Yesterday, the ambition was realised.

Schroeder, 54, is the first of his generation to take over leadership of Europe's largest country -- a generation that came of age during the left-wing student movement of the 1970s.

His bright smile, his snappy soundbites and his fashionable young wife all feed Schroeder's image as a force for change after 16 years of conservative rule under Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Born at the end of the war, Schroeder and his peers learned to challenge authority by first questioning their parents' roles in Nazi Germany. As a young lawyer, Schroeder was a self-declared Marxist who even defended a terrorist suspect in court. Collar-length hair spilled onto his turtleneck in the fashion of the day.

But much like USPresident Bill Clinton, Schroeder learned to widen his voter appeal by making himself over as a moderate.

He wears natty suits and squeezes in a game of tennis when he can. He is equally at home smoking cigars with business pals -- he sits on the supervisory board of automaker Volkswagen -- as he is passionately pleading for a fairer society.

His stump speeches often referred to his mother, a widow who raised him and his four siblings alone during the tough post-war years. He never knew his father, who was killed a few days after Schroeder's birth while fighting for Hitler's army in Romania.

He joined the Social Democrats at age 19, finished high school while holding down jobs and became an attorney in the 1970s.

Critics labelled Schroeder an opportunist and a populist who would do anything to get into power. He says he's just open to ideas, and tends to look toward experts outside politics to solve Germany's problems.