Peter Sodann (born 1 June 1936 in

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albre ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...

) is a German actor, director and politician. He was the Left Party's nominee for the 2009 presidential election, but was not considered a serious candidate by the German media.

Early life

Sodann was born on 1 June 1936 in

to a

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

family. After training to be a toolmaker, he moved to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

in order to study law. In 1959 he transferred to the Theaterhochschule Leipzig, where he led a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

group. The group's performance was deemed subversive by the

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 ...

authorities and closed in 1961. Sodann was arrested by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...

and spent nine months in prison and was on probation for four years.Vita
" official biography.
" ''Der Spiegel'' (8 July 2005).

Acting career

In 1964 Sodann made his first performance with the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langho ...

. In the following years, he acted and produced plays in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany ...

and

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

. In 1980, he moved to

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

and for years worked as a director there. He began acting in television shows during the late 1970s. In 1991 he first appeared in his most famous screen role, Police Commissioner Bruno Ehrlicher, in the long-running crime series ''

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed b ...

''. He remained with the series until November 2007. Since 2007 he has starred in a traveling act "Ost-West-Vis-à-Vis" with CDU politician and former Labor Minister

Norbert Blüm Norbert Blüm (21 July 1935 – 23 April 2020) was a German politician who served as a federal legislator from North Rhine-Westphalia, chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia (1987–1999), and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Bl� ...

.Peter Sodann
" Internet Movie Database.

Political activities

Sodann has been a vocal supporter of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which in 2007 became the Left Party. In July 2005 he announced his interest in running as a candidate of the PDS in Saxony for the 2005 federal election. However, he later withdrew himself from considering, citing restrictions on media employment for Bundestag politicians. On 13 October 2008 the Left Party's Bundestag delegation nominated Sodann as their candidate for the 2009 presidential election. As an actor-turned-politician, the German media has compared him (usually as a criticism) to

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

.Henryk M. Broder,
Wir Simulanten
" ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (21 October 2008). Since the German president is elected by the Bundesversammlung, in which the vast majority of seats would be held by the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

and

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, Sodann stood little chance of winning. Indeed, he finished third in the election, in which the incumbent Horst Köhler was re-elected.

Personal life

Sodann is currently married to his second wife, Cornelia. He is the father of four children through his first marriage: Tina, Susanne, Franz and Karl.

External links

Official website

Peter Sodann
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

"Peter Sodann would be a President for the People"
(press release of the Left Party)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodann, Peter 1936 births Living people Theaterhochschule Leipzig alumni The Left (Germany) politicians Candidates for President of Germany German actor-politicians University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German male stage actors German male television actors 20th-century German male actors 21st-century German male actors