Dr. Thomas de Maizière
Thomas de Maizière was born in Bonn on 21 January 1954. He is married with three children.
Following school graduation with university entrance qualification, he completed his military service with 142nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Koblenz. He is a reserve officer, holding the rank of first lieutenant.
From 1974 to 1979, de Maizière pursued studies in law and history in Münster and Freiburg. He passed the first and, in 1982, second state examinations in law. In 1986, he acquired his doctorate of law (Dr. jur.) at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
In 1983, he worked with the Governing Mayors of Berlin, Richard von Weizsäcker and Eberhard Diepgen. From 1985 to 1989, he served as Chief of Policy Branch at the Berlin Senate Chancellery. He was spokesman of the Christian-Democratic group in the Berlin House of Delegates.
In 1990, he was involved in establishing the Office of the Minister-President of the last Government of the German Democratic Republic. He was then a member of the delegation negotiating the unification treaty.
He served as State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from 1990 to 1994, and as Head of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian State Chancellery from 1994 to 1998. In 1999, he was State Minister and Head of the Saxon State Chancellery.
In the State of Saxony, he served as Minister of Finance from 2001 to 2002, as Minister of Justice from 2002 to 2004, and as Minister of the Interior from 2004 to 2005.
He was a member of the Saxon Landtag from 2004 to November 2005, then Federal Minister and Head of the Federal Chancellery until October 2009. Also in October 2009, de Maizière was directly elected as a delegate to the German Bundestag. From 28 October 2009 to 3 March 2011, de Maizière served as Federal Minister of the Interior.
Since 3 March 2011, de Maizière has been Federal Minister of Defence.
