State Commissioner (German: Landesbevollmächtigter) was the title for the provisional heads of government of the New states of Germany shortly after reunification.
German reunification took effect on 3 October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany as five re-established states. However, elections for the state governments of these five states took place on 14 October 1990 and the Landtag of these states elected the respective Minister-Presidents from late October to early November. Between the reunification and the election of the respective Minister-President, appointed state commissioner took on the role of heads of government,[1] as stipulated by the German Reunification Treaty.[2]
These state commissioner also represented their respective state in the Bundesrat, but only had an advisory vote.[3]
They had been appointed by Minister-President of the GDR Lothar de Maizière on 3 August 1990 as Landessprecher (English: State Speaker).[4] Most state commissioners had previously served as Regierungsbevollmächtigte for one of the Bezirke of the GDR that would later be re-organized to the New states; Brick for Neubrandenburg, Wolf for Potsdam, Krause for Leipzig and Duchač for Erfurt. There was some political controversy as to which Regierungsbevollmächtigter would become Landessprecher.[5]
Except for Karl-Hermann Steinberg, who was revealed to have worked for the East German Stasi, all state commissioners were elected to the respective Landtag and were appointed state ministers:
Josef Duchač succeeded himself as Minister-President of Thuringia.
| width=28% rowspan=2 | State | width=30% rowspan=2 | Name | width=35% colspan=3 | Term | width=28% rowspan=2 | Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Days | |||||
| Martin Brick | 3 October 1990 | 27 October 1990 | |||||
| Jochen Wolf | 3 October 1990 | 1 November 1990 | Social Democratic Party | ||||
| Saxony-Anhalt | Karl-Hermann Steinberg | 3 October 1990 | 28 October 1990 | Christian Democratic Union | |||
| Saxony | Rudolf Krause | 3 October 1990 | 27 October 1990 | ||||
| Thuringia | Josef Duchač | 3 October 1990 | 8 November 1990 |