State Commissioner (Germany)

German reunification took effect on 3 October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany as five re-established states.

Between the reunification and the election of the respective Minister-President, appointed state commissioner took on the role of heads of government,[1] as stipulated by the German Reunification Treaty.

[3] They had been appointed by Minister-President of the GDR Lothar de Maizière on 3 August 1990 as Landessprecher (English: State Speaker).

[4] 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, Wolf for Potsdam, Krause for Leipzig and Duchač for Erfurt.

[5] Except for Karl-Hermann Steinberg, who was revealed to have worked for the East German Stasi, all state commissioners were elected to the respective Landtag and were appointed state ministers: Josef Duchač succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia.

Then-state commissioner Josef Duchač casting his ballot for the 1990 Thuringian state election . He succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia after his party had won the election.