The only profession open to him was religion. As a Lutheran pastor, he used his pulpit to call out the crimes of the East German government, repeatedly comparing them to the Nazis. His outspokenness made him the universal choice when, after unification, Germany tackled the daunting task of opening the infamous Stasi files — a fraught undertaking that was sure to devastate relationships and sunder families. But instead of using his position to wreak vengeance, he ran his organization with such fairness that it was informally named for him: the Gauck Authority.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/can-joachim-gauck-make-germany-likeable.html?ref=opinion