Erich Matthias Rößler (born 14 January 1955) is a German politician, and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since 1990, he has been a member of the Saxon Landtag. From 1994 to 2004 he served as minister of culture, later as minister of science and art in the government of Saxony. Since 2009, he has been the "Landtagspräsident", and the speaker of the Saxon parliament.

Career

Rößler was born in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, the son of a master gardener from the village of Cossebaude (now a western district of Dresden). He attended Christenlehre (Christian education) and refused to become a member of the socialist youth organizations, but was accepted nonetheless to a high school in Dresden (today Romain-Rolland- Gymnasium), graduating in 1973 with and excellent grade 1.0. Because of his political abstinence, he was denied to study ethnography. He did the minimum service (Grundwehrdienst) in the

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

and then studied mechanical engineering, graduating in 1979 with a diploma. He then worked as a research assistant at the University of Transport in Dresden. There he obtained his doctorate in 1983 with a dissertation ''Experimentelle Untersuchungen charakteristischer Strömungserscheinungen in einem speziellen geraden Gitter bei hochturbulenter Anströmung'' (Experimental investigations of characteristic flow phenomena in a special straight grate at highly turbulent flow). From 1985 to 1990, he was a development engineer and a senior researcher in the Kombinat Lokomotivbau/Elektrotechnische Werke in Hennigsdorf. From 1989, he also worked at the Academy of Sciences on topics of basic research. He is the holder of several patents and author of scientific publications.

Political career

In 1989, Rößler joined the opposition movement Democratic Awakening. He took over functions in the central party leadership in Berlin and was a science policy spokesman of the party. He also served on the group's state board of Saxony. In 1990, he was instrumental in forming the Ministry of Culture of the Free State of Saxony. He joined the CDU, which he represented in the parliament of Saxony. He was one of the initiators of the founding of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism in Dresden, to explore totalitarian structures and their impact on individuals and society. From September 1994 to April 2002, Rößler was Saxon State Minister for Education, and was also the Chairman of the German Sportministerkonferenz (conference of sport ministers). From 18 April 2002 to 10 November 2004, he was Minister for Science and Art. On 16 September 2009, Rößler was nominated as successor of the retiring speaker of parliament Erich Iltgen and elected on 29 September with 82 votes out of 132. On 26 May 2005 he was awarded the Sächsische Verfassungsmedaille by Erich Iltgen for the "Mitgestaltung der Grundzüge der sächsischen Bildungspolitik" (participation in the founding structure of Saxon education policy). Since his election to as speaker of parliament, he has been a member of the Sächsischer Verdienstorden (Saxon Order of Merit). Rößler was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

in 2017. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, he publicly endorsed

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU ...

to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair. In June 2022, Rößler announced that he would not stand in the 2024 state elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.Sachsens Landtagspräsident Rößler tritt zur Landtagswahl nicht mehr an
�'' Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk'', 24 June 2023.

Personal life

Rößler is married since 1979 and has two sons.

References

External links

Official websiteMatthias Rößler at the Saxony Landtag website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossler, Matthias Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Government ministers of Germany Politicians from Dresden 1955 births Living people Members of the Landtag of Saxony Ministers of the Saxony State Government Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony