Mario Czaja (born 21 September 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German

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 ...

since the 2021 elections. Czaja served as the party's Secretary General from 2022 to 2023, under the leadership of

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU ...

. From 2006 until 2021, he was a member of the State Parliament of Berlin.

Early life and career

Czaja was born 1975 in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, the capital of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, and studied

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

. From 1997 until 2000, he worked at

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

Nürnberger Versicherung Nürnberger Versicherung is a German insurance company headquartered in Nuremberg. The group operates in the life, private health, property/casualty and auto insurance segments as well as in the financial services sector, primarily in Germany and A ...

Political career

Career in state politics

Czaja entered the CDU in 1993 and became member of the State Parliament of Berlin in the 1999 state elections. He served as his parliamentary group's spokesperson on health policy from 2001 until 2011. From 2011 to 2016 Czaja was also member of the

Senate of Berlin The Senate of Berlin (; unofficially: ) is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to ten ...

, the government body of Berlin, with responsibility for health care and social issues. At the time, he was the youngest member of the state government led by Governing Mayor Michael Müller. In 2012, Czaja – together fellow state ministers

Frank Henkel Frank Henkel (born 16 November 1963) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a Mayor and Senate of Berlin, Senator of the Interior and Sports of the German state of Berl ...

and

Thomas Heilmann Thomas Heilmann (born 16 July 1964) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Born in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, he has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Berlin since 2017. Career in the privat ...

– unsuccessfully advocated for a reduction in the penalty-free personal use of cannabis from 15 to six grams. Also during his time in office, he appointed former state government members

Eberhard Diepgen Eberhard Diepgen (born 13 November 1941) is a German lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of West Berlin from 1984 to 1989 and again as Mayor of (united) Berlin, from 1991 until 2001, as member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). E ...

, Heidi Knake-Werner, Ingrid Stahmer and

Wolfgang Wieland Wolfgang Wieland (9 March 1948 – 5 December 2023) was a German lawyer and politician. He was a co-founder of the Berlin Alternative Liste (AL), a precursor of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He was a member of the parliament of the city of Berlin ...

as advisors on the city's migration policies in 2014. In 2016, Czaja cancelled the government's contract with one of the city's largest operators of hostels for asylum seekers after newspapers '' B.Z.'' and ''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

'' printed internal emails showing the company's managers joking about building a guillotine and crematorium for refugee children. Czaja was a CDU delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. From 2018 until 2021, Czaja served as his parliamentary group's deputy chair, under the leadership of Burkard Dregger. During that time, he was also a member of the Committee on Education, Youth and Families.

Member of the German Parliament, 2021–present

Czaja won the Berlin-Marzahn-Hellersdorf district in the

2021 German federal election The 2021 German federal election was held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, ...

– a seat held by members of the PDS or The Left since the

1990 German federal election The 1990 German federal election was held in recently united Germany on 2 December 1990 to elect the members of the 12th Bundestag, within the regular time of nearly four years after the January 1987 West German federal election. Due to the acc ...

(the first to be held in East Berlin). Ahead of the Christian Democrats' leadership election in 2022, Czaja publicly endorsed

to succeed Laschet as the party's chair and joined his campaign team.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Vivantes Hospital Group The Vivantes Hospital Group is a state-owned healthcare company operating hospitals, primary healthcare centers, nursing facilities, and other medical centers in Berlin. The company runs 10 hospitals with a total capacity of about 6,000 beds and ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the supervisory board (2011–2016)

Non-profit organizations

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (GRC) ( ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. During the Nazi era, the German Red Cross was under the control of the Nazi Party and played a role in supporting the regime's policies, including the exclusion ...

(DRK) – Berlin Chapter, President * German Heart Center, Ex-Officio Member of the council (2011–2016)

Political positions

Within the CDU, Czaja is considered an ally of

Jens Spahn Jens Georg Spahn (born 16 May 1980) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag (, MdB), for Steinfurt I – Borken I since 2002. Since 2025, he ...

. When the CDU/CSU entered into 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 ...

with the center-left

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) on the national level following the 2013 elections, he joined a group of young party members – including

Günter Krings Günter Krings (born 7 August 1969) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2002. In addition to his parliamenta ...

Michael Kretschmer Michael Kretschmer (born 7 May 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister President of Saxony since December 2017. Since 2022, he has been one of four deputy chairs of the CDU, under th ...

and Spahn – in signing an open letter which called for changes in the CDU's policies and leadership. For the 2021 national elections, he joined Spahn in endorsing

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 t ...

as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeed

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 ...

. Also in 2021, Czaja publicly criticized the chairman of the CDU in Berlin,

Kai Wegner Kai Wegner (born 15 September 1972) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Governing Mayor of Berlin since April 2023. He served as a member of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, from 2 ...

, as being too

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

, arguing that he was "closer to

Hans-Georg Maaßen Hans-Georg Maaßen (born 24 November 1962 in Mönchengladbach) is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domes ...

than

and

Personal life

Czaja's brother is Sebastian Czaja. He has been married to Julia Marx since 2012. They have one daughter. In 1997, a court ordered Czaja – who was 21 years old at the time – to pay a fine of 2,000

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

for

desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

after he had twice failed to report for duty in the

German Armed Forces The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the 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: German Army, ...

. The prosecution had originally demanded a suspended sentence of four months.Richter bestätigt Urteil gegen Mario Czaja: CDU-Politiker muß Geldstrafe bezahlen
''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (; ) is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since Reunification of Germany, reunification. It is published by Berl ...

'', 30 July 1997.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Czaja, Mario 1975 births Living people People from East Berlin Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians 20th-century German politicians Members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025