Ludwig Stiegler (born 9 April 1944 in

Parsberg Parsberg is a town in the county of Neumarkt in Bavaria, Germany. It is 23 km southeast of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, and 33 km northwest of Regensburg, next to the A3 autobahn, the main route from Nuremberg to Regensburg (and then on ...

) is a German politician. He was chairman of the

SPD 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 wi ...

's group 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 ...

in 2002Ludwig Stiegler
Bundestag.de, archive.org and deputy chairman - with the exception of the period as a chairman - from 1998 to 2007. From 2003 to 2009, Stiegler was chairman of the

SPD Bavaria The SPD Bavaria (SPD Bayern, own spelling BayernSPD, full name ''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD), Landesverband Bayern'', ''Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), State Association of Bavaria'') is the Bavarian State Association o ...

Education and early career

Stiegler finished high school in 1964. From 1964 to 1967 he was a soldier of the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

. Afterwards he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and

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 ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He finished in 1976 with the second juridical ''Staatsexamen'' (

Bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

). Since that he has worked as a lawyer.

Political career

In 1964 Stiegler joined the

. Since 1999 he has been a member of the federal executive board and in 2005 he became a member of the SPD-Presidium. For a short period he was chairman of the party's

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

(July–October 2002), before and afterwards he acted as deputy chairman (1998-2007). Stiegler has been a member of the

since 1980. In 2003 he was elected chairman of the SPD in the state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and held this office until 2009.

Controversies

Stiegler has been criticized several times for controversial statements. In July 2002 he said that the CDU and FDP didn't have the right to criticize then Federal Minister of the Interior and former RAF-lawyer

Otto Schily Otto Georg Schily (born 20 July 1932) is a former Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany, his tenure was from 1998 to 2005, in the cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and wa ...

in relation to the attempt to ban the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

NPD, because "the forerunners of CDU and FDP helped bring

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

to power." In July 2005 he said that the only thing that came to his mind in relation to the CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

's slogan during the election campaign ''Sozial ist, was Arbeit schafft!'' ("Social is that which creates work") was the line at the door to Nazi Germany's death camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

: "

Arbeit macht frei () is a German phrase translated as "Work makes one free" or, more idiomatically, "Work sets you free" or "Work liberates". The phrase originates from the title of an 1873 novel by Lorenz Diefenbach and alludes to John 8:31–32. Following ...

" ("Work makes free").

References

External links

Ludwig Stiegler at www.bundestag.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stiegler, Ludwig 1944 births Living people People from Neumarkt (district) Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany