Wolfram Weimer Officially Sworn in as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media
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Journalist and publisher Wolfram Weimer has been officially sworn in as Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM; Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media following the election of the Chancellor). Friedrich Merz (CDU) presented the former publishing director with the certificate at the Chancellery. According to media reports, further personnel changes are imminent in the department.
After the Bundestag briefly went into shock at the election of the Chancellor on 6 May 2025, the new Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) prevailed in the second round of voting after all. Probably most relevant for the cultural sector: publisher and journalist Wolfram Weimer has now been officially appointed Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), also known colloquially as Minister of State for Culture.
Born in Hesse and living in Tegernsee, he is responsible for a budget of over two billion euros and around 470 employees. He succeeds Claudia Roth, who took over the post in the Scholz cabinet.
Friedrich Merz officially announced on 28 April that Wolfram Weimer would be his designated Minister of State for Culture. Weimer was editor-in-chief of ‘Welt’ and ‘Focus’, among others. He founded "Cicero" in 2003. In 2012, he and his wife founded the Weimer Media Group, which includes magazines such as "Business Punk".
Somewhat surprisingly, there is a change in the places behind Weimer. Andreas Görgen was actually supposed to remain Head of Office or officially Ministerial Director at the BKM. According to media reports, however, Konrad Schmidt-Werthern is to take over this function in future. As ‘Welt’ claims to have learned, the appointment is to be announced on 7 May.
Schmidt-Werthern previously worked as Head of the Culture Department in the Berlin Senate Administration and is said to have been a close confidant of Joe Chialo, the former Senator for Culture and Social Affairs in Berlin, who resigned from his post in the capital last Friday. Konrad Schmidt-Werthern is a lawyer and holds a doctorate in art law.
It is unclear how important Weimer will be for the German games industry. For many years, other government departments have been responsible for games, games funding and DCP. Even in the new government, formal responsibility does not lie with the BKM but with Dorothee Bär. However, the Press Start funding programme for games founders received money from the budget of Weimer's predecessor Claudia Roth.
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