Günther Jauch


Günther Johannes Jauch is a German television host. He is a member of the Hamburg Jauch family, but lives in Potsdam, Brandenburg with his wife Thea Jauch and his four children.

Biography

Jauch was born in Münster. He is known for a unique style of informing and entertaining people that is generally considered witty and funny. He won several awards for his appearances in German television. Jauch also owns the production company "i&u TV", which stands for Information und Unterhaltung. He is known to make large donations to charity from money he receives from his appearances in advertisements and other promotional work.
Jauch has used his personal wealth to purchase and restore several historic buildings in and around Potsdam, his current town of residence.
In 1980s Jauch worked for radio programs of Bayerischer Rundfunk. Jauch has produced and hosted the prime time TV programme ', a television news magazine programme, on the private German RTL national TV network since 1990. The programme caused some sensation due to the transmission of falsified articles delivered by the journalist Michael Born who was subsequently convicted to a four-year prison sentence in 1996, a few other prominent German TV networks had also been deceived with such material. In January 2011, after celebrating the end of his 21-year reign hosting ', Jauch will now host a weekly political talkshow on the national German public TV network Das Erste.
In 2005, Jauch was named by Stern magazine the most famous German in the world. In late 2006, Jauch announced that he would only host the first broadcast of the Four Hills Tournament and celebrate New Year's Eve with his family. Jauch had hosted all events of the Four Hills Tournament since 2000. The 2007 season tournaments from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen were hosted by Marco Schreyl instead.
Jauch, together with Thomas Gottschalk, is also part of the German TV show Die 2 - Gottschalk und Jauch gegen alle.
In 2015, shortly after Stefan Raab had announced the end of his TV career, Jauch declared publicly that he intends to gradually reduce his appearance on TV too; stating that he will eventually give up his political talk show Günther Jauch on ARD and to focus on his other TV shows such as Wer wird Millionär? on RTL.

Personal life

After 18 years of common-law marriage, Jauch married Thea in the Orangerie at Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam in 2006.
Jauch and Thea have two biological daughters, Svenja and Kristin. The couple adopted two orphaned daughters in 1997 and 2000, named Katja and Masha.

Philanthropy

Jauch is characterised by his secluded lifestyle. He stated in interviews that he takes the liberty of leading a life that does not correspond to his supposed economic possibilities. According to his own statement, he has spent considerable amounts of his income, including all the profit from advertising jobs, on charitable causes since the early years of his career. In 2002, he made significant financial contributions to the reconstruction of the Fortunaportal at the Potsdam Stadtschloss city palace. Jauch has also given financial support to other projects in Potsdam, e.g. the Belvedere on the Pfingstberg,, the Potsdam city canal, the Kloebersaal, a hall in the north wing of the Marmorpalais, which is opposite his villa at Heiligen See lake, as well as the restoration of the Neptungrotte in the palace gardens of Schloss Sanssouci. Furthermore, he supported the construction of the Marienschule Potsdam, a co-educational Roman-Catholic school for primary and secondary education, which belongs to the archdiocese of Berlin. The prime minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, called him a citizen every mayor could ever wish for. Jauch was an ambassador for the Berlin Pro-Reli-Kampagne, a petition which aimed to change the Education Act of the state of Berlin in order to introduce religious studies as an elective subject instead of ethics as a sole compulsory subject. The campaign eventually failed in April 2009.
Jauch’s ancestress on his grandmother’s side, Anna Weißebach, founded the Caritas Konferenzen, the German branch of the International Association of Charities. Jauch’s own family set up soup kitchens in Hamburg as early as the 19th and 20th century and founded and maintained poorhouses in Hamburg and other places. In line with his family’s tradition of charitable foundations, Jauch endowed the founding of a branch of Die Arche in Drewitz in 2009, which provides free meals for children in need. He also covers ongoing property and personnel expenses. Die Arche – Christliches Kinder- und Jugendwerk e.V. is a Christian organisation for children and adolescents.

Vineyard Owner

Günther Jauch is also continuing a 200 year-old family tradition of wine-growing. In 2010, he successfully applied for membership in the German Prädikat Wine Estates VDP, in order to acquire a relative’s vineyard which was approved by VDP that certifies Germany’s wines that meet the organizations requirements. The entire property, including a mansion and an English Garden, has been subject to preservation orders since 2003.
Günther Jauch’s family has been running the winery since 1805, when his ancestor and merchant Emmerich Grach bought the property. Jauch’s grandmother Elsa von Othegraven, his grandfather Hans Jauch and his father Ernst-Alfred Jauch were part of the community of heirs. However, in 1996 the winery was inherited by a distant relative.
In order to ensure that the winery was not going to be sold to a party outside the family, Günther Jauch decided to buy it. One of the previous owners had been Jauch's famous great-great-uncle, Franz Weißebach. According to the VDP, the vineyard is a gem of a vineyard, rare in its quality and attractive location. In 2011, Jauch acquired a further vineyard in Wawern that is 3.5 acres. It had also belonged to his ancestor Emmerich Grach. Günther Jauch also co-produced wines that supermarket chain Aldi has been selling under his name since 2018.

Dispute about privacy

Günther Jauch wanted to legally prohibit any type of media coverage in the preparation of his wedding in July 2006. The Landgericht Berlin granted him an interim injunction against the newspaper Bild and other publications of the Springer publishing house. The Kammergericht Berlin, however, decided against a prohibition of general media coverage in June 2006 due to his celebrity status. According to the judges, they were allowed to report about the date and place of the wedding. After the magazine Bunte published photos of the wedding and details about the ceremony, Thea Jauch went to court against the publishing house to demand damages and compensation for pain and suffering totalling 325,000 Euros. The Landgericht Hamburg awarded her only 25,000 Euros compensation in January 2008. The judgment was set aside by the Hanseatisches Oberlandesgericht in October 2008. As a public figure, interest in Jauch’s wedding was legitimate, it said. An anew appeal was refused by the Federal Constitutional Court. The demand for damages by Günther Jauch in a separate lawsuit was in vain as well.
The couple then went before the European Court of Human Rights to claim that the German justice system did not protect Jauch's right to privacy sufficiently and breached his right to protection of property, because they did not award him damages for the published photos. The court in Strasbourg affirmed the public’s interest in his wedding and therefore, their claims were without cause. German justice had carefully weighed between the right to privacy and the freedom of the press, it said. The complaint was declared inadmissible.

Shows hosted