1. Johannes Rau left school in 1949 and worked as a publisher, especially with the Protestant Youth Publishing House.
14 Facts About Johannes Rau
1. 2.
Johannes Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party, which was founded by Gustav Heinemann.
3.
In July 1958, Johannes Rau was elected for the first time as member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.
4.
In 1977, Johannes Rau became Chairman of the SPD North Rhine-Westphalia and, in 1978, Minister President of the state, which he remained until 1998, with four successful elections for the SPD, which became strongest party in the Landtag each time and gained an absolute majority three times, in 1980,1985,1990 and finally 1995.
5.
From 1995 onwards, Johannes Rau led an SPD-Greens coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia.
6.
In 1987, Johannes Rau was his party's candidate to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but he lost the 1987 West German federal election against Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats.
7.
In 1994, Johannes Rau was a candidate to become President of Germany but lost the 1994 German presidential election to Roman Herzog.
8.
In June 1998, Johannes Rau stepped down from his positions as SPD chairman and Minister President, and in the 1999 German presidential election on 23 May 1999, he was elected President of Germany by the Federal Assembly of Germany to succeed Roman Herzog.
9.
In February 2000, Johannes Rau became the first German head of state to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in German.
10.
Johannes Rau had a deep and lifelong commitment to bringing reconciliation between Germany and its past.
11.
Johannes Rau had a long history of heart disease and died 11 days after his 75th birthday on 27 January 2006.
12.
Johannes Rau held lay positions in and was a member of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, a member church of the Protestant Church in Germany.
13.
Christina Johannes Rau is a granddaughter of her husband's mentor, Gustav Heinemann, former President of Germany.
14.
On 18 August 2004, Johannes Rau had to undergo serious heart surgery, in which an artificial heart valve was inserted.