Christian Dürr privately: This is what is known about the new FDP party leader

"Today the work begins" – with these words, Christian Dürr launched his fight before hundreds of delegates on Friday. The fight for the survival of his and their party, the FDP, and perhaps of liberalism in Germany as a whole. At the FDP's first federal party conference after the disastrous election defeat in February, Dürr was elected party chairman with 82 percent of the vote. Now he succeeds the larger-than-life Christian Lindner, who ultimately failed to prevent the party's resounding defeat from the Bundestag.

Christian Dürr privately: Who is the new strong man in the FDP?

Compared to his enormous task, Dürr is a relative unknown. The 48-year-old was born in Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony, not far from Bremen. During his school years, the only child spent a year abroad in the US state of Arizona, and the following year he joined the Young Liberals. When Dürr was about to be elected parliamentary group leader of the FDP parliamentary group in Lower Saxony in 2009, his mother, Helga Dürr, said in an interview with the NWZ newspaper , looking back: "He left as a child and returned as a young adult."

In the same conversation, his father Udo emphasized that his parents had insisted that their son receive a solid education despite his political interest: "Anyone involved in politics must also have a career option." Udo and Helga Dürr ran a retail business, which influenced Dürr's career choice. Christian Dürr studied economics at the University of Hanover , graduating with a diploma in 2007. By then, he had already been a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament for four years.

After serving in the Lower Saxony state parliamentary group, including as group leader and media policy spokesperson, Dürr entered the Bundestag in 2017. There, he was first elected deputy group leader and then group leader in 2021. In this role, he played an important role in the parliamentary work of the traffic light government in cooperation with the group leaders of the SPD and the Greens.

Christian Dürr still lives in his hometown in Lower Saxony

Dürr faces a major professional challenge. His private life, meanwhile, appears to be characterized by considerable stability. In 2012, while still serving in the Lower Saxony state parliament, he married his partner Jennifer. The two have a son, born in 2013, and a daughter, born in 2015. The family lives in Ganderkesee, Lower Saxony, the town where Dürr grew up. Christian Dürr is reportedly a Protestant Christian and a supporter of the football club SV Werder Bremen .

During the federal party conference on Friday, it became clear how differently the different wings view the problems facing the party and the state. In an interview with t-online in March, Dürr explained that he doesn't want to be pigeonholed. He said: "I'm not the FDP's economics buff, but I'm not their social buff either. We assign labels too often in politics, and also in the FDP. For me, there is neither one nor the other kind of hyphenated liberalism; there never has been."

While, unlike his predecessor Lindner, he isn't necessarily considered a gifted rhetorician or astute provocateur, he is said to be warmer and more approachable. A down-to-earth mediator who can give the FDP the profile it needs to lead it back into federal politics? One who can show German liberalism a future perspective again? The next four years will show whether that will work.