BERLIN — Roman Herzog, who as president pressed Germany to embrace economic reform in the 1990s and also stressed the importance of remembering the Nazi Holocaust, has died. He was 82.
Current President Joachim Gauck paid tribute Tuesday to Herzog, whom he described as “a distinctive personality.”
Herzog served as the chief justice of Germany’s highest court before winning the presidency in 1994, four years after reunification.
He was one of the first leaders to address Germany’s resistance to reform and its growing economic stagnation at a time when Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s 16-year tenure was coming to a close. Germany was struggling with double-digit unemployment, amid worries that its labor market was too inflexible.
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