Wolfgang Thierse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Thierse in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of the Bundestag | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 26 October 1998 – 18 October 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Rita Süssmuth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Norbert Lammert | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vice President of the Bundestag (on proposal of the SPD-group) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 18 October 2005 – 22 October 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Norbert Lammert | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Susanne Kastner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Edelgard Bulmahn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of theSocial Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 27 September 1990 – 15 November 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Hans-Jochen Vogel Björn Engholm Johannes Rau(Acting) Rudolf Scharping Oskar Lafontaine Gerhard Schröder Franz Müntefering | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Peer Steinbrück | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1943-10-22)22 October 1943 (age 82) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Social Democratic Party in the GDR (until 1990) Social Democratic Party of Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Humboldt University of Berlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolfgang Thierse (German pronunciation:[ˈvɔlfɡaŋˈtiːɐ̯zə]; born 22 October 1943) is a German politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11thpresident of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005.
Thierse was born inBreslau (Wrocław in present-day Poland). He is aRoman Catholic and grew up inEast Germany. After hisAbitur, he first worked as a typesetter inWeimar and then studied the German language and literature atHumboldt University, inBerlin, where he was an active member of the Catholic Student Community.[1] He also became a research assistant in the university's Department of Cultural Theory / Aesthetics. In 1975–76 he was employed by the Ministry of Culture of the German Democratic Republic. But when he joined the protests against the expulsion of singer-songwriter and dissidentWolf Biermann from the GDR he lost his job.[2]
From 1977 to 1990, Thierse worked as a research assistant at the Central Institute of the History of Literature in the Academy of Arts and Sciences of the GDR. He was one of the editors of the "Historical Dictionary of Aesthetic Concepts".
Although his father had been a member of theCentre Party in the Weimar Republic and later of theChristian Democratic Union (East Germany), Wolfgang Thierse did not belong to any political party before 1990. That did not mean that he was not interested in politics. His father regularly listened to the West Berlin radio stationRIAS and so Wolfgang had a chance to hear speeches from debates in theWest German parliament. He was particularly impressed byCarlo Schmid,Herbert Wehner, and laterWilly Brandt.[3]
In October 1989, Thierse joined the opposition groupNew Forum and in January 1990 theSocial Democratic Party in the GDR, whose leader he became in June. In August 1990, under Thierse's leadership, the East German Social Democratic Party quit the governing coalition, apparently denying the coalition, which was led by Christian Democrats, a ruling majority.[4]
With regard toGerman reunification, Thierse was in favour of a gradual process, but he realised soon that the majority of the population of the GDR wanted to join the West German state as quickly as possible.[2]
When the East German SPD merged with the West German SPD, Thierse became the SPD's deputy leader, an office he held until 2005. Until 2009 he belonged to the SPD's national executive. He also belonged to various party commissions, which dealt with subjects like the party's basic values, or the special problems of East Germany. He was elected as a member of the East German parliament in 1990.
Following the German reunification, Thierse served as member of theBundestag, the lower house of the parliament of Germany. He was his parliamentary group's deputy chairman from 1994 on, under the leadership of its chairmanRudolf Scharping. From 1995 until 1998, he was a member of the committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany.
After the SPD's victory in the1998 general elections, Thierse was elected president of theBundestag on 26 October. That was "a historic date", as he called it, because it was the first time that a citizen of the former GDR became Germany's second-highest representative. He had not been a lifelong resistance fighter against the rule of theSocialist Unity Party of Germany and had ever identified with that rule, he said, but he represented a large majority of the East German population there. Journalists call him "the advocate of the East".[5] He served for two terms until October 2005, when he was succeeded byNorbert Lammert. In addition, he was chairman of the German delegation to theParliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from 2002 until 2009.
He has never given the impression "to be in the sole possession of truth". He considers it most important to him to "include" opponents, the "other" person, the "other" opinion. Therefore, it is necessary for speakers to put aside their manuscripts sometimes and to enter into a real dialogue with the speakers before them.[3][5]
As president of theBundestag, Thierse visited numerous countries. He has always shown a great interest in inter-cultural dialogue. In his speeches he addressed a variety of questions such as the consequences of globalization on the one hand and increasing individualization on the other, or problems of the environment.[3]
Thierse passionately promoted the idea that theBundestag should move to Berlin and thereby underline the process of reunification. It was highly satisfactory for him when to open its first meeting there in 1999.[6][7]
In response to theCDU donations scandal in 2000, Thierse imposed a $21 million fine on formerChancellorHelmut Kohl's party for accepting illegal financing. At the time, the fine was the largest in the history of the federal republic.[8] Thierse accused Kohl of "intentional violations ofpolitical contribution laws and theConstitution over many years."[9]
Thierse was especially involved in the fight against right-wing extremism. He takes part in discussions, campaigns and demonstrations. He visits neo-Nazi strongholds, particularly in East Germany, and encourages people to stand up for democracy.[10][11][12]
In 2002, Thierse demanded the abolition of checks on formerStasi employees.[13]
After the2005 elections, Thierse was elected vice president of the Bundestag, serving alongside PresidentNorbert Lammert. He also served on the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Media. In addition, he was a member of the Art Advisory Board of the GermanBundestag.
