Mathias Brodkorb (born March 20, 1977 in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

) is a German politician (

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

) and journalist. He was involved in researching right-wing extremist ideologies as the founder of the ''Endstation Rechts'' project. He was member of the

Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the people's representative body or the state parliament of the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Landtag convenes in Schwerin and currently consists of 79 members of six parties. The cur ...

from 2002 to 2019, and served as the Minister of Finance, and previously for Education, Science and Culture. He was Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. In October 2019, Brodkorb resigned from the state parliament to take over the position of head of the supervisory board of the Rostock University Medicine and the Greifswald University Medicine as a special representative in the Ministry of Education under Bettina Martin till 2022.

Life

Brodkorb's family left the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

in 1987 and settled in his father's homeland in

Korneuburg Korneuburg (; Central Bavarian: ''Korneibuag'') is a town in Austria. It is located in the state Lower Austria and is the administrative center of the district of Korneuburg (district), Korneuburg. Korneuburg is situated on the left bank of the ...

, Austria. He returned to his hometown of Rostock in 1992. There he passed his Abitur in 1996 and, after completing his community service, studied philosophy and ancient Greek at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

from 1997 onwards. Brodkorb completed his studies in 2005 with a master's degree in philosophy. From 1994 to 1997 Brodkorb was a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and was involved in the sub-group "Communist Platform". His involvement with Marxism led him to philosophy. Over the course of his studies, Brodkorb increasingly distanced himself from communism. In 1997 he switched to the SPD, where he became state chairman of the youth organization

Jusos ''Working Group of'' Young Socialists ''in the SPD'' (, Jusos) is a volunteer youth organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As of 2025, there are over 50,000 official Juso members. Membership Every member of the SPD w ...

in 1998 and was a member of the SPD state executive board. He became increasingly known for his activities in university politics and the fight against right-wing extremism. He initiated the project ''Endstation Rechts'', Storch Heinar, Adebor Verlag and the magazine Horizonte (2002–2015). In 2002 he was the first time elected to the state parliament. Brodkorb became Minister for Education, Science and Culture of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2011 and later Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group of Landtag. In 2019 he became Minister of Finance of the

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In October 2019, Brodkorb resigned from the state parliament to take over the position of head of the supervisory board of the Rostock University Medicine and the Greifswald University Medicine as a special representative in the Ministry of Education under Bettina Martin till 2022.

Politics

In a guest article in the

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

in 2019, Brodkorb called for East German society to be more open to immigration in view of the shortage of skilled workers in the new federal states. In the magazine Cicero, for which he regularly writes commentaries, he called for the reintroduction of compulsory military service (Wehrpflicht")in Germany after the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

on February 24, 2022. In his book ''Attitude Police in the Constitutional State?'' in 2024 he discussed fundamental reform needs and the demand for the abolition of the

Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal Security agency, domestic intelligence agency. Together with the State Authority for the Protection of the Constitution, ...

. Thomas Haldenwang president of BfV wrote in 2024 regarding the

Freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

, as guaranteed in article 5 of the

Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved b ...

, that certain opinions could result in investigation by the BfV, even if those opinions themself were protected by Freedom of speech. This drew criticism from Brodkorb, questioning Haldenwangs understanding of democracy.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people {{improve categories, date=July 2024