Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Steinmeier in 2016, photo by antvlk/Bigstock.com

Place of Birth: Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany (now Germany)

Date of Birth: 5 January, 1956

Ethnicity: German

Frank-Walter Steinmeier is a German politician. He has been President of Germany, since 19 March, 2017. He was previously Chief of Staff of the Chancellery, from 31 July, 1999 to 22 November, 2005, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 22 November, 2005 to 27 October, 2009, and again from 17 December, 2013 to 27 January, 2017, Vice Chancellor of Germany, from 21 November, 2007 to 27 October, 2009, Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundestag, from 27 October, 2009 to 16 December, 2013, and Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, from 1 January, 2016 to 1 January, 2017, among other duties.

Frank’s father, Walter Gustav Reinhold Steinmeier, was affiliated with the Church of Lippe, one of Germany’s few Calvinist regional church bodies. Frank’s mother, Ursula (Broy), was born in Breslau, and came as a refugee from a Lutheran part of Silesia during the flight and expulsion of Germans after World War II.

Frank is married to judge Elke Büdenbender, with whom he has a daughter.

Source: Biography of Frank-Walter Steinmeier – Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Die Biografie, 2017, by Torben Lütjen, Lars Geiges