Dr. Joachim Gauck – former President of Germany, confirmed as Guest Speaker at the 16th Alpensymposium 2018

Dr Joachim Gauck was born in Rostock, Germany, in 1940. Upon gaining his Abitur he went on to study theology, after which he spent many years serving as a Lutheran pastor in Mecklenburg in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Even as a young man, Gauck’s opposition to the prevailing dictatorship in the GDR was already apparent. In 1989, he was a co-founder of the New Forum, a democratic opposition movement, and was elected its spokesman in Rostock. Joachim Gauck was one of the architects of the church and civil resistance to the governing SED (Socialist Unity Party). He led the weekly ’peace prayers’ that became the catalyst for a series of peaceful protests against the regime.

On 18 March 2012, the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) elected him the eleventh President of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Information on www.alpensymposium.ch