Volker Rühe
Former German politician · Germany · On the map · Politicians · Born 1942 · age 84
Volker Rühe is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as German Defence minister from 1 April 1992, succeeding Gerhard Stoltenberg during the first government of a reunified Germany in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Kohl, to the end of the fifth Kohl Cabinet on 27 October 1998.
Volker Rühe is read about 86 times a day, in 13 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 18 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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During his time at the Defence Ministry Rühe played a central role in placing NATO enlargement on the German political agenda. He unsuccessfully ran for the office of minister-president of the German state Schleswig-Holstein in the year 2000, eventually losing against incumbent Heide Simonis.
