and became an Aktiengesellschaft in 1929...
and now-defunct mail-order service Arcandor/Quelle
Arcandor
Arcandor AG is a holding company located in Essen, Germany that oversees companies operating in the businesses of mail order and internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. It was created in 1999 through the merger of Karstadt Warenhaus AG, which was founded in 1920, and Quelle...
, Guttenberg was reluctant to commit government resources. He insisted on strict conditionality, including restructuring, and limited support to only those companies, which were otherwise competitive but were temporarily affected by the crisis.
In November 2008, Opel had appealed for governmental assistance because of severe financial problems facing its US parent General Motors (GM)
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
. In 2009, Opel employed 25.000 workers in Germany and indirectly supported 50.000 additional jobs through its supplier network.
In March 2009, Guttenberg made his first visit to the US as economics minister, focusing his trip on the future of Opel. In his talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
Timothy Geithner, the director of the United States National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Henry Summers is an American economist. He served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2010.Summers is the...
, and Rick Wagoner
Rick Wagoner
George Richard "Rick" Wagoner, Jr. is an American businessman and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as Chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House...
, then CEO of General Motors, Guttenberg demanded that GM provide a viable restructuring plan for Opel as a precondition for receiving financial assistance from the German state. Guttenberg and Wagoner agreed on the necessity of a private investor for Opel.
In a speech on the global economic crisis at the Washington-based Peterson Institute Guttenberg warned of rising protectionism.
After Guttenberg’s visit to the US, negotiations between the German government, GM, and potential Opel investors, including Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
and Canada’s Magna International
Magna International
Magna International Inc. , is an automotive supplier headquartered in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's largest automobile parts manufacturer, and one of the country's largest companies. It owns the Magna Steyr automobile production company of Austria....
, were stalled by GM and the U.S. Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
. In contrast to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and to other German political leaders, Guttenberg preferred insolvency for Opel rather than the infusion of unconditional financial assistance from German state. Because of resulting financial risks for the German state, Guttenberg opposed the sale of Opel to Magna International, favoured by the German Chancellor Merkel, and – according to media coverage – even offered his resignation over the controversy. The Opel-Magna-deal later failed and Opel remained a subsidiary of GM, which had to reimburse financial assistance to Germany.
As economics minister Guttenberg also initiated several stimulus packages for the small firm sector.
In the summer of 2009, he surpassed Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
as the most popular politician in Germany.
Federal Minister of Defence
The 2009 Bundestag elections led to a change in government, as the incumbent grand coalitionGrand coalition
A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government...
of CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
/CSU
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
and SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
was replaced by a center-right coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
.
According to German press reports, Chancellor Merkel offered Guttenberg the choice between the interior
Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is a ministry of the German federal government. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister of the interior is Dr...
and the defence
Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Defence is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany...
ministries while negotiating the distribution of ministerial posts within the new coalition government. Guttenberg decided to opt for the defence portfolio and took the oath of office on 28 October 2009 as part of the Second Cabinet Merkel. He was the youngest-ever German defence minister
Defence minister
A defence minister is a person in a cabinet position in charge of a Ministry of Defence, which regulates the armed forces in some sovereign nations...
in the post-war era.
The first political challenge facing defence minister Guttenberg was dealing with the Kunduz airstrike
Kunduz airstrike
The Kunduz airstrike took place on Friday 4 September 2009 at roughly 2:30 am local time, southwest of Kunduz City, Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, near the hamlets of Omar Kheil by the border of the Chahar Dara and Ali Abad districts...
of 4 September 2009. Initially, he adopted the position of his predecessor Jung
Franz Josef Jung
Franz Josef Jung is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union . He became Federal Minister of Defence in the Grand coalition cabinet of Angela Merkel on 22 November 2005...
and defended the air strike as “militarily appropriate”. However, in contrast to Jung, Guttenberg conceded that the strike had also caused civilian casualties. After Guttenberg had received additional information and investigative reports dating back to the tenure of his predecessor Jung, Guttenberg changed his position concerning the “Kunduz airstrike” and dismissed Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
Schneiderhahn
Wolfgang Schneiderhan (General)
Wolfgang Schneiderhan is a German general who served as Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, from 2002 to 2009.-Military career:...
and Parliamentary State Secretary of Defence Wichert on 26 November 2009.