Among the honours Thierse received are an honorary doctorate (awarded by the Philosophical Faculty of theUniversity of Münster) and theFederal Cross of Merit.[3]
Wolfgang Thierse is married with two children. He lives inPrenzlauer Berg, a north-eastern part of Berlin.
Thierse has published several books, especially about the situation in East Germany.[19] In 2003 a CD was published with Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" read by Thierse. The proceeds were for the "Green Berets", a charity that helped young Muslims and Christians to rebuild destroyed areas likeBosnia orAfghanistan.[20][21]
"Peter and the Wolf" is another fairy tale read on CD by Wolfgang Thierse. Again the profit is for charity.[22]
On 30 December 2012, Thierse caused outrage by an interview in a Berlin paper ("Berliner Morgenpost"),[23] criticizinggentrification tendencies in formerly poorBerlin inner city districts such asPrenzlauer Berg andKreuzberg. He specifically mentioned so called "Swabians" (German: "Schwaben") who serve as prototype for wealthy migrants from western Germany who often work in highly paid jobs in the Berlin media and culture industry, as well as government and industry organizations, replacing the original Berlin under-class population. Thierse specifically mentioned the usage of Swabian or more generally South-German terms for food like "Wecken" or "Pflaumendatschis" instead of the Berlin dialect variants for rolls or plum cakes respectively. Furthermore, those Swabians (symbolizing all migrants from the former West Germany) would be attracted by the cultural gems of Berlin and its status as chaotic, poor and sexy metropolis, but after some time in town would like to transform it in another variant of their small wealthy south German towns of origin.
Thierse received strong criticism from prominent Swabians such asCem Özdemir (chairman of Germany'sGreen Party) and byEuropean Commissioner for EnergyGünther Oettinger (CDU, conservative party), as well as by fellow high-ranking SPD party members.[24] Oettinger pointed out that the Berlin state would only be a viable state because of Germany's internal rescue fund ("Länderfinanzausgleich") which is mainly financed by the two German states that comprise parts of the historic region ofSwabia, namelyBaden-Württemberg andBavaria, and in addition byHesse. The state of Berlin is by far the main beneficiary of this rescue fund.
Some commentators (inter alia, Germany'sStern magazine[25]) even raised accusations against Thierse of discrimination against large parts of the West German population. Germany's Federal minister for Economic Cooperation,Dirk Niebel (FDP, liberal party), born and raised in Hamburg but representing a south-western constituency aroundHeidelberg, called Thierse furiously in a public reaction reported by the news magazine "Focus", a "pietistischer Zickenbart"[26] ("pietistic bitchy greybeard").
On 1 January 2013, Thierse re-affirmed his previous statements in the Berlin paper "Tagesspiegel": He called the public criticism "ridiculous", mentioned that intra-German migrants should be allowed to use their South German dialects only in their states/regions of origin and furthermore talked about an "Organisierte Schwabenschaft" (roughly "Organized Swabians")[27] that would have appeared in the nationwide media and that would abuse its influence. In particular this term "Organisierte Schwabenschaft" caused significant outrage, especially in West Germany, since the usage and wording resembled to the usage of similarly sounding racist terms by right-wing extremists against immigrants and religious minorities.[28][29] According to the weekly "Die Zeit" magazine, Thierse would have de-masked himself as a "babbit" who did serious harm to the gentrification debate by introducing ethnic terms and regional prejudice into the public discussion.
Prominent former TV host and political correspondentUlrich Kienzle accused Thierse in an emotional personal letter to him of talking nonsense and artificially intensifying a deeply rooted rivalry between South Germans and Prussians that would date back to even before theBattle of Königgrätz where Prussian forces defeatedAustria and its South German allies. This victory eventually led to thePrussia-dominatedGerman Empire in 1870–1871.[30]
In an online essay forDer Spiegel, Jan Fleischhauer pointed out that so called "Schwaben-Hass" (discrimination or hatred vs Swabians) would be a politically correct variant ofxenophobia for left-wing intellectuals andbohemians used to hide respectively camouflage otherwise totally unacceptable political positions against foreign infiltration or domination by immigrants.[31]
For reconciliatory efforts, Thierse received a "Goldene Narrenschelle", an order of Carneval fromVereinigung Schwäbisch-Alemannischer Narrenzünfte (VSAN), an umbrella organization ofSwabian–Alemannic Fastnacht.[32]
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