Fritz Felgentreu (born 1 September 1968) is a German politician 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 Form ...

(SPD) who served as a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of 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 ...

from the state of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

from 2013 to 2021. He has been the chairman of

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold The (, , simply in short) was an organization in Weimar Republic, Germany during the Weimar Republic with the goal to defend German parliamentary democracy against internal subversion and extremism from the left and right and to compel the ...

since October 2021.

Education and early career

Born in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Felgentreu graduated from high school in Büsum in 1987 and then served in the German Armed Forces for two years. Felgentreu has been living in Berlin since 1989. From 1989 to 1995 he studied

classical philology Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

and psychology at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

and received his doctorate in 1998 under Widu-Wolfgang Ehlers. From 1998 to 2008 he was a research assistant at the Institute for Classical Philology at the Free University of Berlin. He also taught at

Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster The Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, located in suburban Schmargendorf, Berlin, is an independent school with a humanistic profile, known as one of the most prestigious schools in Germany. Founded by the Evangelical Church in West Berl ...

from 2010 until 2013.

Political career

Felgentreu first became member of the Bundestag in the

2013 German federal election The 2013 German federal election was held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of German ...

, representing the constituency of Berlin-Neukölln. Throughout his time in parliament, he was a member of the Defense Committee. From 2014 until 2017, he also served on the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, where he was his parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide ...

. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

under the leadership of

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 ...

following the 2017 federal elections, Felgentreu was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional association football, footballer. A prolific Forward (association football)#Striker, striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarde ...

and Sigmar Gabriel. From 2018 until 2020, he served as his parliamentary group's spokesperson on defense policy; he resigned after his parliamentary group, contrary to his own recommendation, voted against the government's plans to procure armed combat drones for military use. In June 2020, Felgentreu announced that he would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Concilius, Member of the Senior Advisory Board

Non-profit organizations

Federal Academy for Security Policy The Federal Academy for Security Policy (, BAKS) is the Federal Republic of Germany’s interministerial institution for advanced studies, education and training in security policy in the remit of the Federal Ministry of Defence. It has its seat i ...

(BAKS), Member of the Advisory Board *

German Historical Museum The German Historical Museum (), known by the acronym DHM, is a museum in Berlin, Germany devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans". It is ofte ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (2018–2019)Fritz Felgentreu
�SPD Parliamentary Group

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
1969 births Living people Politicians from Kiel Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub