Winfried Kretschmann
- Company
- Baden-Württemberg
- Job title
- Minister-President
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Winfried Kretschmann MdL has been Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since May 2011. Winfried Kretschmann was born in Spaichingen, Baden-Württemberg, on May 17th 1948. He grew up in a liberal, catholic home where freethinking and open discourse were actively encouraged, while at the same time fully engaging with the rich tradition of the Christian calendar.
Having obtained his Abitur, and after his time as a national service conscript, Winfried Kretschmann went on to study biology and chemistry at Hohenheim University to become a grammar school teacher. In 1977, upon passing his Second State Examination he worked as a teacher in Stuttgart, Esslingen, Mengen and Bad Schussenried.
A political activist since his student days, Kretschmann co-founded the party The Greens in Baden-Württemberg in 1979. One year later Winfried Kretschmann became a member of the first parliamentary group of the green party in the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg, serving as their spokesperson from 1983 to 1984.
In 1986, Joschka Fischer, then Minister in charge of the Environment in the State of Hesse, sought out his services as a Policy Officer for what at the time was the first Ministry for Environmental Affairs held by The Greens. Two years later he left Wiesbaden and returned to the Parliament of Baden-Württemberg, of which he has since been a Member with (only) a single interruption.
In 2002 Kretschmann was elected Party Chairman of the green party’s parliamentary group, a role he then held until 2011. On 12 May 2021 Winfried Kretschmann was elected Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg for the third consecutive time by the Parliament with 95 out of 152 votes. Before this, Kretschmann had been elected Head of Government on 12 May 2011 und 12 May 2016.
From November 2012 until October 2013 Winfried Kretschmann served as President of the Bundesrat. From October 2013 until September 2014 he was Chairman of the Conference of Minister-Presidents.
Winfried Kretschmann has been married to his wife Gerlinde since 1975. They have three grown up children together. To unwind, Winfried Kretschmann enjoys tinkering around the house and gardening, or walking in the Swabian Jurassic.
