Gerhard Trabert | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Trabert in 2022 | |
| Member of theBundestag forRhineland-Palatinate | |
| Assumed office TBD | |
| Constituency | The Left Party List |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gerhard Max Trabert (1956-07-03)3 July 1956 (age 69) |
| Political party | The Left (since 2021) |
| Alma mater | University of Mainz |
| Occupation | Psychiatrist •Politician |
Gerhard Max Trabert (born 3 July 1956) is a German public figure.[1] By profession he is a general practitioner and emergency medicine doctor but is also known as a professor of social medicine andsocial psychiatry, as well as an author of books. In the 1970s, he was involved in professional sports.
He was also a political candidate forDie Linke in the2022 German presidential election and the2021 German federal election. He was thetop candidate on theRhineland-Palatinatestate list in the2025 German federal election.[2]
Gerhard Trabert was born inMainz in July 1956. During his childhood, he spent a lot of time in the orphanage where his father worked as an educator. This experience made him aware of the suffering felt by disadvantaged people at an early age.
Trabert studied social work at the Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences from 1975 to 1979, graduating with a degree in social education. After completing his studies, Trabert worked inmedical social work. In 1983 he began studyinghuman medicine, which he completed in 1989 at theJohannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. During his studies, Trabert received a scholarship from theEvangelisches Studienwerk Villigst [de]. After completing his studies, Trabert was awarded a doctorate in medicine by the medical faculty of the University of Mainz with hisdissertation on the health situation and medical care of homeless people. Trabert worked clinically for ten years in hospitals inRhineland-Palatinate andHesse. His focus wasinternal medicine, specifically themedical andpsychosocial care ofoncology patients. He trained as ageneral practitioner forfamily medicine and as anemergency medicine doctor. From the beginning of his medical career, he completed numerous assignments abroad, including inIndia,Bangladesh and theUnited States.
During his trip through India, Trabert became acquainted with the "outreach health care concept"Medical Streetwork, which primarily treated patients withleprosy. The guiding principle of this concept is: "If the patient does not come to the doctor, the doctor comes to the patient." Inspired by this work and his experiences there, he transferred this medical approach to the health care of homeless people. In 1994, he founded the Mainz Model,[3] a medical care facility for homeless people. With a "mobile doctor", Trabert and his colleagues visit certain locations and offer medical help free of charge. Trabert was the first doctor in Germany to receive statutoryhealth insurance approval for this form of mobile practice.
He is the author of numerous specialist articles on the subject of poverty and health, child poverty, poverty and suicidality, and children of parents with cancer. Trabert is also the author of children's books on the subject of cancer. In 1998 he founded thePoverty and Health in Germany [de] association, and is a member of theNational Poverty Conference [de]. He is also the founder and chairman of theFlüsterpost association. From 1999 to 2009 he was aprofessor of medicine and social medicine at theGeorg Simon Ohm University inNuremberg, and since 2009 he has been a professor of social medicine andsocial psychiatry in the social work department at theRheinMain University of Applied Sciences. He is also the owner of theG. Trabert publishing house.
In 2013, Trabert set up the “Ambulance without Borders” in the city of Mainz. The organisation employs twenty doctors, nurses and social workers and provides uninsured patients including homeless people with free medical treatment.[4]
Before and during his studies, Gerhard Trabert was part of the German junior and student national athletics team. His sporting successes include the silver medal in the 4 x 400 meter race at the1975 European Athletics Junior Championships and the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 meter race at the 1977FISU World University Games. His best time of 1:49.26 minutes for 800 meters, which Trabert set in 1981, is still included in the list of the "Eternal Top Ten" of theUSC Mainz.[5]
In the2021 German federal election, Trabert ran as adirect candidate for theDie Linke party for theMainz constituency but was not on the party'sstate list inRhineland-Palatinate.[6] In the election on 26 September, he came in 4th place with 12.7% of the vote and thus missed out on a place in theBundestag. This made him the best first vote result of a candidate from the Left Party inWest Germany in the 2021 election.
In the2022 German presidential election on 13 February 2022, Die Linke nominated Trabert as its candidate against the incumbentFrank-Walter Steinmeier who was running for another term. Trabert wanted to use this candidacy, in his own words, to draw attention to poverty and social injustice in Germany: "It's not about me. It's about the people I'm committed to," he said.[7][8] Trabert received 96 of the 1,437 votes cast in theFederal Assembly, 25 more than the number of representatives The Left had.[9]
Re-electedPresident of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed Trabert directly in his speech on February 13, 2022:
"Permit me, dear Professor Trabert, to say one more thing. With your candidacy, you have drawn attention to an issue that deserves more attention: the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable in our country. You deserve not only respect for this, but I hope that your momentum will continue." – Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Steinmeier also suggested a meeting with Trabert in order to "bring more attention to this pressing issue together".[10] This meeting took place on 4 March 2022 atBellevue Palace. They discussed concrete measures and actions to help poor people.[11]
The promised visit of the Federal President to Mainz took place on June 2, 2022. Steinmeier visited the mobile doctor's unit for the homeless and was very impressed by Trabert's work. Long-term cooperation in combating poverty was discussed.
As part of his candidacy, Trabert pointed out the turning a blind eye to the conditions of refugees and poor people in Germany and drew a parallel to the turning a blind eye to theatrocities committed by the Nazis during theNational Socialist era: "Just as many Germans knew back then what was happening to the Jews, today we know what is happening to refugees in theMediterranean, inLibyan andSyrian camps. We know how poverty is increasing, we know about the increased death rate of poor people here in Germany too."
Trabert also said of the situation in Germany: "The courts are also abusing their power to silence criticism in this democracy. We cannot accept that." Although Trabert was referring to the criminalization ofsea rescue workers, his statements were criticized from various sides.[12][13][14][15]
At the end of 2022, Trabert was one of the first signatories of a petition and campaign byDiEM25 to abandon the debt brake of theGerman balanced budget amendment.[16]
In February 2023, he was the first signatory of the "Manifesto for Peace" petition toOlaf Scholz, initiated bySahra Wagenknecht andAlice Schwarzer, which called fordiplomacy andnegotiations and against further "escalating arms deliveries" toUkraine in the wake of theRussian invasion.
In July 2023, theDie Linke Party Executive [de] proposed Trabert for fourth place on the party's candidate list for the2024 European elections.[17] Since the party received only three seats with 2.7 percent of the vote, he missed out on a place in the European Parliament.
In the2025 German federal election Trabert was elected to the Bundestag as thetop candidate on theRhineland-Palatinatestate list.[2] Due to health problems however Trabert has so far not participated in parliamentary sessions.[18][19]
Trabert has received numerous awards, including theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany,[22] theOrder of Merit of Rhineland-Palatinate[22] and theParacelsus Medal [de].[22] In 2019, Trabert was the first university of applied sciences teacher to receive the "University Teacher of the Year [de]" award, worth 10,000 euros; the ceremony was scheduled to take place on April 6, 2020, as part of the "Gala of German Science" in Berlin, but was cancelled due to thecoronavirus.
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