Joschka Fischer

Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born April 12, 1948 in Gerabronn, Baden-Württemberg) has been the German foreign minister and Vice Chancellor in the Red-Green coalition since 1998. He is a leading figure in the German Green Party and was the party's standard bearer in the 2002 election campaign, which saw an increase in votes and seats for the Greens. According to opinion polls http://www.tagesthemen.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID2020828_TYP6_THE2020794_NAV3332916~1260572~2020794_REF1_BAB,00.html, he was the most popular politician in Germany for most of the red-green coalition government's duration. He was the frontrunner for the 2005 election, too.

Early Years

Fischer was born in Gerabronn (Baden-Württemberg) as the third child of a butcher, whose family had lived in Hungary for several generations, but had to leave the country in 1946 after Hungary was occupied by the Soviet Union. His name "Joschka" is derived from the Hungarian Jóska, diminutive of Joseph (Hungarian József). Fischer dropped out of high school (Gymnasium) in 1965, and started an apprenticeship as a photographer which he quit in 1966.

Related Topics:
Gerabronn - Baden-Württemberg - Butcher - Hungary - 1946 - Soviet Union - High school - 1965 - Apprenticeship - Photographer - 1966

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In 1967 he became active in the German student movement and left-wing movement (post-)68 (Spontis), first in Stuttgart but after 1968 in Frankfurt.

Related Topics:
1967 - German student movement - Left-wing - Stuttgart - 1968 - Frankfurt

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