Wolfgang Thierse

Early years in the GDR

Thierse was born in Breslau (Wrocław in present-day Poland). He is a Roman Catholic and grew up in East Germany. After his A-levels he first worked as a typesetter in Weimar. Then he studied German language and literature at Humboldt University in Berlin, where he was an active member of the Catholic Student Community. He also became a research assistant in the university's Department of Cultural Theory / Aesthetics. In 1975 / 1976 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 dissident Wolf Biermann from the GDR he lost his job.

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".

Thierse and the SPD

Although his father had been a member of the Centre Party in the Weimar Republic and later of the Christian 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 station RIAS, so Wolfgang had a chance to hear speeches from debates in the West German parliament. He was particularly impressed by Carlo Schmid, Herbert Wehner, and later Willy Brandt.

In October 1989 Wolfgang Thierse joined the opposition group New Forum and in January 1990 the Social Democratic Party in the GDR, whose leader he became in June.

With regard to German reunification Thierse was in favour of a gradual process, but he realized soon that the majority of the population of the GDR wanted to join the West German state as quickly as possible.

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, and since German reunification he has been a member of the Bundestag, the parliament of Germany.

President and Vice-President of the Bundestag

After the SPD's victory in the 1998 general elections, Thierse was elected President of the Bundestag on October 26. 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 the Socialist Unity Party of Germany nor had he ever identified with that rule, he said, but he represented a large majority of the East German population in that. Journalists call him "the advocate of the East".

He has never given the impression "to be in the sole possession of truth". It is most important to him that you "include" your 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.

Thierse passionately promoted the idea that the Bundestag should move to Berlin, thereby underlining the process of reunification. It was highly satisfactory for him when he was able to open its first meeting there in 1999.

As president of the Bundestag, 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. He served for two terms until October 2005, when he was succeeded by Norbert Lammert. Thierse was subsequently elected vice president of the Bundestag.

A large number of organizations are supported by him. They promote historical research or cultural and religious events, work for the restoration of historical buildings, or help the victims of torture and poverty.

Thierse is 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.

Private life, honours

Wolfgang Thierse is married with two children.

He lives in Prenzlauer Berg, a north-eastern part of Berlin.

Thierse has published several books, especially about the situation in East Germany.

Among the honours Thierse received are an honorary doctorate (awarded by the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Münster) and the Federal Cross of Merit.

In 2003 a CD was published with Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" read by Wolfgang Thierse. The proceeds were for the "Green Berets", a charity that helped young Muslims and Christians to rebuild destroyed areas like Bosnia or Afghanistan.

"Peter and the Wolf" is another fairy tale read on CD by Wolfgang Thierse. Again the profit is for charity.

Swabian Gentrification Controversy

On December 30, 2012, Thierse caused outrage by an interview in a Berlin paper ("Berliner Morgenpost"), criticizing gentrification tendencies in formerly poor Berlin inner city districts suchs as Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg. 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 respectively plum cakes. 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 as Cem Özdemir (chairman of Germany's Green Party) and by European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger (CDU, conservative party), as well as by fellow high-ranking SPD party members. 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 of Swabia, namely Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, and in addition by Hesse. The state of Berlin is by far the main beneficiary of this rescue fund.

Some commentators (inter alia, Germany's Stern magazine) 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 around Heidelberg, called Thierse furiously in a public reaction reported by the news magazine "Focus", a "pietistischer Zickenbart" ("pietistic bitchy greybeard").

On January 1, 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") 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. 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 correspondent Ulrich 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 the Battle of Königgrätz where Prussian forces defeated Austria and its South German allies. This victory eventually led to the Prussia-dominated German Empire in 1870/1871.

In an online essay for Der Spiegel, Jan Fleischhauer pointed out that so called "Schwaben-Hass" (discrimination or hatred vs Swabians) would be a politically correct variant of xenophobia for left-wing intellectuals and bohemians used to hide respectively camouflage otherwise totally unacceptable political positions against foreign infiltration or domination by immigrants.

For reconciliatory efforts, Thierse received a „Goldene Narrenschelle“, an order of Carneval from Vereinigung Schwäbisch-Alemannischer Narrenzünfte (VSAN), an umbrella organization of Swabian–Alemannic Fastnacht.

Selected publications

Literature