Oskar Lafontaine (; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candidate for the SPD in the
1990 German federal election
Federal elections were held in Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag. This was the first all-German election since the Nazi show election in April 1938, the first multi-party all-German election since that of ...
, but lost by a wide margin. He served as Minister of Finance under Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...
after the SPD's victory in the
1998 federal election, but resigned from both the ministry and Bundestag less than six months later, positioning himself as a popular opponent of Schröder's policies in the tabloid press.
In the lead-up to the
2005 federal election, as a reaction to Schröder's
Agenda 2010
The Agenda 2010 is a series of reforms planned and executed by the German government in the early 2000s, a Social-Democrats/ Greens coalition at that time, which aimed to reform the German welfare system and labour relations. The declared objecti ...
reforms, Lafontaine co-founded the left-wing party
Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative
Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (german: Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative, WASG) was a left-wing German political party founded in 2005 by activists disenchanted with the ruling Red-Green coaliti ...
. Following a merger with the
Party of Democratic Socialism in June 2007, he became co-chairman of
The Left. He was the lead candidate for the Saarland branch of the party in the
2009 Saarland state election
The 2009 Saarland state election was held on 30 August 2009 to elect the members of the Landtag of Saarland. It was held on the same day as state elections in Saxony and Thuringia. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by ...
where it won over 20% of the vote. He announced his resignation from all federal political functions after being diagnosed with
prostate cancer in 2009.
He retained his position as a member of the Saarland legislature, and since May 2012 has been leader of the opposition in Saarland. Lafontaine resigned from the Left Party on 17 March 2022 because it was no longer an "alternative to the politics of social insecurity and inequality," he said.
Family and education
Lafontaine was born in Saarlautern (now
Saarlouis) into a family of craftsmen. His father, Hans Lafontaine, was a professional baker and was killed serving in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. He spent his childhood living with his mother, Katharina (née Ferner), and his twin brother, Hans, in
Dillingen.
He attended a Catholic episcopal boarding institution in
Prüm and there was educated at the Regino-Gymnasium, a public school. He left school in 1962 and received a scholarship from
Cusanuswerk
The Cusanuswerk is one of the thirteen German sponsorship organizations financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany) to promote gifted students. It is headquartered in Bonn.
History
The Cusanuswerk was founded in 1956 u ...
, the scholarship body of the
Catholic Church in Germany
, native_name_lang = de
, image = Hohe_Domkirche_St._Petrus.jpg
, imagewidth = 200px
, alt =
, caption = Cologne Cathedral, Cologne
, abbreviation =
, type = Nat ...
, to study
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at the universities of
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
and
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
. Lafontaine graduated in 1969; his thesis concerned the production of
monocrystalline
In materials science, a single crystal (or single-crystal solid or monocrystalline solid) is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries.RIWD. "Re ...
barium titanate
Barium titanate (BTO) is an inorganic compound with chemical formula BaTiO3. Barium titanate appears white as a powder and is transparent when prepared as large crystals. It is a ferroelectric, pyroelectric, and piezoelectric ceramic material ...
. He worked for ''Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft'' Saarbrücken until 1974, serving on its board from 1971.
Lafontaine has been married four times and has two sons by his second and third wives. Lafontaine was married to Ingrid Bachert from 1967 to 1982. From 1982 to 1988 he was married to the artist Margret Müller. Together they have a son (Frederic, born 1982). From 1993 to 2013 he was married to Christa Müller. They have a son together (Carl-Maurice, born 1997). In November 2011, Lafontaine officially presented fellow politician
Sahra Wagenknecht as his new girlfriend, who is 26 years his junior. Since 22 December 2014 they have been married. He is a non-practising Catholic.
Political rise
Lafontaine rose to prominence locally as mayor of
Saarbrücken and became more widely known as a critic of
chancellor Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982.
Before becoming Ch ...
's support for the
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
plan to deploy
Pershing II
The Pershing II Weapon System was a solid-fueled two-stage medium-range ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile System as the United States Army's primary nuclear-capable thea ...
missiles in Germany. From 1985 to 1998 he served as
Minister-President
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...
of the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
. In this position he struggled to preserve the industrial base of the state, which was based on steel production and coal mining with
subsidies
A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...
, and 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:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the
Bundesrat in 1992/93.
Chancellor candidacy and assassination attempt
Lafontaine was the SPD's candidate for Chancellor in the
German federal election of 1990. He faced nearly impossible odds. The election had been called two months after the
reunification of Germany, and the incumbent government of
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
was in a nearly unassailable position.
During the campaign he was attacked with a knife by a mentally deranged woman after a speech in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
. His
carotid artery was slashed and he remained in a critical condition for several days.
Political comeback
At the "
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
convention" in 1995, he was elected chairman of the SPD in a surprise move, replacing
Rudolf Scharping
Rudolf Albert Scharping (born 2 December 1947) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was from 1991 to 1994 the 6th Minister President of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and from 1998 to 2002 Federal Minis ...
. He was mainly responsible for bringing the whole political weight of the SPD to bear against Kohl and his
CDU party, rejecting bipartisan cooperation that had characterized German politics for many years. Lafontaine argued that any help given to Kohl would only lengthen his unavoidable demise.