Jung, who in the meantime had assumed the position of labor minister
Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Germany)
The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs is a top-level federal agency of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs as a member of the Cabinet of Germany...
in the second Merkel cabinet, took full political responsibility for the delay in sharing relevant Kunduz air strike information and resigned the following day.
At the demand of the opposition parties, the Bundestag subsequently established a special investigative committee to shed light on the defense ministry’s communications policy in connection with the Kunduz air strike.
The final report of the Bundestag’s special investigative committee cleared Guttenberg from the accusation that he had been responsible for the defence ministry’s inadequate communications policy following the Kunduz strike. The findings were supported by members from the ruling CDU/CSU-FDP coalition while the opposition parties criticized the special investigative committee’s report and later published their own account of the investigation.
Shortly after taking office, Guttenberg publicly compared the situation faced by Bundeswehr soldiers in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
to “war”.
In doing so, Guttenberg broke a major political taboo since up until then Germany’s political leadership – including the Chancellor and previous defense ministers – had only referred to the Afghanistan intervention as a “stabilization deployment”.
The new classification of the Bundeswehr’s Afghanistan deployment as “war” improved the legal status of German soldiers operating under international law.
Guttenberg also boosted Germany’s military presence in Afghanistan, through the deployment of heavy weapons and better training for the Bundeswehr soldiers stationed there.
Guttenberg further attempted to elevate public perception of Germany’s Afghan mission by personally participating - sometimes along with the Chancellor - at funeral services held for fallen Bundeswehr soldiers.
In November 2010, Guttenberg established the Combat Action Medal of the Bundeswehr
Combat Action Medal of the Bundeswehr
The Combat Action Medal of the Bundeswehr is a military decoration awarded by the German Bundeswehr. The medal is awarded for active participation in combat actions or for the suffering from terrorist attacks...
, which is awarded for bravery in combat and to soldiers who were the targets of terrorist or military attacks.
At the political level, Guttenberg spoke out strongly against a precipitous military withdrawal from Afghanistan. He specifically warned against imposing fixed troop withdrawal timetables that do not take into account the security situation on the ground. Furthermore, Guttenberg also demanded a stronger involvement of key neighboring states such as Russia, India, and China in the resolution of the Afghan conflict.
In light of the traditionally challenging security situation in Afghanistan, Guttenberg called for the development of an internationally coordinated long-term security strategy – based on the use of special forces and close intelligence cooperation within the coalition – to stabilize the country even after the eventual withdrawal of all foreign troops.
During his tenure as defense minister, Guttenberg made nine visits to Afghanistan and the German soldiers deployed there. To gain a first-hand understanding of the situation on the ground and the military risks of the Bundeswehr’s mission, Guttenberg went several times to the frontlines of the Afghan conflict. He also invited journalists to accompany him on these trips in an effort to educate the wider German public about the nature of the Bundeswehr deployment in Afghanistan. In December 2010, Guttenberg traveled to Afghanistan along with his wife Stephanie to visit with the troops before the Christmas holidays. In addition, he was also accompanied by German TV moderator Johannes B. Kerner
Johannes B. Kerner
Johannes Baptist Kerner is a German TV personality best known as a sportscaster.Kerner was raised in Hersel, Germany in a Catholic household...
, who hosted his prime-time talk show at the Bundeswehr camp in Mazar-i-Sharif featuring the Guttenbergs and German soldiers deployed there. While other German media and the opposition parties sharply criticized Guttenberg for allowing Kerner to host his show in Afghanistan, the reaction by the German troops and the general public was predominantly positive.
In early 2010, Guttenberg decided to push for fundamental Bundeswehr reforms in an effort to address the structural deficits within the German armed forces and to deal with declining defense budgets. The overall goal was to boost the Bundeswehr’s expeditionary capabilities while, at the same time, achieving cost reductions. To accomplish these reforms, Guttenberg proposed to reduce the armed forces to 165,000 active duty soldiers and to suspend the draft, resulting in the most comprehensive restructuring of the Bundeswehr since its founding in 1955.
Guttenberg’s reform plans were supported by a blue-ribbon “Bundeswehr Structural Commission” that the minister created in April 2010. The proposals triggered a major debate about the country’s draft system and were met with significant political opposition, not least in Guttenberg’s own political party. In the end, Guttenberg’s view won out and on 29 October 2010, the CSU general party convention approved the minister’s motion to suspend the draft by a large majority. Several weeks later, Chancellor Merkel’s CDU held its own party convention and also voted in favor of suspending the draft.
