Monika Grütters (born 9 January 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the government of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

from 2013-2021. She has been a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

since 2005 and was chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Media Affairs from 2009 to 2013. Since December 2016, Grütters has also been the chairwoman of the CDU Berlin and an elected member of the CDU Federal Executive Board.

Education and professional life

After graduating from high school in 1981, Monika Grütters studied German language and literature, art history and political science at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

and at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn from 1982 onward, where she graduated in 1989 as Magister Artium. After having worked in the press and public relations department of the Bonn Opera during her studies from 1987 to 1988, she worked in the same area from 1990 to 1991 at the then Museum for Transportation and Technology in Berlin and from 1991 to 1992 for the publishing house Bouvier. Between 1992 and 1995 Grütters was spokesperson of the Senate Administration for Science and Research ( State of Berlin). From 1991 to 1999, Grütters was a lecturer in cultural management at the Hanns Eisler College of Music in Berlin. Since 1999, Grütters has been holding an honorary professorship at

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

for the Master's program ''Arts and Media Administration''. Grütters also worked as a PR officer for the Bankgesellschaft Berlin from 1996. From 1998 to 2013, she was Spokeswoman of the Board of the ''Brandenburger Tor'' Foundation. She is a member of the

Central Committee of German Catholics The Central Committee of German Catholics (german: Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken, ZdK) is a lay body comprising representatives of various Catholic organisations in Germany. They organise the Catholic Days in Germany. The organisatio ...

and spokeswoman of the committee's "Culture, Education and Media" section since 2013.

Political career

Grütters joined the Young Union in 1978 and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) in 1983. Since 1998 she has been a member of the state executive of the CDU Berlin. Grütters was a member of the

Berlin House of Representatives The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (House of Deputies) () is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993 the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkir ...

from 1995 to 2005. In this role, she was the spokesperson for science and cultural policy and from 2001 to 2005 also deputy chairwoman of the CDU Parliamentary Group.

Member of Parliament, 2005–present

Grütters has been member of the German Bundestag since the 2005 elections, representing the electoral district of

Marzahn-Hellersdorf Marzahn-Hellersdorf () is the tenth borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf. Geography It is situated in the northeast of Berlin. Marzahn-Hellersdorf borders to the Berlin boroughs of Lichte ...

. She always entered the Bundestag via the regional list of candidates for Berlin and chaired the Committee on Culture and Media Affairs from 2009 to 2013. In addition to her committee assignments, Grütters has been a member of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group since 2005. In the 2013 federal election, she was again as the CDU's top candidate for Berlin. Following Frank Henkel's resignation from the position of chairperson to the CDU Berlin on 13 October 2016, Grütters was unanimously nominated by the executive committee and state executive of the CDU Berlin as a candidate for his successor on the following day. At a small party convention of the CDU Berlin on 2 December 2016, Grütters was elected as the new chairwoman with 78.4 percent of the votes. Additionally, Grütters was elected at the CDU's federal congress in Essen with 70.37 percent as successor to Emine Demirbüken-Wegner in the Executive Board of the CDU and thus in the party's leadership circle around chairwoman

Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, 2013–2021

On 17 December 2013, Grütters succeeded

Bernd Neumann Bernd Otto Neumann (born 6 January 1942) is a former German politician and since 2014 president of the German Federal Film Board (FFA). Biography Neumann was born in Elbing, East Prussia, now Elbląg, Poland. Following the flight and expul ...

(CDU) as the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. She thus holds the title of a Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor and is head of a so-called Supreme Federal Authority (''oberste Bundesbehörde'') with headquarters in both Berlin and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. Albeit often stated in the press, Grütters did not cover the function of a German "culture minister": according to the German Basic Law, cultural and educational matters are still subject to the sovereignty of the Länder. In the context of cooperative cultural federalism, however, the Federal Government Commissioner is responsible for cultural and media matters of national importance. During her term of office in the third Merkel cabinet, the overall budget for federal cultural affairs increased by more than 30% up to 1.67 billion within the federal budget between 2013 and 2018. However, issues surrounding the 2012 Munich artworks discovery overshadowed Grütters’s first two years in office. As an institutional response to the discovery of major artworks of unclear provenance and ownership in the private Gurlitt collection, Grütters launched the German Lost Art Foundation (''Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste'') in 2015. Also in 2015, Grütters presented an amendment to the German law on the protection of cultural property (''Kulturgutschutzgesetz'') which has been subject to controversial debates. In addition, Grütters has significant responsibility for the successful state funding of the Barenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin and a national photographic archive in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

to preserve, archive and publicise the country's photographic cultural heritage. In the negotiations to form another

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

following the 2017 federal elections, Grütters led the working group on cultural affairs and media, alongside

Dorothee Bär Dorothee Gisela Renate Maria Bär ( Mantel; born 19 April 1978) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2002. From 2014 to 2021, she served in various ca ...

and Michael Roth. In February 2018, Merkel announced that she would take over Grütters for a second term in her fourth cabinet. In February 2018, Grütters presided over the CDU’s national convention in Berlin. Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully conta ...

, Grütters led efforts in 2020 to provide government financial help to cultural institutions and artists whose livelihoods were threatened. Following her party’s defeat in the 2021 elections, Grütters announced her candidacy as Vice President of the Bundestag; however, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group eventually nominated Yvonne Magwas for the position.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ex-Officio Member of the Shareholder Meeting * Humboldt Forum Kultur, Ex-Officio Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board * Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (KBB), Ex-Officio Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board (since 2014)

Non-profit organizations

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

(KAS), Member of the Board of Trustees * Jewish Museum, Berlin, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees (since 2014) * Culture Foundation of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge o ...

(DFB), Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees * Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees * Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Member of the Board of Trustees * Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2005) *

Museum Berggruen The Berggruen Museum (also known as the Berggruen Collection) is a collection of modern art classics in Berlin, which the collector and dealer Heinz Berggruen, in a "gesture of reconciliation", gave to his native city. The most notable artists ...

, Member of the International Council * Tarabya Academy, Deputy Chairwoman of the Advisory Board *

Deutschlandradio Deutschlandradio (DLR) (''Radio Germany'') is a national German public radio broadcaster. History ''Deutschlandfunk'' was originally a West German news radio targeting listeners within West Germany as well as in neighbouring countries, ''Deutsc ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2014–2021) *

Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace The Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace (german: Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss) is a German Foundation (nonprofit), foundation established by the Government of Germany to create the Humboldt Forum museum in the ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Council (2014–2021) * Cultural Foundation of the German States (KdL), Member of the Council (2014–2021) * RIAS Berlin Commission, Ex-Officio Honorary Chairwoman (2014–2021) * German Historical Museum (DHM), Substitute Member of the Board of Trustees (2009–2013) * International Journalists’ Programmes (IJP), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (2014–2021) * Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (2005–2013) * Literarisches Colloquium Berlin (LCB), Member of the Board of Trustees (2005–2013)

Recognition

* 2017 – Julius Campe Prize * 2018 –

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

* 2019 – Order of the Aztec Eagle

Political positions

In June 2017, Grütters voted against her parliamentary group’s majority and in favor of Germany’s introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

in 2018, Grütters publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair. In April 2020, Grütters co-signed – alongside around 50 other members of her parliamentary group – a letter to

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding suc ...

which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.Robert Roßmann (6 April 2020)
Mehr als 50 Unionsabgeordnete fordern Aufnahme von Flüchtlingskindern
''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. Hist ...

''.

References

Sources and external links