Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state committed suicide due to the unbearable situation amid coronavirus. As his colleagues confirmed, the top financial official was deeply concerned regarding Covid-19’s economic fallout.
The German state Hesse’s finance chief was a professional who had been working “day and night” to help the local firms and entrepreneurs deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic in Germany.
Popular and well-respected, Thomas Schaefer left his colleagues in shock. On Saturday night, he was found dead near a railway track on Saturday.
The Wiesbaden prosecution’s office issued the statement, in which they believe the finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state died by suicide. Apparently, the 54-year-old man made such a decision after becoming “deeply worried” over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus. The state premier Volker Bouffier said Sunday, he is in shock.
“We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad,” Bouffier said in a recorded statement.
Suicide amid coronavirus epidemic in Germany
Hesse is home to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The European Central Bank is also located in Frankfurt.
A visibly shaken Bouffier recalled that Schaefer, who was Hesse’s finance chief for 10 years, had been working “day and night” to help companies and workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic. Both Bouffier and Schaefer belonged to Merkel’s centre-right CDU party.
“Today we have to assume that he was deeply worried,” said Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The German leader added she is worrying that Schaefer preferred to leave during precisely this difficult time that all the country would have needed someone like him.
The 54-year-old Shaefer leaves behind a wife and two children.
Amid coronavirus crisis, Germany’s federal and state governments have drawn up huge aid packages to cushion the blow of largely shutting down public life to slow the spread of COVID-19.
