Matthias Platzeck (born 29 December 1953) is a German politician. He was Minister President of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

from 2002 to 2013 and party chairman of the

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 ...

from November 2005 to April 2006. On 29 July 2013 Platzeck announced his resignation from his office in August for health reasons.

Early life and education

Platzeck was born in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, the son of a physician and a medical-technical assistant. After attending

Polytechnic Secondary School The polytechnic secondary school, officially ''ten-class general educational polytechnic secondary school'', abbreviation POS, pronounced P-O-S, was the standard type of school in the Education in East Germany, school system of East Germany. The ...

in Potsdam from 1960 to 1966, he went through Extended Secondary School in

Kleinmachnow Kleinmachnow is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated south-west of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf and east of Potsdam. First mentioned in the Landbuch of Karl IV in 1375, the Kleinmachno ...

. Following his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1972 and

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

he studied biomedical cybernetics at the

Technische Universität Ilmenau The Technische Universität Ilmenau (''Ilmenau University of Technology'', TU Ilmenau) is a German public research university located in Ilmenau, Thuringia, central Germany. Founded in 1894, it has five academic departments (faculties) with ...

from 1974 onward. After his diploma in 1979, Platzeck worked at the institute for hygiene in

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

(today

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

) in 1979–1980 and the general hospital in

Bad Freienwalde Bad Freienwalde is a spa town in the Märkisch-Oderland district in Brandenburg, in north-eastern Germany. Geography The town is situated on the Alte Oder, an old branch of the Oder River at the northwestern rim of the Oderbruch basin and the st ...

from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1990 he was head of the department for environmental hygiene at the agency for hygiene in Potsdam.

Political career

Platzeck co-founded ARGUS, a Potsdam environmental organization, with and at the initiative of Carola Stabe in April 1988. In April 1989, he joined the

Liberal Democratic Party of Germany The Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (, LDPD) was a political party in East Germany. Like the other allied bloc parties of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the National Front, it had 52 representatives in the People's Chamber. ...

but left it shortly thereafter. He represented ARGUS at the founding of the ''Grüne Liga'' association of local environmental organizations in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in November 1989. During the political "Wende" of 1989–1990 that led to

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

he was their speaker at the

East German Round Table Round Table primarily refers to the Central Round Table (''Zentraler Runder Tisch''), a series of meetings during the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany in late-1989 and early-1990. The Round table first convened in East Berlin on 7 December 1 ...

talks. From February to April 1990 he represented the oppositional radical Green Party as Minister without Portfolio in the last non-elected but legitimate government of the GDR. Platzeck was elected member of the

Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...

in 1990 for the Green Party and was parliamentary secretary of the joined faction of Greens and Bündnis 90 ( Alliance 90). After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, he was one of 144 members of the

co-opted Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manag ...

to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. He did not run for a full term in the

1990 German federal election The 1990 German federal election was held in recently united Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag, within the regular time of nearly four years after the January 1987 West German federal election. Due to the acc ...

. In October 1990 Platzeck became a member of the

Landtag of Brandenburg The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the states of Germany, state of Brandenburg in Germany. Its 88 members of parliament are usually elected every 5 years. It is responsible for deciding on state laws, controlling the s ...

for Bündnis 90 (Alliance 90). He was Minister for the Environment in a coalition government with the

and FDP from 1990 to 1994, when the coalition broke up. Rejecting the merger of his party with the West German

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

he did not join the new party ''Bündnis 90/Die Grünen'' in 1993. Instead, he became a member of the SPD on 6 June 1995. After the break of the Brandenburg coalition in 1994 Platzeck left his faction and remained Minister for the Environment under Minister-president

Manfred Stolpe Manfred Stolpe (16 May 1936 – 29 December 2019) was a German Canon law, canonist, Theology, theologian and politician who served as Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (Germany), Federal Minister of Transport, Building an ...

. He became popular nationwide for organizing public support for the affected population during a flood of the

Oder river The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through west ...

in 1997. In 1998 he was elected mayor of

's capital Potsdam and rejected the offer of Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

to join the federal cabinet as

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

. In 2000 Platzeck was elected chairman of the SPD in Brandenburg and in 2002 he succeeded Manfred Stolpe as Minister-president. He was re-elected to the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

(state parliament) in 2004. With the SPD as strongest political force he could continue his coalition with the CDU. He served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the Bundesrat in 2004/05. When

Franz Müntefering Franz Müntefering (; born 16 January 1940) is a German politician. He was Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 2004 to 2005 and again from 18 October 2008 to 13 November 2009. He served as the minister of Labour and Social Affairs, ...

resigned as party chairman of the SPD because of internal conflicts, Platzeck was elected party chairman on 15 November 2005 with an overwhelming majority of 99.8 percent. In January, February and April 2006 Platzeck suffered three severe

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spo ...

es. Due to his ill health he resigned from his post as chairman on 10 April 2006, only five months after becoming chairman.

