Carl-Eduard von Bismarck
Encyclopedia
Count Carl-Eduard Otto Wolfgang Jayme Anders von Bismarck-Schönhausen (born February 16, 1961 in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

) is a German politician (CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

).

Background and education

Bismarck is the grandson of the CDU politician Otto Christian Archibald, Prince von Bismarck, the great-grandson of Herbert, Prince von Bismarck
Herbert von Bismarck
Herbert, Prince of Bismarck was a German politician, who served as Foreign Secretary from 1886 to 1890. His political career was closely tied to that of his father, Otto von Bismarck, and he left office a few days after his father's dismissal...

 and the great-great-grandson of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

.

Bismarck's younger sister, Countess Vanessa von Bismarck-Schönhausen (b. 26 March 1971, Hamburg, Germany) works in public relations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. His brother Count Gottfried von Bismarck-Schönhausen died of a heart attack in 2007.

Following his Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...

 in 1982 in Wentorf
Wentorf
Wentorf bei Hamburg is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Bille, approx. 10 km northwest of Geesthacht, and 20 km east of Hamburg....

, he served in the military as an officer cadet, and from 1985 to 1989 he studied economics. In 1987 he married Mexican-American actress Laura Harring
Laura Harring
Laura Harring is a Mexican-American actress and former Miss USA . She is known for her role as Rita in Mulholland Drive.-Early life:...

. The couple divorced in 1989 but they reportedly remain friendly. In 1997 he married Celia Demaurex (1971–2010), but they were also divorced a few years later. She died of metastasized skin cancer on December 17, 2010. Since 2004, he has been married to Nathalie Bariman, with whom he has two children.

Between 1989 and 1992, he worked for the company Investor Treuhand in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

. Since 1993 he has worked for the Princely Bismarck Administration (Fürstlich von Bismarck'schen Verwaltung) in Friedrichsruh
Friedrichsruh
Friedrichsruh is a district in the municipality of Aumühle, Herzogtum Lauenburg district, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.- History :After the victory over France and the establishment, in 1871, of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck received the Sachsenwald as a present from Emperor William I...

.

Political career

He became a member of the CDU in 1995, and was elected vice-chairman of the CDU in the Duchy of Lauenburg
Lauenburg (district)
Herzogtum Lauenburg is the southernmost Kreis, or district, of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by the district of Stormarn, the city of Lübeck, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , the state of Lower Saxony , and the city state of Hamburg...

 in 1999 (his ancestor, Otto von Bismarck, had been the nominal Duke of Lauenburg
Duke of Lauenburg
The title Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which, since its foundation in 1269, has been ruled by twenty-nine dukes of six dynastic houses and lines and by an additional four dukes of a temporary dynastic branch line The title Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of...

 in the 1890s).

When Peter Harry Carstensen
Peter Harry Carstensen
Peter Harry Carstensen is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union party.Since 2005 he has been Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 2005/06....

 became Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

, Bismarck replaced him in the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

, the German parliament.

In the 2005 federal election, he won his constituency with a plurality (44.4%) of the vote.

In 2007, he was called "Germany's laziest member of Parliament" by the Tabloid Bild, because he attended only 14 of 27 parliamentary sessions since the 2005 elections and voted only two times. He also failed to work in any of the parliamentary subcommittees and never attended any political meetings in his electoral district.

He stepped down from his mandate on December 19, 2007. If he had stepped down in January, as planned, he would have been eligible for a pension, inciting more criticism.

See also

  • Count Gottfried von Bismarck-Schönhausen (brother)
  • Otto von Bismarck
    Otto von Bismarck
    Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

  • Mona von Bismarck
    Mona von Bismarck
    Mona Travis Strader , known as Mona Bismarck, was an American socialite and fashion icon. She was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1958.-Early life:...

  • Bismarck family
    Bismarck family
    The House of Bismarck is a German noble family that rose to great prominence with 19th century statesman Otto von Bismarck, who was conferred the hereditary title of Prince of Bismarck in 1871, and additionally a hereditary comital title in 1865 and a ducal title, Duke of Lauenburg, held only for...

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