Klaus Reichenbach (born 22 September 1945) is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

official and former politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). As minister in the Minister-President's Office in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

Lothar de Maizière Lothar de Maizière (; born 2 March 1940) is a German former politician of the Christian Democratic Union. In 1990, he served as the head of the first and only democratically elected government of East Germany, holding this office during the fi ...

, Reichenbach was an important figure in coordinating

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 left politics in 1994, partly because he was hindered by his past as a

bloc party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

politician loyal to the SED, and worked as lawyer and served as president of the

Saxony Football Association The Saxony Football Association (, SFV), is the umbrella organization of the football clubs in the German state Saxony and covers 13 football districts. The SFV was founded in 1990 and has its headquarters in Leipzig. President of the association ...

and board member of the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

(DFB).

Life and career

Early career

Reichenbach's father owned the company Hermann Reichenbach KG in Hartmannsdorf near Chemnitz, which specialized in manufacturing women's underwear. After training as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

, Reichenbach studied engineering economics at the Textile College in

Reichenbach im Vogtland Reichenbach im Vogtland is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district of Saxony in eastern Germany. With a population of 20,108, it is the second-largest town in the Vogtlandkreis after Plauen. It is located close to the A72 between Plauen (at c. 18&n ...

. Following his father's death in 1969, he became the managing director of the family business, which he continued to lead as plant manager after its forced nationalization in 1972. Between 1975 and 1980, he completed a distance-learning program at the Academy for Political and Legal Sciences of the GDR 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 ...

, ''de facto'' a Marxist-Leninist cadre factory of the ruling

Socialist Unity Party The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Ma ...

(SED), earning a diploma in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

( Dipl.-Staatswiss.). From 1982 to 1986, he additionally undertook a distance-learning law program at

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, graduating as a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

( Dipl.-Jur.). Beginning in 1985, he served as plant manager and later director of VEB Feinstrickwaren "Goldfasan" in

Burgstädt Burgstädt () is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 12 km northwest of Chemnitz. Sons and daughters of the city * Erich Gleixner (1920-1962), footballer * Peter Jahr Peter Jahr (born 24 April ...

Bloc party politician

Reichenbach joined the East German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a

beholden to the ruling

(SED), in 1969. By 1974, he became chairman of the Karl-Marx-Stadt-Land CDU and joined the party's main board in 1987. On 1 July 1988, he was made chairman of the

Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt The Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt, also known as Bezirk Chemnitz, was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The district existed from 1952 until the Reunification of Germany in 1990. The administrative seat and the main town was Karl-Marx-Stadt, ren ...

CDU. In this role, Reichenbach collaborated with the local SED, providing them an "annual assessment". In an October 1989 paper to the Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt SED security department, Reichenbach even developed plans for disaster and war cases for the year 1990. On 3 March 1990, during the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

, he was elected chairman of the reconstituted

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

CDU.

de Maizière Government

In the first free elections in the GDR, Reichenbach was elected to 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 March 1990 for

, being the first-placed candidate on the CDU's list. He was thereafter appointed as minister in the Minister-President's Office in the

, serving from April until October 1990. The ministry replaced the secretariat of the chairman of the Council of Ministers, mirroring the structure of the Federal Chancellery. The ministry prepared cabinet meetings and controlled information flow to the minister-president. It was crucially responsible for coordinating

, the head of the German Unity Task Force

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 ...

Günther Krause Günther Krause (born 3 September 1953) is a German engineer, academic, politician and businessman. After the Peaceful Revolution, he entered politics, serving in the Volkskammer and as a senior adviser to Minister-President Lothar de Maizière. ...

leading the negotiations with the

Federal Republic A federal republic is a federation of Federated state, states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means a country that is governed by elected re ...

on the Unification Treaty. Additionally, it supervised the

Treuhandanstalt The (, " Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/ privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification ...

Reunified Germany

Reichenbach was one of 144

members

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 ...

following

on 3 October 1990. In the first all-German Bundestag election in December 1990, he won the direct mandate in the constituency of Chemnitz II – Chemnitz-Land. Reichenbach served on the Bundestag's Sports Committee, the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

Committee, and from 1992, on the Special Committee for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. He was considered a candidate for the role of

Minister-President of Saxony This article lists the leaders of the Government () in the Kingdom of Saxony from 1831 to 1918 and minister-presidents () of the Saxony, Free State of Saxony since 1918. List of minister-presidents Kingdom of Saxony (until 1918) Political party: ...

, but he declined for personal reasons and

Kurt Biedenkopf Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) party. He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum. Biedenkopf made a political career ...

, briefly chairman of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

CDU in the 80s, instead became the CDU's top candidate for the October 1990 state elections and subsequently Minister-President. Amid continuous pressure regarding his past as a high-ranking bloc party politician, he resigned as chairman of the Saxon CDU in September 1991, with Biedenkopf taking over this position as well. Being frustrated by his lack of influence as a

backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...

, Reichenbach retired from politics completely in the 1994 federal election and has since worked as a lawyer in Hartmannsdorf.

Football Official

From its founding on 6 October 1990 until his resignation on 23 April 2016, Reichenbach was president of the

(SFV). He was subsequently named its honorary president. He was also vice-president of the

Northeastern German Football Association The Northeastern German Football Association (), the ''NOFV'', is one of five regional organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhal ...

(NOFV) and from 1997 to 2016, a member of the board of the

(DFB), which later honored him with honorary membership.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reichenbach, Klaus 1945 births Living people People from Altenburg German football chairmen and investors Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Volkskammer Members of the 10th Volkskammer Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990 Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994 Members of the Bundestag for Saxony Government ministers of East Germany Humboldt University of Berlin alumni