Editing Fritz Kuhn

{{Short description|German politician (born 1955)}}
{{About|the Green Party politician|the leader of the German-American Bund|Fritz Julius Kuhn}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Fritz Kuhn
| image               = Fritz Kuhn.jpg
| imagesize           = 250
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1955|6|29|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Bad Mergentheim]], [[West Germany]]
| residence           = [[Stuttgart]], Germany
| nationality         = German
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| office              = [[Stuttgart|Mayor of Stuttgart]]
| term_start          = 7 January 2013
| term_end            = 4 February 2021
| predecessor         = [[Wolfgang Schuster]]
| successor           = Frank Nopper
| office1             = Leader of the [[Alliance 90/The Greens]] in the [[Bundestag]]
| term_start1         = 18 October 2005
| term_end1           = 6 October 2009
| alongside1          = [[Renate Künast]]
| predecessor1        = [[Katrin Göring-Eckardt]]
| successor1          = [[Jürgen Trittin]]
| office2             = Leader of the [[Alliance 90/The Greens]]
| term_start2         = 22 June 2002
| term_end2           = 7 December 2002
| alongside2          = [[Renate Künast]] and [[Claudia Roth]]
| predecessor2        = Gunda Röstel
| successor2          = [[Reinhard Bütikofer]]
| office3             = Member of the [[Bundestag]] <br /> for [[Baden-Württemberg]]
| term_start3         = 22 September 2002
| term_end3           = 7 January 2013
| constituency3       = [[Electoral system of Germany|Alliance 90/The Greens List]]
| party               = [[Alliance 90/The Greens]]
| religion            = 
| occupation          = 
| alma_mater          = [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]], [[University of Tübingen]]
| majority            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
| caption             = Kuhn in 2006
}}
'''Fritz Kuhn''' (born 29 June 1955) is a German politician who served as Mayor of [[Stuttgart]] from 2012 until 2021. He was co-chairman of [[Alliance 90/The Greens]], the German [[Green party]], in 2002 and its parliamentary group from 2002 to 2013.

== Early life and education ==
Fritz Kuhn was born in [[Bad Mergentheim]] ([[Baden-Württemberg]]) and grew up in [[Memmingen]] ([[Bavaria|Bayern]]), where he attended Bernhard Strigel grammar school. After his A-levels he studied German and philosophy at the [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]] and the [[University of Tübingen]], with a master's thesis in the field of [[linguistics]].{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

==Political career==
Kuhn was one of the founding members of the Green Party in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1980.

From 1981 to 1984 he worked as a research assistant at Augsburg university and as a consultant to the parliamentary party of the Greens in the state parliament (''Landtag'') of Baden-Württemberg (South-West Germany).<ref name="wiwo">[http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen-maerkte/koepfe-der-wirtschaft/fritz-kuhn-458/biografie {{in lang|de}} His „Biographie" in WirtschaftsWoche Online (wiwo.de)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724051600/http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen-maerkte/koepfe-der-wirtschaft/fritz-kuhn-458/biografie/ |date=24 July 2011 }}</ref>

=== Member of the State Parliament in Baden-Württemberg ===
Kuhn became an MP and the leader of the parliamentary party of the Greens (Alliance 90/The Greens from 1993) in the [[Landtag of Baden-Württemberg]], the state's legislature, in 1984, a position he held until 1988, and then later again from 1992 to 2000, having worked as a Professor of Linguistic Communication in the years in between.

Kuhn was one of the two federal chairpersons of Alliance 90/The Greens from 2000 to 2002, first together with [[Renate Künast]], then with [[Claudia Roth]]. He resigned from that office in October 2002 after having been elected as a member of the [[Bundestag]], the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany; at the time, there was a rule in the Green Party that you could not be an MP and hold a party office at the same time.<ref name="wiwo"/>

=== Member of the German Parliament, 2002–2012===
Fritz Kuhn first became a member of the Bundestag in the [[2002 German federal election|2002 federal elections]]. In the immediate aftermath of the elections, he was part of the Green Party's team in the negotiations with the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] on a coalition agreement for the second [[Second Schröder cabinet|government]] under the leadership of [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Gerhard Schröder]].

