State Commissioner () was the title for the provisional

heads of government In the executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

of the

New states of Germany The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 "old states" upon German reunification on 3 October 1990. Th ...

shortly after

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

took effect on 3 October 1990, when the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

joined the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

as five re-established states. However, elections for the state governments of these five states took place on 14 October 1990 and the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

of these states elected the respective Minister-Presidents from late October to early November. Between the reunification and the election of the respective Minister-President, appointed state commissioner took on the role of heads of government, as stipulated by the German Reunification Treaty. These state commissioner also represented their respective state in the Bundesrat, but only had an advisory vote. They had been appointed by Minister-President of the GDR

Lothar de Maizière Lothar de Maizière (; born 2 March 1940) is a German former politician of the Christian Democratic Union. In 1990, he served as the head of the first and only democratically elected government of East Germany, holding this office during the fi ...

on 3 August 1990 as ''Landessprecher'' (). Most state commissioners had previously served as ''Regierungsbevollmächtigte'' for one of the ''Bezirke'' of the GDR that would later be re-organized to the New states; Brick for

Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg (, Low German ''Niegenbramborg'', both lit. ''New Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg'') is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban c ...

, Wolf for

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, Krause for

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and Duchač for

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

. There was some political controversy as to which ''Regierungsbevollmächtigter'' would become ''Landessprecher''. Except for Karl-Hermann Steinberg, who was revealed to have worked for the East German

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

, all state commissioners were elected to the respective

and were appointed state ministers: * was appointed Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern * Jochen Wolf was appointed Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Transportation of Brandenburg * was appointed State Minister of the Interior of Saxony Josef Duchač succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia.

State Commissioners

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:100%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid" , - !width=28% rowspan=2, State !width=30% rowspan=2, Name !width=35% colspan=3, Term !width=28% rowspan=2, Party , - !Took office !Left office !Days , - ,

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

, Martin Brick
, 3 October 1990 , 27 October 1990 , , Christian Democratic Union , - ,

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

, Jochen Wolf
, 3 October 1990 , 1 November 1990 , ,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, - ,

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

, Karl-Hermann Steinberg
, 3 October 1990 , 28 October 1990 , , Christian Democratic Union , - ,

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, Rudolf Krause
, 3 October 1990 , 27 October 1990 , , Christian Democratic Union , - ,

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

, Josef Duchač
, 3 October 1990 , 8 November 1990
, {{age in days, 1990, 10, 3, 1990, 11, 8 , Christian Democratic Union

References

Political history of Germany 1990 in Germany East Germany German reunification Contemporary German history