Who is Olaf Scholz.... and what does he want?

A look into the past of Germany's current chancellor

Olaf Scholz: 

• 63-year-old, Social Democrat. 

• One metre and 70 centimeters tall. 

• Favourite animal - the house cat.

When it comes to Germany’s probable next Chancellor, the above is certain. 

But what else do we know about Olaf Scholz? What kind of leader is he? And what has he learned from past mistakes? I’ve read through almost every portrait of the man that has been written over the past two decades.

This is what I found out.

Former Marxist (1980s)

With hair back in 1984. Photo: Wikipedia Commons

These days Olaf Scholz has a reputation for being on the right-wing of the SPD. But it wasn’t always so. He started his political career at the age of 17; by his mid-twenties he had made it up to deputy leader of the SPD youth organisation.

He was so radical that he reportedly told one colleague who complained about their constant arguments that: “It’s because you don’t hate capitalism as much as I do!”

He spent his early years railing against Nato’s “aggressive imperialism” and denouncing the SPD gov…