Finance Minister Thomas Schäfer is dead - the crown prince dies in Hesse

Finance Minister Thomas Schäfer from Hessen looked like a rock in the surf. The CDU politician should succeed Prime Minister Volker Bouffier. He died unexpectedly on Saturday. An obituary.

• Thomas Schäfer is dead
• The Finance Minister of Hesse died on the train tracks near Hochheim
• CDU politician Thomas Schäfer had an eventful political career - and he was considered the heir to the throne of Prime Minister Volker Bouffier

Last October, when we were walking through the vineyards of Kloster Eberbach, Thomas Schäfer, the finance minister of Hesse, told a story from his life that obviously meant a lot to him. Schäfer's father had run a local brewery for 30 years. She went bankrupt because the brewery owner arranged the succession wrong - with a son who was not interested in the job, as Schäfer reported. His father suffered from how his life's work ended.

Thomas Schäfer, Minister of Finance of Hesse, is dead

Now Thomas Schäfer himself is dead, died on Saturday, March 28th, 2020, on the train tracks of the ICE line near Hochheim. The police assume suicide. It is incredible news for political Wiesbaden.

The man from Biedenkopf in the rural Hesse district of Marburg-Biedenkopf had been a constant in politics for many years, and he looked like rock in the surf.

Thomas Schäfer is dead - his life in pictures

To the photo gallery

Thomas Schäfer, Hessian finance minister, looked like a rock in the surf

With a height of 1.97 meters, Thomas Schäfer protruded from the state cabinet, and the former handball goalkeeper also weighed a hefty 110 kilos. Schäfer had slimmed down another 30 kilos just last summer.

Thomas Schäfer's political life's work is also outstanding. Just a week ago, in view of the Corona crisis, he pulled the largest supplementary budget in the country's history out of the hat almost overnight, endowed it with two billion euros and provided it with further authorizations in the billions.

On Tuesday, Thomas Schäfer made a strong appearance before the state parliament, in which he made it clearer than all other speakers how dramatic he thought the economic consequences of the Corona crisis was.

Thomas Schäfer had made a strong appearance in the state parliament

The Minister Thomas Schäfer spoke of a "task of the century", which it would take several generations to master. Perhaps at that moment he was thinking about his father's brewery and how difficult it is to cope with bankruptcies.

In Hesse, Thomas Schäfer was the crown prince of Prime Minister Volker Bouffier

In the CDU and beyond, Thomas Schäfer had long been the crown prince of Prime Minister Volker Bouffier.

On the state stage, he had succeeded as office manager of Justice Minister Christean Wagner (CDU) and later Prime Minister Roland Koch (CDU), and became State Secretary of Justice in 2005. Four years later he moved as State Secretary to the Ministry of Finance under Karlheinz Weimar (CDU), which he succeeded in 2010.

Thomas Schäfer was popular as a CDU politician

Thomas Schäfer, father of two children, was popular. He liked to sit together for a long time and joked jovially.

The minister was shaped by the Junge Union, he had a clearly conservative profile to offer, but at the same time was praised by all sides as a pragmatist. So he campaigned for a CO2-free state administration at a time when a coalition of the Union with the Greens still seemed very unlikely. But he also had a better connection with social democrats than other Union colleagues.

Thomas Schäfer was proud of his direct mandate

The minister was particularly proud that he was able to win his direct mandate in Marburg-Biedenkopf in the last state election in 2018, which had previously been held by his SPD opponent - and on his nationwide successes as the multiple chairman of the finance ministerial conference.

As finance minister, Thomas Schäfer also took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board of the Hessian state wineries from Roland Koch, who had reorganized the state-owned company with Schäfers help. Now it was flourishing again - the minister was proud of that when he ran through the vineyards in October with a view of the Rhine Valley.

by Pitt von Bebenburg