Meet Gerhild Hansi Radtke, she and German president have known each other since childhood, they married very young but according to reports they have been separated for more than 20 years. Whoa!
The couple has been married for 53 years, has four children and ten grandchildren! The wedding ceremony took place back in 1959 when Joachim Gauck was just out o high school.
The marriage ended in 1991 but they never divorced. Gerhild resides in Rostock .
Hansi is the legitimate German First Lady althoug another woman takes the title, journalist Daniela Schadt who has been the president’s companion for the past 13 years but not the woman who took Hansi’s marriage away; instead during an interview she said they simply drifted apart.
Hansis’s first interview ever was conducted just last year, ironically after she is no longer with the president. She is a simple and humble woman.
As a former pastor’s wife she always knew her place consisted in renunciation and at the beginning the challenges of being poor. Her motto in life was “being there for others” her charismatic pastor husband’s followers and those fate driven were her passion; she became a bookseller and mother to her four children and an active member of those who were seeking some light in the rectory of Joachim Gauck, the then pastor.
Today the unknown first Lady of Germany leads volunteers with other women at “Marie Club” as a meeting place. There are quite old-fashioned virtues and values that make this quiet, modest woman. the wife of a leader.
But, why they never thought of divorce? Hansi says:
What we had and have been through together, it’s not every day experiences.
Quite strange they do not want to sign any papers to make it official.
She and Joachim have four children Christian born in 1960; Martin born in 1962; Gesine born in 1966 and Catherine born in 1979. Christian, Martin and Gesine moved over to the Federal Republic in the 1980s.
What really shows her big heart and just what kind of person she is, is the fact that even two decades after the break up of her marriage she thinks it’s a great thing her still husband is the president of Germany.
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