Reinhard Klimmt (born 16 August 1942 in Berlin) 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). From 1998 to 1999, he was Minister President of

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

, and 1999–2000, Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.

Personal life

After passing the ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, Klimmt studied history at the

Saarland University Saarland University (, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in six faculties that cover all major ...

. He is a passionate

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

and writes columns for the German website of

AbeBooks AbeBooks ( ) is an e-commerce global online marketplace with seven websites that offer books, fine art, and collectables from sellers in over 50 countries. Launched in 1996, it specialises in used, rare and out-of-print books. AbeBooks has been a ...

. Klimmt is married and has three children.

Political career

Since 1964, Klimmt is a member 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 ...

. Between 1970 and 1975 he served as head of the young socialist (Juso) in the German Land Saarland. From 1976 until 1996 he was the chairman of SPD Saarbrücken (Municipality of Saarbrücken). In 1990 he served as campaign manager of Oskar Lafontaine in the Federal elections. From 1979 to 2002 he was a member of the media commission of the SPD on the federal level, and from 1986 he served a vice-president of this commission. He also served as a member of the policy-statement commission of the Federal SPD, which developed the Hamburg program of 2007. In 1998, he became Premier (''Ministerpräsident'') of the Saarland, since his predecessor,

Oskar Lafontaine Oskar Lafontaine (; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998 and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candidat ...

became the new Federal Minister of Finance after the SPD's victory in the Federal election. In 1999, Klimmt lost to Peter Müller in the Legislative Assembly (''Landtag'') elections in the Saarland. Later that year, he became Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs in Berlin. After only one year in office, he resigned because of his role in a financial turmoil involving the football club

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken () is a German Football in Germany, football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. History The club began its existence as the footbal ...

. As head of the board of the club which he helped to save from bankruptcy, he had signed a sponsoring contract, which had been negotiated before he came into office, and which later turned out to be double-minded. He disclosed the entire process, accepted a fine and resigned from his political office. Since then he dedicated a substantial part of his time to the publication of over a dozen books and the curatorship of numerous exhibitions on different topics.

Memberships

Member of P.E.N., Center of German language authors abroad Member of Saarländischen Künstlerhaus (House of Sarre artists). Chair of board of trustees of Studienstiftung Saar Chair of the Sarre division of German Library Association (Deutschen Bibliotheksverband) Chair of the Stiftungsrats der Stiftung Demokratie Saarland (Council of the Democracy Foundation Sarre) Member of ZDF national TV council (National German public TV channel 2)

External links

Klimmt's column at Abebooks.de
(German)

References

1942 births Living people Members of the Landtag of Saarland Transport ministers of Germany Construction ministers of Germany Politicians from Berlin German bibliophiles Minister-presidents of Saarland {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub