PROFILE: Joachim Gauck, German's eloquent next president By Jean-Baptiste Piggin, dpa

Berlin (dpa) - Joachim Gauck, 72, who is practically certain to be appointed German head of state next month, is a former Lutheran minister who is likely to use the presidency as a pulpit to preach an eloquently pro-democracy message.

As a public speaker, Gauck has managed to seem all things to all people, attacking socialist ideas as a threat to liberty, yet allying with Germany‘s left-of-centre Social Democrats and Greens two years ago in his first campaign as an independent to become president.

"It moves me that a man who was born in a gloomy, frightening war and grew up under dictatorship for 50 years is now being asked to be head of state," he told reporters after Chancellor Angela Merkel announced he was the cross-party candidate for the post.

Gauck, who was born January 24, 1940 in the port city of Rostock, was moulded by the fate of his father, who was arrested by the Soviets and held in a Siberian gulag during 1951-55.

The son, who entered the ministry, was under regular secret police surveillance in a society where the church was the only institution semi-free of state control and the sole channel for dissent.

He led demonstrations in Rostock in 1989 that helped oust the communists, and the following year turned the tables on the Stasi police, becoming custodian until 2000 of the mass of files it had left, detailing the private lives of millions of Germans.

He urged Germans to read the Stasi‘s grubby secrets for themselves and constantly lectured on the evils of dictatorship. The massive archive is still popularly known as the Gauck Agency.

Gauck never returned to the church after his work as custodian, but turned to lecturing. He refused invitations to run for office until 2010, when he emerged as a candidate for the presidency to replace Horst Koehler, who had resigned mid-term.

He mounted a media blitz with television interviews, winning the hearts of Germans with his wide smile, oratory and charisma.

Polls showed he was by far the more popular nominee, but in a close race with Christian Wulff, a provincial premier, Gauck narrowly lost in the third round of balloting in the constitutional assembly which appoints the head of state.

Merkel - despite having much in common with Gauck as the daughter of an East German Lutheran minister - reputedly dislikes him. His ambition and polished delivery contrast with her reticent, no-frills style.

His distaste for the Left Party - who remain strong in the east of the country - is mutual, and it remains possible they may nominate a candidate to run against him. He opposes accommodation with other political systems.

"We must address (human rights) breaches by communist, fanatically Islamist and despotic states," he says in a 64-page book published Monday, based on a speech he gave a year ago.

"If we want to exercise freedom, there are not that many variants. I don‘t know any that is better than the western model, taking responsibility for yourself," he writes in the book, entitled Freedom: a Defence. He published an autobiography in 2009.

As president, Gauck will make state visits abroad, host visits and sign bills into law but will have few powers.

Commentators have said the presidency should be used as a pulpit to shake up conventional wisdom, as it was under two predecessors, Richard von Weizsaecker and Roman Herzog, who brought huge moral authority to the post.

Judging by his maverick past, in which he submitted to no master, Gauck is expected to fit the bill and even breach the limits of German political correctness.

After two world wars, Germans are deeply suspicious of the idea of patriotism, whereas Gauck has often made it a theme.

"People want to be able to believe in their country again," he told dpa in an interview two years ago.

"I want to use my life experience to empower people. Freedom is my big subject," he said.

"The freedom that I am talking about is not the freedom to say, ‘I can do anything I want.‘ But rather the joy of opting for something, the awareness that I have always got a choice."

His marital status may create a headache in some conservative countries when he travels abroad.

He separated two decades ago from his wife but remains legally married to her. His partner for the past decade, Daniela Schadt, is now expected to move into Berlin‘s Bellevue presidential palace as first lady. dpa jbp hm Author: Jean-Baptiste Piggin