Lutz Heilmann | |
|---|---|
| Member of theGerman Parliament for Schleswig-Holstein | |
| In office 2005–2009 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1966-09-07)7 September 1966 (age 58) Zittau,East Germany |
| Political party | Die Linke |
| Other political affiliations | SED (1986–1989) SED-PDS (1989–1990) PDS (1990–1992; 2000–2005) Die Linkspartei.PDS (2005–2007)[1] |
| Profession | Stasi employee (1985–1990) Cashier at filling station and carpet salesman (1991–2004) Articled clerk (2005) |
Lutz Heilmann (born 7 September 1966 inZittau,East Germany) is a German politician of theleft-wing partyDie Linke. He was elected to theBundestag in the2005 federal election as a member of the party list inSchleswig-Holstein. Shortly thereafter it was revealed that he had worked for theStasi (theEast Germansecret police) from 1985 to 1990. Heilmann drew national and international media attention when he caused the websitewww.wikipedia.de (not theGerman Wikipedia, but a search portal for it run byWikimedia Deutschland) to be blocked by apreliminary injunction on 13 November 2008.[2][3] His Bundestag term ended in 2009, and he failed to be nominated for a second term.
Following his election in 2005, strong controversy erupted when it was revealed by the magazineDer Spiegel that he had worked for theStasi (theEast German secret police) from 1985 to 1990.[4] Heilmann is the only official full-time Stasi employee to be elected MP to the Bundestag; although several other Die Linke politicians have been "unofficial" Stasi informants.[5]
Heilmann narrowly survived an impeachment by the party electorate following his untruthfulness about his Stasi career prior to becoming anMP.[4]
Heilmann worked in the so-called "Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung Personenschutz" department of Stasi, a large and important department within the Stasi that was directly subordinated underErich Mielke. The department was responsible for "personal security", but also took part in regular oppression activities and employed informants.[6] His employment record at Stasi states that Heilmann joined the Stasi because of political motivation and that he identified with his work and saw his future as a Stasi employee.[4] He left Stasi after it was dissolved following the fall of the communist regime.
The nomination of Lutz Heilmann as an MP by the Left Party has been strongly criticized byHubertus Knabe, the director of theBerlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial. Knabe stated that Heilmann "has no business being in parliament", and said it is "unacceptable for the victims of theGDR communist regime to imagine that a man with such a past should serve in a parliament".[4]
He attended law school from 1992 to 2004, obtaining an undergraduate law degree (Diplom-Jurist) in 2004. During this time, he worked as a cashier at afilling station and as a carpet salesman.[1] After a period of being unemployed (2004–2005) he obtained a position asarticled clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at the Landgericht (an intermediate court) inLübeck[7] which he quit after being elected to the Bundestag. In November 2009, he returned to his job as a clerk.
He became a member of the communist party of theGerman Democratic Republic, theSocialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1986, and has remained a member of its successor parties (SED-PDS,PDS,Die Linkspartei.PDS and nowDie Linke), although he left the party in 1992 and rejoined in 2000.
Heilmann, who was previously married,[8] has organized participation of the party's queer group atChristopher Street Days.[9]
In the Bundestag, his main activity has focused on transportation policy favoring the environment. He argued for an increase in theLKW-Maut and against a proposed waiver of themotor vehicle tax for new cars.[10]
He has been involved in a fight withinDie Linke, trying to get Lübeck party bossRagnar Lüttke expelled from the party. Four-year-old photographs showing Lüttke at a party celebratingJoseph Stalin's birthday were obtained by aFlensburg newspaper in October 2008.[11][12]
In 2009 he failed to be nominated again as a Bundestag candidate.
On 13 November 2008, Heilmann pressed charges againstWikimedia Deutschland e.V. at the Landgericht Lübeck, obtaining a preliminary injunction which barred the internet addresswww.wikipedia.de (which is controlled byWikimedia Deutschland) from linking tode.wikipedia.org (controlled by the U.S.-basedWikimedia Foundation) as long as certain information about him is included in theGerman Wikipedia in the articleLutz Heilmann. Heilmann also filed legal complaints against one Wikipedia editor and two other online writers.
According toFocus Online, Heilmann objected to claims that he had not completed his university degree, and that he had participated in a business venture involving pornography. He did however admit that he had served as "youth protection officer" for an internet sex shop run by a roommate.[11] The report also suggests that the Wikipedia article had been repeatedly altered in line with his claims by an anonymous user operating within the Bundestag building, but Heilmann denied having been involved in anedit war.[13]
In October 2008, some German newspapers reported that Heilmann was under investigation for having threatened a former roommate and that the committee on immunity of theBundestag had lifted hisimmunity in the matter.[12] Heilmann denied this and had a counter statement published.[14] (According toDie Tageszeitung charges were filed due to attempted coercion ("versuchte Nötigung").[11] Heilmann's response fits this explanation as he states that the committee on immunity of theBundestag has dealt on 17 October with the matter in question related to short messages he sent to his former roommate.) This matter was reported in Heilmann's Wikipedia article.[15] This claim, as well as claims that he had withheld parts of his Stasi records, were also cited by Heilmann as reasons for his action againstWikimedia Deutschland.[16]
After some statements were removed from his German Wikipedia article and after major media coverage, Heilmann announced on 16 November that he would drop the legal proceedings againstWikimedia Deutschland, regretting that many uninvolved users of the encyclopedia had been affected.[17] He vowed to continue his pursuit of the Wikipedia editor who had originally added the allegedly offensive material.[18]
Heilmann later made a public statement on his actions against Wikipedia. "I didn't think it through and didn't anticipate the consequences," he admitted.[19] Wikimedia Germany reported that on the Saturday of the blocking it had received record donations of €16,000, compared to €3,000 on an average day.[20]
The German-language portal to the Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia was back online Monday after a left-wing lawmaker dropped a legal complaint.