After the SPD's unexpectedly clear victory at the polls in September 1998, he was appointed
Federal Minister of Finance in the first government of
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...
.
Minister of Finance
During his short tenure as Minister of Finance, Lafontaine was a main
bogeyman
The Bogeyman (; also spelled boogeyman, bogyman, bogieman, boogie monster, boogieman, or boogie woogie) is a type of mythic creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearance and conceptions var ...
of UK
Eurosceptics. This was because, among other things, he had called for the prompt tax harmonisation of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, which would have resulted in an increase in UK taxes. In 1998, English tabloid "The Sun" called Lafontaine "Europe's most dangerous man". On 11 March 1999, he resigned from all his official and party offices, claiming that "lack of cooperation" in the cabinet had become unbearable. Until the formation of the Left Party he was known for his attacks against the Schröder government in the
tabloid ''
Bild-Zeitung
''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...
'', which is generally considered
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
.
Leaving the SPD and formation of The Left party
On 24 May 2005 Lafontaine left the SPD. After two weeks of speculation it was announced on 10 June that he would run as the lead candidate for
The Left party (''Die Linke''), a coalition of the
Labor and Social Justice Party (WASG), which was based in western Germany, and the
Left Party.PDS, which was the successor to the ruling
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
Socialist Unity Party (SED). Lafontaine joined the WASG on 18 June 2005 and was selected to head their list for the
2005 Federal Election in North Rhine-Westphalia on the same day. Moreover, he also unsuccessfully contested the
Saarbrücken constituency, which he had previously represented from 1990 to 2002. Nevertheless, the result of the Left party in the Saarland was by far the best in any of the federal states in the West of Germany.
In 2007, when the Left Party was formed in a merger between 'Left Party.PDS' and WASG, he became chairman alongside
Lothar Bisky
Lothar Bisky (17 August 1941 13 August 2013) was a German politician. He was the chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED). In June 2007 he became co-chairman of The Left ...
.
In May 2009, he declared that "Financial capitalism has failed. We need to democratize the economy. The workforce needs to have a far greater say in their companies than has been the case so far."
In 2022, he published the book ''
Ami, it's time to go'' where he criticizes
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and American influence in German politics, arguing that Germany has become an American
vassal state
A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...
. The book became a bestseller.
Criticism
An article by Lafontaine on
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
, state and party leader of the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
and a fellow Saarlander, in the magazine ''
Der Spiegel'' was criticised as laudatory by many observers. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he tarnished his left-wing credentials with a plea for pro-business policies and a call for the reduction of the influx of Germans from Eastern Europe and
asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
-seekers.
Lafontaine lives in a manor-like house, commonly known as the "palace of social justice" (''Palast der sozialen Gerechtigkeit''). When asked about whether this could be in conflict with his socialist ideas, Lafontaine said politicians of the left do not have to be poor, but they have to fight against poverty.
In a commentary published in the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...
, Lafontaine criticized the expansion of wind power, citing the alleged "destruction of the German Cultural landscape" as a cause for his objection. The
Alliance 90/The Greens top candidate Barbara Meyer-Gluche pushed back at this stance and accused Lafontaine of "irrational fearmongering".
Literature
* Hoell, Joachim: ''Oskar Lafontaine. Provokation und Politik. Eine Biografie''. Dirk Verlag EK, Lehrach 2004, .
* Lorenz, Robert: ''Oskar Lafontaine. Portrait eines Rätselhaften''. Monsenstein und Vannerdat, Münster 2013, .
* Lorenz, Robert: "Techniker der 'kalten Fusion'. Das Führungspersonal der Linkspartei". In: Tim Spier u.a. (Hrsg.): ''Die Linkspartei. Zeitgemäße Idee oder Bündnis ohne Zukunft?'' VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, , S. 275–323.
Works
* ''Das Lied vom Teilen. Die Debatte über Arbeit und politischen Neubeginn''. Heyne, München 1989, .
* ''Keine Angst vor der Globalisierung. Wohlstand und Arbeit für alle''. Dietz Verlag, Bonn 1998, (zusammen mit Christa Müller).
* ''Das Herz schlägt links''. Econ Verlag, München 1999, .
* ''Die Wut wächst. Politik braucht Prinzipien''. Econ Verlag, München 2003, .
* ''Politik für alle. Streitschrift für eine gerechtere Gesellschaft''. Econ Verlag, München 2005, .
* ''
Ami, it's time to go! Plädoyer für die Selbstbehauptung Europas''. Westend Verlag, Frankfurt 2022, .
References
External links
*
www.die-linke.de– The German Left Party
*
Oskar LafontaineInformation on the website of the parliamentary group Die Linke
by Markus Deggerich, ''
Der Spiegel'', 25 September 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafontaine, Oskar
1943 births
Living people
People from Saarlouis
German Roman Catholics
German people of French descent
Presidents of the German Bundesrat
Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative politicians
The Left (Germany) politicians
Finance ministers of Germany
Members of the Bundestag for Saarland
Aufstehen
Ministers-President of Saarland
Members of the Landtag of Saarland
Anti-corporate activists
German anti-war activists
Leaders of political parties in Germany
German political candidates
Stabbing survivors
Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013
Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009
Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002
Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998
Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany