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.

Private life

Despite — or maybe because of — his controversial past, he is the most popular German politician, leading the opinion polls for several years (as of 2004) even among supporters of other parties. This popularity may be attributed to his personal integrity as much as to his political points of view.

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Until 2000, Fischer had been an outspoken connoisseur of good wines and food (regularly betting cases of expensive wine with opposition politicians on the outcome of elections), and had been overweight. Within a relatively short time he managed to lose an enormous amount of weight. He claimed that this was due his giving up alcoholic drinks completely and changing his diet. He had also been training his fitness and even running marathons. He cashed in on his weight loss by writing the book Mein langer Lauf zu mir selbst ("my long race towards myself") on his experience, which became an immediate bestseller. Recently he has been putting on weight again.

Related Topics:
Wine - Overweight - Diet - Marathon - Bestseller

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Fischer has an honorary degree (Dr. h.c.) from the University of Haifa.

Related Topics:
Honorary degree - University of Haifa

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He has been married four times, to Edeltraud Fischer (1967-1984) in Gretna Green, Inge (1984-1987), Claudia Bohn (1987-1999), and Nicola Leske (1999-2003). All of his marriages ended in divorce.

Related Topics:
Gretna Green - Divorce

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