President of Germany them to the President of the Bundesrat. If the president dies, resigns or is otherwise removed from office, a successor is to be elected within thirty days. Horst Köhler, upon his resignation on May 31, 2010, became the first president to trigger this re-election process. Jens Böhrnsen, President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and at the time President of the Bundesrat, assumed the powers and duties of head of state. Similarly, when Christian Wulff resigned in 2012, it was Horst Seehofer, Minister-President of Bavaria, as President of the Bundesrat, who assumed the powers
President of Germany (1919–1945) President of Germany (1919–1945) The Reichspräsident was the German head of state under the Weimar constitution, which was officially in force from 1919 to 1945. In English he was usually simply referred to as the President of Germany. The German title "Reichspräsident" literally means President of the Reich, the term "Reich" referring to the federal nation state established in 1871. The Weimar constitution created a semi-presidential system in which power was divided between the president, a cabinet and a parliament. The "Reichspräsident" was directly elected under universal adult suffrage for a seven-year term. It was intended that the president would