In the Bundestag, Kuhn specialized in the fields of the economy (fighting for "a green market economy"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gruene-bundestag.de/cms/abgeordnete/dok/81/81511.html |title=Bundestagsfraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen – Fritz Kuhn |access-date=14 June 2010 |archive-date=17 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717140552/http://www.gruene-bundestag.de/cms/abgeordnete/dok/81/81511.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>) and employment, and foreign policy. From 2002 until 2005, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Between 2005 and 2009, Kuhn was one of the two leaders of the Green parliamentary party (together with [[Renate Künast]]), from 2009 he served as deputy leader.

For the [[2005 German federal election|2005 federal elections]], Kuhn was the campaign manager of Alliance 90/The Greens. At the 2009 election, he unsuccessfully contested the single member constituency of [[Heidelberg (electoral district)|Heidelberg]].

Between 2007 and 2009, Kuhn was one of 32 members of the [[Federalism commission (Germany)|Second Commission on the modernization of the federal state]] (''Föderalismuskommission II''), which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany.

=== Mayor of Stuttgart, 2012–present ===
On 21 October 2012 Kuhn was elected Lord Mayor of [[Stuttgart]] in Baden-Württemberg with 52.9% of the votes.<ref>{{cite news|title=Greens win Stuttgart mayoral vote|url=http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/world-news/greens-win-stuttgart-mayoral-vote-3266672.html|access-date=22 October 2012 | work=Irish Independent}}</ref> His 8-year-term as Mayor ''(Oberbürgermeister)'' began in January 2013. Stuttgart has a population of about 600,000 and is capital city of the [[Bundesland (Germany)|Federal State]] of ''Baden-Württemberg''. Kuhn was the first candidate of the [[German Green party]] to win in a city of such importance.

Kuhn took over from [[Wolfgang Schuster]], his predecessor, on 7 January 2013. In early 2020, he announced that he would not stand in the next elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of his second term later that year.<ref>Rüdiger Soldt (January 7, 2020), [https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/warum-fritz-kuhn-nicht-mehr-stuttgarts-oberbuergermeister-sein-will-16569614.html Kuhn hört auf: Ein politischer Paukenschlag in Stuttgart] ''[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]''.</ref>

==Other activities==
===Corporate boards===
* [[Landesbank Baden-Württemberg]] (LBBW), Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board<ref>[http://www.lbbw.de/en/ueber_uns/aufsichtsrat/aufsichtsrat.jsp Supervisory Board] [[Landesbank Baden-Württemberg]] (LBBW).</ref>
* [[Stuttgart Airport]], Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board<ref>[http://www.flughafen-stuttgart.de/unternehmen/aufsichtsrat Supervisory Board] [[Stuttgart Airport]].</ref>
* [[Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart]] (VVS), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board
* Stadtwerke Stuttgart, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board<ref>[https://stadtwerke-stuttgart.de/unternehmen/ueber-die-stadtwerkestuttgart/ Supervisory Board] Stadtwerke Stuttgart.</ref>

===Non-profit organizations===
* [[Heinrich Böll Foundation]], Member of the Board
* [[Max Planck Institute for Medical Research]], Member of the Board of Trustees
* [[Theaterhaus Stuttgart]], Member of the Board of Trustees

== Personal life ==
Kuhn is married and has two sons.

Kuhn also supports the football club [[FC Bayern München]].<ref name="wiwo"/>

== See also ==

*[[Dieter Salomon]], the first Green party mayor of a German ''Großstadt'' (a [[City#Germany|large city]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links (in German) ==
{{Commons category|Fritz Kuhn (politician)|Fritz Kuhn}}
* [http://www.fritz-kuhn.de/de/start/index.shtml Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050712003952/http://www.fritz-kuhn.de/de/start/index.shtml |date=12 July 2005 }}
* [http://webarchiv.bundestag.de/archive/2013/1212/bundestag/abgeordnete17/biografien/K/kuhn_fritz.html Bundestag page]
* [http://www.abgeordnetenwatch.de/fritz_kuhn-650-5824.html Abgeordnetenwatch]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724051600/http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen-maerkte/koepfe-der-wirtschaft/fritz-kuhn-458/biografie/ ''Wirtschaftswoche'']

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Fritz}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Bad Mergentheim]]
[[Category:Mayors of Stuttgart]]
[[Category:Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg]]
[[Category:Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013]]
[[Category:Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009]]
[[Category:Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005]]
[[Category:Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens]]
[[Category:Leaders of political parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg]]