Hermann Otto Solms

Hermann Otto Solms (born Hermann Otto Prince zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich; 24 November 1940) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Between 1980 and 2013, he was a member of the Bundestag, from 1991 to 1998 as Chairman of the FDP parliamentary party and from 1998 to 2013 as Vice President of the Bundestag. Since 2017 he has again been a member of the Bundestag.

Early life

Solms was born posthumously, the third son and fifth child of Hermann Otto Hereditary Prince zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1902–1940). His father was the heir to the fortune and legacy of the Princes zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, a noble family known in Germany since 1129, whose Imperial county was made a principality of the Holy Roman Empire in 1792, but mediatized under the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1806. Hermann Otto's father died while serving as a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe at Neuruppin on 3 July 1940. His mother, née Baroness Gertrude von Werthern-Beichlingen (1913–1987), was remarried in 1950 to Hans Joachim Sell of Neustettin.

After completing his secondary education (Abitur) in 1960, Solms carried out his obligatory military service and then completed a commercial apprenticeship in 1964. He studied Economics in Frankfurt am Main and Giessen, Germany and Kansas, USA, finishing in 1969 with an economics degree and in 1975 with a doctoral degree in agriculture (Dr. agr.).

In 1970 he began working as a researcher at the Institute for Environmental Management Studies at University of Giessen and in 1973 he became the personal advisor of Bundestag vice president Liselotte Funcke. Since 1976 he has been an independent consultant.