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Jan Hecker
Hecker at a consultation with Merkel and US President Joe Biden at the G7 2021 in June.
Born	(1967-02-15)15 February 1967 Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany
Died	5 September 2021(2021-09-05) (aged 54) Beijing, China
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Freiburg, Grenoble, Göttingen
Occupation	Ambassador
Years active	1997–2021
Children	3

Jan Hecker (15 February 1967 – 5 September 2021) was a German lawyer and diplomat. Hecker was an advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a judge at the Federal Administrative Court, as well as an adjunct professor at the European University Viadrina. He died shortly after taking office as German ambassador to the People's Republic of China.

Life

Jan Hecker studied political science and law in Freiburg, Grenoble and Göttingen from 1988 to 1994. This was followed by a legal clerkship in the district of the Court of Appeal from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 1997, he participated in a postgraduate programme at the University of Cambridge and obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) degree. He obtained his doctorate in law in 1997 on the subject of European integration as a constitutional problem in France at the University of Göttingen.

In 2011 Hecker was appointed a judge at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. In 2015 he was brought to Berlin as an advisor to chancellor Merkel. He grew to become a confidant of Merkel, especially influencing her foreign policy.

Hecker became ambassador to the People's Republic of China at the end of August 2021. He was expected to continue Merkel's policy of maintaining a balanced, but friendly relationship with the People's Republic of China. He died only a few days after taking office at the age of 54, having just completed the mandatory two weeks COVID-19 quarantine. German foreign minister Heiko Maas has stated that "Due to the circumstances of his death, we have no evidence that Jan Hecker's death is in any way related to his official function as German ambassador in Beijing".

See also

• Du Wei (diplomat), Chinese ambassador to Israel who also died shortly after taking office.

References

1. ^ Martin Knobbe, Georg Fahrion (6 September 2021). "Jan Hecker ist tot: Angela Merkels Mann in China". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. "The German ambassador to China, Jan Hecker, dies". Deutsche Welle. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
3. "Botschafter Dr. Jan Hecker". Auswärtiges Amt. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
4. "Duitse ambassadeur in China en vertrouweling van Merkel dood". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 September 2021.
5. "Deutscher Botschafter in China gestorben". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.

• 1967 births
• 2021 deaths
• People from Kiel
• German diplomats
• Ambassadors of Germany to China
• University of Göttingen alumni
• University of Freiburg alumni