At a meeting of European defense ministers in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
in November 2010 Guttenberg called for closer military cooperation among EU member states, especially in the areas of procurement and training, to cope with rising budgetary pressures. His proposed three-step cooperation model served as the basis for the German-Swedish "pooling and sharing" initiative, which has had a lasting impact on European procurement projects.
In November 2010, a United States diplomatic cables leak
United States diplomatic cables leak
The United States diplomatic cables leak, widely known as Cablegate, began in February 2010 when WikiLeaks—a non-profit organization that publishes submissions from anonymous whistleblowers—began releasing classified cables that had been sent to the U.S. State Department by 274 of its consulates,...
revealed that American diplomats viewed Guttenberg positively, with one cable describing him as a "foreign policy expert, a transatlanticist
Transatlanticism
Transatlanticism is the fourth studio album by Death Cab for Cutie, released October 7, 2003 on Barsuk Records. Prior to the album's release, Ben Gibbard stated: "...unlike The Photo Album, I feel like this record is definitely more like a proper album...
and a close and well-known friend to the United States".
Resignation from all political offices
Guttenberg declared his resignation from all political offices at national level on 1 March 2011, after it became known that he plagiarised the works of numerous authors in his doctoral thesis. On 15 March 2011 Guttenberg resigned from his last remaining political office, at local level, i.e. membership of the Kulmbach Kreistag (county council).Doctorate plagiarism
In 2007, he was awarded a doctorate in law, under supervision of Peter HäberlePeter Häberle
Peter Häberle is a German legal scholar, specialising in constitutional law.-Biography:Häberle's the son of Hugo Häberle, a medical doctor, and Ursula Häberle ....
, with a dissertation on the development of constitutional law in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
In February 2011, evidence was made public that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had violated academic standards by copying many passages from sources such as newspaper articles, speeches or term papers in his dissertation. On 18 February 2011, Guttenberg announced that he would "temporarily stop using his doctor's title". On 21 February 2011, Guttenberg made a statement declaring that he would no longer use the academic title. He requested that the University of Bayreuth revoke his doctoral degree due to "serious errors" on his part. The university revoked the degree two days later on 23 February 2011, based on their own investigation and citing "extensive violations" of doctorate regulations by the omission of source citations.
On 24 February 2011, Bundestagspräsident Norbert Lammert
Norbert Lammert
Norbert Lammert is a German politician . He has been the President of the Bundestag, the German parliament, since 2005.-Early Life:...
declared that Guttenberg had used six reports by the parliament’s research service for his doctoral thesis without prior approval. However, Lammert acknowledged the fact that it was widespread practice among Bundestag Members to use documents prepared by the parliamentary research service without first obtaining the necessary approval. On 13 April 2011 it was reported that the Bundestag would not press charges against Guttenberg.
Both Guttenberg's plagiarism and Merkel's backing caused anger in the German academic community, which resulted in over 51,000 doctoral students and researchers signing an open letter to Merkel.
Since 7 March 2011, the matter had been the subject of a pending investigation by the local district attorney’s office in Hof (Bavaria). By giving up his Bundestag seat and the associated parliamentary immunity on 1 March, Guttenberg made the formal launch of this investigation possible. Only one of the authors copied by Guttenberg pressed charges.
On 11 March 2011, the University of Bayreuth announced the expansion of the commission investigating Guttenberg’s dissertation while having no legal basis for such an investigation given that the university had already revoked his title. During his resignation speech on 1 March 2011, Guttenberg nonetheless had already emphasized his willingness to cooperate with this commission in an effort to shed light on the matter.
On 8 April 2011, there was a first leak of the commission’s initial findings to the press, in which Guttenberg was accused of deliberate deception. Guttenberg’s lawyer sharply criticized the commission’s leaks as an unfair “prejudgment” of his client given that the press reports were published both before the end of the investigation and before the 26 April deadline Guttenberg had been given by the university to respond to the commission’s report before its public release. His lawyer also pointed out that the leaks were a violation of Guttenberg’s personal rights. Critics accused Guttenberg of trying to prevent the public release of the commission’s final report, an allegation that he rejected.
After Guttenberg sent his response to the commission’s draft report on 26 April, the university released the report to the public on 6 May 2011. According to that document, he had "grossly violated standard research practices and in so doing deliberately deceived" and it further stated that it was "obvious that plagiarism was involved". In his response, Guttenberg once again denied that he had deliberately deceived the university and instead blamed severe “errors in workmanship” for the grave deficiencies in his doctoral thesis.
