Rainer Ortleb
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Rainer Ortleb (born 5 June 1944) is a German academic and politician. From October 1990 he served under
Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...
as a Federal Minister for Special Affairs in Germany's first post-reunification government. In the next government, between 1991 and 1994, he served as Federal Minister of Education and Research.


Life


Early years

Ortleb was born directly after the
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
in the eastern part of
Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...
, then a part of the
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...
in what had until recently been central southern Germany. During his early years the zone became the newly created
German Democratic Republic 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 ...
. Ortleb successfully completed his schooling in 1962 and undertook military service with the
National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...
until 1964, then signing up as an army reserve officer.


Academic

He studied
Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
at
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, obtaining his first degree in 1963 and his
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in 1971. In 1977 he became a senior research assistant, still at the
Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...
. Here, for several years, he also headed up an "Army Reserve Collective", in the end reaching the rank of lieutenant. Further academic promotion (
Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...
) to the status of "Dr.-Ing. (engineering)" followed in 1983, on the basis of a paper entitled ''"Baustein-Terminal in Dialogsystemen"'', after which his academic work focused on Information Systems. He moved north in 1984, to
Rostock University The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the List of universities in Germany#Universities by date of establishment, third-oldest university in Germany. It is ...
where he lectured on information systems processing, was appointed an associate professor in 1989, and where he worked from 1992 to 1998 as Professor for Technical Systems Applications Software.


Political

Ortleb joined the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) in 1968. The East German LDPD was one of five constituent Bloc parties controlled by the country's ruling SED party through a political structure called the National Front. He subsequently held various positions within the LDPD, joining the regional party secretariat for
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
in 1976. His political career started moving to Rostock before his academic career, and in 1978 he was elected LDPD regional chairman for the
Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
region. In 1982, however, he was additionally appointed chairman of the LDPD's district executive for the party in Dresden-south. At the LDPD party conference at
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
on 3 March 1977, he appeared, not for the last time at a party conference, in his
army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
uniform and gave a rousing speech in praise of national defense. He spoke with eloquence and some passion: "My first argument is visible to you all, this uniform ... the result, the exercise in the art of war, is forced on us daily by the actions of the imperialists""Mein erstes Argument ist, für jeden sichtbar, die Uniform...Die Konsequenz, die Kriegskunst zu trainieren, wird uns täglich von der imperialistischen Tat aufgezwungen." Western observers subsequently identified more than a trace of irony in his performance. The Berlin Wall was breached in November, ushering in a period of rapid transition which by August 1990 had led to
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 ...
. On 10 February 1990 the LDPD held a Special Party Conference at Dresden, the outcome of which was a new name and a new Party Chairman. The new name was actually the old name which the party had been required to abandon in 1951. The Liberal Democratic Party (LPD / ''Liberal-Demokratische Partei '') elected Rainer Ortleb as its new chairman - effectively the party leader - in succession to Manfred Gerlach. East Germany's first and last national
free election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated s ...
took place in March 1990 with the party (in
alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
with a couple of recently emerged like minded and short-lived groupings) won 21 seats under Ortleb's leadership, and a junior role in East Germany's governing coalition under
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 ...
. Ortleb's career as a party leader was cut short in August 1990, however, when his LDP merged with its West German counterpart, the FDP (''Freie Demokratische Partei''). Following the merger of the LDP with the FDP Rainer Ortleb became regional party chairman in
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...
between 1991 and 1994. In 1997 he became the FDP regional party chairman in
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
, becoming in the process the only FDP politician to be a regional party chairman successively in two different regions. In 1999 Ortleb resigned from his party chairmanship in Saxony following poor performance in a regional election for which his name had been at the top of the FDP candidate list. Two years later, following differences within the party over support for Ingolf Roßberg as the party's (successful) candidate as mayor of Dresden, Ortleb resigned from the party in 2001. In the 2009 election Ortleb gave his support to "Die Linke", the successor to East Germany's old ruling SED (party). In November 2009 he gave a wide-ranging press interview celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
, in which he called for a reorientation of his former party, the FDP.


National Parliament

The East German election in March 1990 saw the liberal alliance led by Ortleb gaining more than 5% of the national vote. Ortleb, representing the Dresden constituency, was one of 21 Liberal Democrats who now entered the National Assembly (''Volkskammer'') where he led the Liberal group. He was one of the 144 deputies in the chamber who on 3 October 1990, as part of the German reunification process, became members of the Bundestag (National Assembly) of the reunited Germany. In the following two national elections, in December 1990 and in October 1994, he was elected to the Bundestag as a deputy for
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...
. Ortleb remained a member of the Bundestag until 1998.


Ministerial office

On 3 October 1990 Rainer Ortleb was one of the formerly East German political leaders to join the cabinet of the newly reunified Germany, under Federal Chancellor Kohl. Initially he served as a
Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...
, but following the national election two months later, on 19 January 1991, Ortleb was appointed Minister for Science and Training in succession to
Jürgen Möllemann Jürgen Wilhelm Möllemann (15 July 1945 – 5 June 2003) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Minister of State at the Foreign Office (1982–1987), as Minister of Education and Research (1987–1991), ...
. On 3 February 1994 he resigned from his ministerial position on health grounds.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortleb, Rainer 1944 births Living people People from Gera Liberal Democratic Party of Germany politicians Free Democratic Party (Germany) politicians Education ministers of Germany Members of the 10th Volkskammer Members of the Bundestag for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Members of the Bundestag for Saxony Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Academic staff of the University of Rostock