Olaf Scholz

Olaf Scholz: biography

Olaf Scholz, who was born on June 14, 1958, is a German-born politician. Since the 8th of December 2021, he has been the chancellor of Germany.

Childhood and youth

Olaf was born into a well-established German family from Osnabrück, a city that is located in Lower Saxony. Even though he was born there, the majority of his childhood was spent in Rahlstedt, which is a district of Hamburg. His dad was a trade agent. Olaf studied at Hamburg's high school and then attended the university, also in Hamburg. There, Olaf studied law and then started working at a law firm. Olaf was raised along with his younger siblings, Jens and Ingo. When he was 17, Olaf became a member of the Social Democratic Party.

Political career

He was the chairman of the SPD district association in Altona from 1994 to 2000 and the chairman of the SPD organization in Hamburg from 2000 to 2004. He was the executive director of the party (from 2001 to 2019) and general secretary (from 2002 to 2004). From 2001 to 2019, he was a member of the SPD party's executive body in various capacities, serving as deputy federal chairman of the party from 2009 to 2019. After being defeated in the SPD's 2019 election, he no longer ran for the deputy federal chairmanship.

Scholz received 395 votes to win the election for Federal Chancellor of Germany on December 8, 2021. He succeeded Gerhard Schröder as the second chancellor in German history to take the oath of office without mentioning God. He started his first international trip after taking the oath of office, following the "traditional inaugural route" of Paris-Brussels-Warsaw. Olaf has faced challenges such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an energy crisis, increasing prices, and a severe summer drought since assuming office. All of these causes have pushed the greatest economy in Europe to the verge of recession. An INSA survey found that by the end of August 2022, 62% of Germans had changed their minds regarding Scholz's actions as chancellor.

Personal life

Britta Ernst, a fellow SPD politician, is Olaf's wife. He and his wife have no children, and it is unknown if they even will have any in the future.

Scholz was brought up in the orthodox German Evangelical Protestant Church, although he eventually defected. Scholz is the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany who does not belong to a church and the second chancellor after Gerhard Schröder to take the oath of office without making any mention of God at his inauguration in 2021.

Achievements

Here is the list of achievements that Olaf received throughout his political career:

• 9th Chancellor of Germany, 2021
• Incumbent, December 2021.
• Vice Chancellor of Germany, 2018–2021
• Minister of Finance, 2018–2021
• Hamburg's First Mayor, 2011–2018