The University of Bayreuth’s handling of the matter was sharply criticized by its former Vice-President and law professor Walter Schmitt-Glaeser, who, while agreeing that revoking the doctoral degree was justified, described the additional measures taken by the institution as an attempt at character assassination (“Treibjagd”). The professor also criticized the lack of conclusive evidence to prove the university's assertion that there was "deliberate deception" on the part of Guttenberg, who, in his conviction, had not committed intentional cheating. Professor Schmitt-Glaeser and others also criticized the commission’s final report for not decrying the university’s own lack of due diligence in the matter and noted that the university had first awarded Guttenberg’s degree with the highest possible distinction (“summa cum laude”).
Back in March 2011, as a means of taking responsibility for his error, Guttenberg sent personal apology letters to all those authors who were not properly quoted in his thesis.
The analysis of Guttenberg's thesis was done on the crowd-source
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
Guttenplag Wiki, and triggered similar initiatives on VroniPlag Wiki
VroniPlag Wiki
The VroniPlag Wiki is a Wiki started 28 March 2011 at Wikia that examines and documents the extent of plagiarism in German doctoral theses.- History :...
.
In August 2011, the authors of the platforms were accused of running a partisan campaign after it emerged that the founder of VroniPlag, who also played a key role in the Guttenplag Wiki effort, is a member of the opposition SPD party.
In November 2011, the prosecution dropped the charges, having found 23 relevant copyright violations but only marginal economic damage. Guttenberg had also made a 20,000 Euro payment to a charitable society.
Center for Strategic and International Studies
In September 2011 Guttenberg joined the WashingtonWashington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...
as a Distinguished Statesman and assumed the leadership of a new forum for transatlantic dialogue dedicated to strengthening the relations between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
At the Halifax International Security Forum
Halifax International Security Forum
Halifax International Security Forum is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. Halifax is a forum and a network for leaders from militaries, governments, business, academia, and the media to work together to meet emerging security threats and discuss pressing...
in November 2011, Guttenberg made his first public appearance since joining CSIS. During a plenary session on the economic and financial crisis he voiced pessimism about the current state of the EU, which, in his view, was characterized by a lack of creativity and understanding for the concerns of regular citizens. In particular, Guttenberg decried a severe "crisis of political leadership".
Family
Guttenberg is a member of the House of GuttenbergHouse of Guttenberg
The House of Guttenberg is a prominent Franconian family which traces its origins back to 1149 with a Gundeloh v. Blassenberg . Though, the first mention in a document is dated 1158. The name Guttenberg is derived from Guttenberg and was adopted by a Heinrich von Blassenberg around 1310...
, known since 1158 and conferred the title of Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
by the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
in 1700. Since the adoption of Germany's 1919 Weimar Constitution
Weimar constitution
The Constitution of the German Reich , usually known as the Weimar Constitution was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic...
, which abolished the nobility's privileges, "noble titles form part of the name only". By courtesy and tradition, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is addressed as a Baron socially in his hometown of Guttenberg, Bavaria
Guttenberg, Bavaria
Guttenberg is a municipality in the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is closely tied to the aristocratic family by the same name, the House of Guttenberg, which owns most of the land in the area...
, and occasionally is referred to as such by German and international media.
His grandfather, Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (1921–1972), was a CSU politician and hard-line conservative during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, noted for his opposition to the Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
. His grandmother, Rosa Sophie Prinzessin von Arenberg, is a member of the House of Arenberg
House of Arenberg
The House of Arenberg is an aristocratic lineage that is constituted by three successive families who took their name from Arenberg, a small principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Eifel. The inheritance of the House of Croÿ-Aarschot made the Arenbergs the most influential and most wealthy...
.
Guttenberg's father is Enoch zu Guttenberg
Enoch zu Guttenberg
Georg Enoch Robert Prosper Philipp Franz Karl Theodor Maria Heinrich Johannes Luitpold Hartmann Gundeloh Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg , known as Enoch zu Guttenberg, is a German conductor...
, a well known conductor, who has been decorated with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Officer's Cross) as well as the Bavarian Order of Merit
Bavarian Order of Merit
The Bavarian Order of Merit is the order of merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people"....
. He has received many awards for his contributions to classical music, including the German Cultural Award and the Echo Klassik award.
