Andreas von Schoeler (born 4 July 1948) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany 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 w ...

(SPD). He served as the

Parliamentary State Secretary A Parliamentary State Secretary (') is a member of the Bundestag given a portfolio to assist a Minister with running a government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations us ...

for the

Federal Ministry of the Interior 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 comparable ...

from 1976 to 1982 and later as the

Mayor of Frankfurt The Mayor of Frankfurt (German: (male) or (female), sometimes translated as "Lord Mayor") is the highest-ranking member of city government in Frankfurt, Germany. The mayor was traditionally elected by the city council. This system was replaced i ...

between 1991 and 1995. Von Schoeler was the last mayor to serve before the introduction of

direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...

s in 1995.

Political career

Von Schoeler joined the

Free Democratic Party of Germany The Free Democratic Party (, FDP, ) is a liberal political party in Germany. The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties in Germany before World War II, namely the German Democratic Party and the German People' ...

(FDP) aged 18. He served in 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 ...

between 1972 and 1982. On 16 December 1976, von Schoeler was chosen to be the

for the Minister of the Interior,

Werner Maihofer Werner Maihofer (20 October 1918 – 6 October 2009) was a German jurist and legal philosopher. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior from 1974 to 1978 until he resigned after a scandal involving an illegal wiretapping of Kl ...

. He served in this position until 17 September 1982, when the ruling SPD-FDP coalition collapsed. Von Schoeler was one of several FDP politicians who left the party in what was known as the "Wende" ("turning point"). After leaving the FDP to join the SPD, von Schoeler attempted to re-enter the Bundestag on the SPD party list, but failed and was not elected. In 1984, von Schoeler joined the Hessen State Cabinet of

Holger Börner Holger Börner (7 February 1931, in Kassel – 2 August 2006, in Kassel) was a German politician of the SPD. He was the 4th Minister President of Hesse from 1976 until 1987. In this position, he served as the 38th President of the Bundesrat ...

as the State Secretary of the Interior. After the SPD was defeated in the 1987 elections, von Schoeler left this position. After a brief stint working for

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, Von Schoeler became the Head of Personnel, Legal and Economic Affairs in Frankfurt am Main in 1989, and replaced Volker Hauff as Mayor of Frankfurt in 1991. When he became mayor, von Schoeler was the youngest mayor in the history of Frankfurt at 43 years old. As Mayor of Frankfurt von Schoeler led Frankfurt's campaign to be the location for the future

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

. He encouraged the internationalisation of the

Messe Frankfurt Messe Frankfurt () is one of the world's largest trade fair, congress and event organizer with its own exhibition grounds. The organization has 2,500 employees at some 30 locations, generating annual sales of around €661 million. Its services ...

trade fair. During von Schoeler's term in office, new high-rise buildings were planned, and a new drug policy initiated, which focused on help for addicts and police measures to break up the open drug scene in the city; von Schoeler's government was elected with the promise of dealing with the city's drug problem. He also arranged for Frankfurt to become the first major German city to allow a private network operate to set up a private fibre-optic network in the city area. In 1995, the SPD-Green Party coalition which held power in Frankfurt fell apart; von Schoeler then left office to pave the way for new elections, and lost in the first direct election for Mayor of Frankfurt with 45.9% of the vote to

Petra Roth Petra Roth (born 9 May 1944 in Bremen) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the Mayor of Frankfurt from 1995 to 2012. In addition she twice served as president of the Deutscher Städtetag, resuming her previou ...

's 51.1%. Roth went on to serve as mayor until 2012.

Later life

Since 2009, von Schoeler has been involved in the Society of Friends and Patrons of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, and was chairman of the board until 2021. Under von Schoeler's leadership the museum expanded significantly.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoeler, Andreas von Living people 1948 births Mayors of Frankfurt Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Free Democratic Party (Germany) politicians 20th-century German politicians