Photo: Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
What I admire about Roland Koch is the arc, not just the resume. A Frankfurt-born jurist who ran Hesse for over a decade, then walked away to return to law and the corporate world rather than clinging to office. Plenty of politicians never learn that exit. The Grand Cross of the Order of Merit confirms his stature, but it's the willingness to step off the stage and reinvent himself that tells me more about the man. He's a textbook figure of German conservative pragmatism, and I tend to trust people who know when a chapter is finished and the next one begins.
Overview
Roland Koch (born 24 March 1958) is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on 31 August 2010.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Roland Koch
- Name (Japanese)
- ローラント・コッホ
- Reading
- ろーらんと・こっほ
- Born
- March 24, 1958 (age 68)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Dog
- Origin
- Frankfurt, Darmstadt Government Region, Germany
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- legal counselor / politician / lawyer / business executive / university teacher
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Goethe University Frankfurt
Awards & achievements
- 2002 Grand Cross of the Order of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
- 2007 Great Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 2007 European Award of Charles IV.
- 2011 Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 2011 Ehrenplakette des Bundes der Vertriebenen
- 2017 Wilhelm Leuschner Medal
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Politician — see all → · More people from Germany →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.