Previously, Enoch zu Guttenberg also owned the winery estate Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl
Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl
The Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl is the largest winery estate in Deidesheim in the Palatinate wine region. It produces mainly Riesling wines. The estate is affiliated with the Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter e.V....
.
Both his grandfather and his great-great-uncle, the Catholic monarchist Karl Ludwig zu Guttenberg
Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg
Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg The von Guttenberg family originates back to 1149 in Franconia in the southern part of Germany. Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg studied law and history in Munich and graduated in 1929...
, took part in the military resistance to the Nazi regime; the latter was executed after the 20 July plot.
Guttenberg's mother, Christiane zu Eltz is a member of the Eltz
Eltz
The House of Eltz is a noted German noble family of the Uradel. The Rhenish dynasty has had close ties to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia since 1736.-History:...
family, which has strong ties with Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. She is the daughter of Jakob von und zu Eltz, a former President of the Association of Winemakers in Rheingau
Rheingau
The Rheingau is the hill country on the north side of the Rhine River between Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the western Taunus to the Rhine. It lies in the state of Hesse and is part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative district...
who became active in Croatian politics after Croatian independence. She divorced Enoch zu Guttenberg in 1977, and Karl-Theodor grew up with his father. His mother married secondly Adolf Richard Barthold von Ribbentrop, owner of an Eltville
Eltville
Eltville am Rhein is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road ....
art gallery and son of Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
, in 1985, and has two children from her second marriage. In addition to his half-brothers Rudolf and Friedrich von Ribbentrop (born 1989 and 1990), Guttenberg has a younger brother, Philipp Franz zu Guttenberg (born 1973), who married a daughter of Godfrey James Macdonald, the 8th Baron Macdonald
Baron Macdonald
Baron Macdonald, of Slate in the County of Antrim, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Sir Alexander Macdonald, 9th Baronet, of Sleat. The Macdonald family descends from Uisdean Macdonald , also known as Hugh Macdonald, illegitimate son of Alexander Macdonald, Earl of...
.
In February 2000, Guttenberg married Stephanie Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen
Stephanie zu Guttenberg
Stephanie Freifrau von und zu Guttenberg , née Stephanie Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen, is a German activist against child abuse, and the President of Innocence in Danger, an NGO advocating Internet censorship of child pornography and a co-author of a book about these topics.She is the wife of...
(born 1976), a great-great-granddaughter of the first Chancellor of Germany Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
. They have two daughters. Guttenberg is Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, while his wife is Protestant
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
(Lutheran
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is a Protestant church in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich....
).
Personal life
Guttenberg was born in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. He lives at his family castle in Guttenberg, Bavaria
Guttenberg, Bavaria
Guttenberg is a municipality in the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is closely tied to the aristocratic family by the same name, the House of Guttenberg, which owns most of the land in the area...
(district of Kulmbach), a village whose history is closely associated with the House of Guttenberg
House of Guttenberg
The House of Guttenberg is a prominent Franconian family which traces its origins back to 1149 with a Gundeloh v. Blassenberg . Though, the first mention in a document is dated 1158. The name Guttenberg is derived from Guttenberg and was adopted by a Heinrich von Blassenberg around 1310...
, and in a mansion in a noble part of Berlin, Berlin-Westend. The castle has been in the possession of the Guttenberg family since 1482.
During the run-up to Germany's federal election in September 2009, he pulled a T-shirt with a logo of his favorite rock group, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, over his dress shirt as an AC/DC cover band began the song "Highway to Hell."
In July 2011 it was reported in the German media that Guttenberg would temporarily relocate to the United States. His wife confirmed these plans in an interview several weeks later but emphasized that the family had every intention of returning to Germany. In September 2011 it became known that Guttenberg had bought a house for his family in Greenwich (Connecticut)
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
, close to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Awards
Guttenberg was awarded the prestigious "Politikaward" in 2009, which is the German "Politician of the Year" award.In 2010, the German news magazine Focus
Focus (German magazine)
Focus is a German weekly news magazine published in Munich and distributed throughout Germany. It is the third-largest weekly news magazine in Germany. It is considered conservative and leaned towards economic liberalism.- Overview :...
named him "Man of the Year".
In 2011, the Carneval Association
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
of Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
awarded him the "Order Against Dead Seriousness" (Orden wider den tierischen Ernst), although he did not attend the ceremony in person, sending instead his younger brother.