Gerhard Schröder was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005.
He was born on 7 April 1944 in Mossenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia.
After school he learned retail sales in a Lemgo from 1958 to 1961.
After that he made his abitur (highest school exam in Germany) in Bielefeld. Then he studied law in Göttingen. After that he worked as a lawyer.
He joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1963 and became chairman of its youth organisation in 1978.
In 1986 he became a member of the State Parliament of Lower Saxony.
In 1990 he was elected as Prime-Minister of Lower Saxony.