German minister Thomas Schaefer commits suicide after Covid-19 crisis worries

The Finance Minister of Germany’s Hesse state, Thomas Schaefer, has committed suicide seemingly after becoming extremely worried over how to deal with the economic fallout from the Covid-19, state premier Volker Bouffier said on Sunday.

Thomas Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution’s office said they believe he committed suicide.

“We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad,” Bouffier said in a recorded statement.

A clearly shaken Bouffier remembered that Schaefer, who was Hesse’s finance chief for 10 years, had been working all the time to help firms and workers deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus.

“Today we have to assume that he was deeply worried,” said Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“It’s precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him,” he added.

Popular and respected, Schaefer had long been touted as a possible successor to Bouffier. Like Bouffier, Schaefer belonged to Merkel’s CDU party. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

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