Status: 05.01.2024, 11:41 a.m.
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Schäuble's daughter Christine Strobl (l-r), wife Ingeborg Schäuble and son-in-law, Interior Minister Thomas Strobl. © Uwe Anspach/dpa
Several hundred people have said goodbye to the deceased CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble in the Protestant city church of Offenburg. The Protestant Bishop of Baden, Heike Springhart, led the funeral service on Friday.
Offenburg - Among the mourners were Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD), the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Stephan Harbarth, the CDU Federal Chairman Friedrich Merz and the former CDU leader Armin Laschet, the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), his predecessor Günther Oettinger (CDU), State Minister of the Interior Thomas Strobl (CDU), CDU head of state Manuel Hagel and the former head of Luxembourg's government Jean-Claude Juncker.
Schäuble died on Boxing Day at the age of 81 after a long and serious illness. In his career, the Baden native has held important political offices: he was a minister, CDU leader, parliamentary group chairman and president of the German Bundestag. No one was a member of Parliament longer than he was. His work has recently been appreciated across party lines. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Schäuble a "stroke of luck for German history."
Schäuble's coffin was laid out in front of the altar with a black, red and gold flag and a federal eagle, flanked by six federal police officers. In front of it was a huge heart with red roses and the inscription "Your Ingeborg", next to it a wreath of his family. Many wreaths were also placed in front of the church, among other things with yellow and red flowers, the Baden colors. After the service, a military tribute was planned in front of the church. A funeral procession will then move over a distance of a good kilometer to the Waldbach cemetery, as the city of Offenburg announced. Dpa