Michael Steiner (born 28 November 1949) is a German diplomat who served as head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). He was the German Ambassador to India from March 2012 to June 2015.

Early life and education

Michael Steiner was born on 28 November 1949 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Bavaria, Germany. Steiner studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and Munich from 1971 to 1977 and qualified as a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

in 1981.

Career

In 1981, Steiner entered the German Foreign Office. As a young political officer in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in the summer of 1989, he won plaudits for his handling of a refugee crisis that helped lead to the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

. As hundreds of East Germans surrounded his embassy grounds, asking for asylum and West German citizenship, he helped some of them over the wall himself, onto the embassy grounds, which were West German territory. Then he worked to negotiate a deal to allow the East Germans to leave the embassy and go to the West. During his career with the German government, Steiner served as head of the liaison office for German humanitarian aid in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, made his mark in the 1990s working with the so-called Contact Group of nations monitoring the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

(of which Germany was a member), and as head of the co-ordination unit for multilateral peace efforts. He also led the special section "International Peace Efforts in Yugoslavia" from 1994 to 1995. Steiner served nearly six months (January–July 1997) as principal deputy to Carl Bildt, the first High Representative in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. In 1998, while serving as Germany's ambassador in Prague, he was plucked by Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

to work in the chancellor's office as his foreign and security policy adviser. And in 2001 he was forced to resign after the so-called "". In December 2001 he was appointed a head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo by

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

. He was the third special representative of the secretary general for Kosovo since UNMIK was established in 1999. He followed Hans Haekkerup of Denmark and Bernard Kouchner of France, and was replaced by Harri Hermani Holkeri of Finland on 8 July 2003. From April 2010 to March 2012, Steiner served as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In March 2012 Steiner was pronounced new ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to India. On 20 July 2012, he hosted a festive ceremony at his residence in the honour of

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

to acknowledge his outstanding contribution in the field of classical music.

Personal life

Michael Steiner married Eliese Steiner, an art historian. They first met at the Colosseum in Italy.

Controversy

In early 2001, Steiner was criticized for apparently leaking information about sensitive talks between Chancellor

and US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. On 2 November 2001, he had a row with three German soldiers stationed in Moscow, when Schröder's plane was delayed for refuelling on the last day of a tour of Asia. Steiner allegedly called the soldiers "arseholes" and demanded that they served him caviar during the delay. Soon after news media reported about the incident, Steiner publicly apologized and resigned from his post.

''Lebe jetzt''

To celebrate his retirement as German Ambassador to India, the German Embassy released a video on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

named ''Lebe jetzt''.German Embassy India: Lebe jetzt - Kal Ho Naa Ho
/ref> The video was a homage to popular Hindi movie Kal Ho Na Ho starring Shah Rukh Khan. Steiner played the part of Khan, his wife Eliese played the part of Preity Zinta whereas former Indian External Affairs Minister

Salman Khurshid Salman Khurshid Alam Khan (born 1 January 1953) is an Indian politician, designated senior advocate, author and law teacher. He was the Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of External Affairs. He is a member of the Indian National Congress who wa ...

played the part essayed by Saif Ali Khan.Kal Ho Na Ho with Mr & Mrs German Ambassador & Mr Khurshid
The New Indian Express.

References

External links

Steiner appointed head of the UNMIK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner, Michael Living people Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949 births Ambassadors of Germany to Italy Ambassadors of Germany to India Ambassadors of Germany to the Czech Republic Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations