Remembering Wolfgang Schaeuble: Germany's 'Minister of Courage'

The death of German politician Wolfgang Schaeuble on Tuesday sent his country into mourning and, in fact, was the lead news throughout Europe.

Schaeuble, who was 81, was, as former British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne wrote on X, "the last of the post-war Germans." He was a consequential figure as interior minister (similar to the U.S. attorney general) and later as minister of finance, playing a pivotal role in the integration of East and West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Schaeuble was also the longest-serving member of the German Bundestag (parliament) in all Germany's parliamentary history, elected in 1972 and serving with six chancellors right up to his death including nine years as majority (1991-1998) and minority whip (1998-2000). In his twilight years, Schaeuble was president (speaker) of the Bundestag.

But those who knew him inevitably brought up the tragic circumstances that kept him from the chancellorship once thought to be the next easy step in a lightning political career. Rather than succeeding close friend Helmut Kohl in Germany's highest office, Schaeuble instead became, as one German journalist put it, "the greatest chancellor we never had."

By 1990, with East and West Germany coming together, Wolfgang Schaeuble was considered, as one German journalist told Newsmax, as much the heir apparent to Kohl as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was to Pope John Paul II. As Kohl's chief of staff, Schaeuble helped forge and maintain the coalition of their Christian Democratic Party (CDU); the Bavarian sister party, Christian Social Union (CSU); and the Free Democrats, which gave the CDP a majority and made Kohl chancellor.

"[H]e was the big deal-maker in parliament," wrote Kohl biographer Henrik Bering.

But on Oct. 12, 1990, days after reunification and at age 48, Interior Minister Schaeuble was shot by a gunman while addressing a campaign event in Oppenau, Germany. Having withstood three shots, Schaeuble recovered. But he was paralyzed from the waist down and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Following roughly three months in rehabilitation, Schaeuble resurfaced and made a speech before a cheering audience of 9,000 in Offenburg. The CDU and its coalition partners won a resounding victory in national elections. But talk of an eventual "Chancellor Schaeuble" diminished, with contemporaneous whispers that his use of a wheelchair somehow made it unlikely he could hold Germany's top office.

Schaeuble did become the CDU party chairman after his party lost power in 1998. But less than two years later, the revelation of a six-figure cash donation to the party from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber forced the leadership of the party to step down — even though the donation had taken place years before Schaeuble assumed the CDU helm. He was succeeded by his deputy, Angela Merkel, who would go on to serve as chancellor from 2005-2021.

In Schaeuble's later incarnation as finance minister, there was concern that he might be tired from long hours of negotiations with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis over details of the bailout of the debt-wracked Greek economy. As it turned out, Schaeuble was always punctual for the meetings Varoufakis insisted begin at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. and remained there until they adjourned late at night.

It was during this period that I met Schaeuble — and experienced his withering sense of humor. Upon shaking his hand before an interview at the International Monetary Fund, I told the finance minister it was an honor to meet him. Schaeuble shot back: "I give you permission to wash your hand!"

Schaeuble emphasized a sense of duty, thoroughness, competence, and discipline that served as enduring reminder of the solemnity of public offices and their demands on public officials.

It was Christine LaGarde who probably summarized the remarkable German best. Presenting an award to Schaeuble in 2019, then-IMF head LaGarde hailed him as the "minister of courage" and remarked: "For you, in the spirit of Max Weber, politics has always been more than a 'Beruf.' It has been a 'Berufung' — not just a profession, but a calling. Germany and Europe have been blessed by this calling."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.