Life after politics

Both in 2015 and 2016, Platzeck and

Bodo Ramelow Bodo Ramelow (; born 16 February 1956) is a German politician who has been serving as a Member of the Bundestag, representing The Left. He has been its Vice President as of March 2025. He served as Minister-President of Thuringia from December ...

were appointed as unpaid arbitrators for negotiations between

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

and the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL). In 2016, he also served as unpaid arbitrator for negotiations between German airline

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

and its flight attendants' union. From 2018 until 2019, Platzeck co-chaired the German government's so-called coal commission, which is tasked to develop a masterplan before the end of the year on how to phase-out coal and create a new economic perspective for the country's coal-mining regions. In 2019, Platzeck was appointed by the

Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community The Federal Ministry of the Interior (, ; abbreviated BMI) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister is Nancy Faeser. It is comparabl ...

to chair the committee that oversaw the preparations for the 30th anniversary of

. In late 2020, Platzeck was appointed as arbitrator in a conflict between

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine; ) is Europe's List of hospitals by capacity, largest university hospital, affiliated with Humboldt University of Berlin, Humboldt University and the Free ...

and the United Services Trade Union (ver.di); negotiations were successfully concluded by February 2021. Following her election as

Governing Mayor of Berlin The governing mayor () of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent states of Germany (), the office is the equivalent of the ministers president of ...

in September 2021, Franziska Giffey mandated Platzeck with helping to end a six-weeks long strike of

Vivantes Hospital Group The Vivantes Hospital Group is a state-owned healthcare company operating hospitals, primary healthcare centers, nursing facilities, and other medical centers in Berlin. The company runs 10 hospitals with a total capacity of about 6,000 beds and ...

employees. Platzeck was nominated by his party as delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

s for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. In addition, Platzeck holds a variety of paid and unpaid positions, including the following: * LEIPA Georg Leinfelder GmbH, chairman of the supervisory board (since 2015) * German-Russian Forum, Chairman * Foundation for the Reconstruction of the Garrison Church, member of the board of trustees * Internationales Bildungs- und Begegnungswerk (IBB), member of the board of trustees * Jewish Film Festival Berlin & Brandenburg (JFBB), member of the advisory board *

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as t ...

(FES), member of the board * Schloss Neuhardenberg Foundation, member of the board of trustees

Political positions and controversy

Platzeck caused controversy in August 2010 when he called the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

on 3 October 1990 an ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'', the word used by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

to defend the Nazi

annexation Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in 1938. In response,

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

rejected Platzeck's choice of words and argued that reunification was precisely what east Germans had wanted, not a process forced upon them. On 18 November 2014, Platzeck called for the international legitimization of the

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

, drawing criticism. He has revised his opinion. His comparison (2016) of the deployment of the to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

as part of the

NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) is a NATO-allied forward-deployed defense and deterrence military force in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. This posture in Northern Europe through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and in Central Europe through ...

with

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

was also criticized. Hannes Adomeit criticised in 2020 Platzeck's book about Russia . He was listed in a 2022 article by ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' among 12 Germans who got played by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

Personal life

From 1978 to 1984, Platzeck was married to Ute Bankwitz with whom he has three daughters. In 2007, he married Jeanette Jesorka. The ceremony took place one year later in

Temmen-Ringenwalde Temmen-Ringenwalde is a municipality in the Uckermark district, in Brandenburg, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and t ...

, with guests including

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician who has served as President of Germany since 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), federal minister for foreign affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again f ...

Günther Jauch Günther Johannes Jauch (; born 13 July 1956) is a German television presenter, television producer, and journalist, best known as the longtime host of ''Wer wird Millionär?'', the German version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' Career ...

and

Andreas Dresen Andreas Dresen (born 16 August 1963) is a German film director. His directing credits include ''Wolke Neun, Cloud 9'', ''Summer in Berlin (film), Summer in Berlin'', ''Grill Point'' and ''Night Shapes''. His film ''Stopped on Track'' premiered at ...

Book

*Matthias Platzeck: ''Zukunft braucht Herkunft. Deutsche Fragen, ostdeutsche Antworten.'' Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2009, *Matthias Platzeck: ''Wir brauchen eine neue Ostpolitik −Russland als Partner.'' Propyläen Verlag, 2020

References

* * *
''Matthias Platzeck löst mit seiner historischen These zur Integration der Linken Irritationen aus'', Märkische Allgemeine, 1. November 2009
*Thorsten Metzner
''In zwei Wochen soll klar sein, ob Dreher geht''
In: Der Tagesspiegel, 25. November 1998

External links

Official biography
(German)
Short official biographyHomepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platzeck, Matthias 1953 births Living people Politicians from Potsdam Presidents of the German Bundesrat Ministers of the Brandenburg State Government Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Chairmen of the Social Democratic Party of Germany Minister-presidents of Brandenburg Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Ilmenau University of Technology alumni