Bodo Ramelow
Bodo Ramelow MdBR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Ramelow in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister-President of Thuringia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 4 March 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Wolfgang Tiefensee Georg Maier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Thomas Kemmerich | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 December 2014 – 5 February 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Heike Taubert | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Christine Lieberknecht | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Thomas Kemmerich | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of the Bundesrat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 November 2021 – 31 October 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Vice President | Reiner Haseloff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Reiner Haseloff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Peter Tschentscher | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of The Left in the Landtag of Thuringia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 3 November 2009 – 5 December 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Dieter Hausold | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Susanne Hennig-Wellsow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism in the Landtag of Thuringia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 November 2001 – 17 October 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Gabi Zimmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Dieter Hausold | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 February 1956 Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Lower Saxony, West Germany (now Germany) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | The Left (since 2007) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Party of Democratic Socialism (1999–2007) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Germana Alberti vom Hofe
(m. 2006) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | Erfurt Saalburg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bodo Ramelow (German pronunciation:
Political career
Ramelow was born and raised in West Germany. He is a trained retail salesman and became an official in Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken und Versicherungen (HBV), the union for trade, bank and insurance employees during the 1980s. He moved to Thuringia, in former East Germany, after the unification of Germany in 1990. There he joined the successor to the SED - the East German Communist Party, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). He was elected to the Landtag of Thuringia in 1999. He became deputy chairman and in 2001 chairman of the party's parliamentary group in the Landtag (state parliament).
In February 2004, Ramelow was elected top candidate of the PDS in the
Starting in June 2005, Ramelow was chief negotiator during unification talks between the PDS and
Illegal observation by the Verfassungsschutz
In 2003, it became publicly known that Germany's domestic intelligence service, the
This ruling was overturned in 2013 by the
Minister President of Thuringia
Following
Ramelow's government lost its majority in the 2019 state election, though his party moved into first place for the first time in any German state. Government formation was complicated by the major success of The Left and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who between them held a majority. All major parties had pledged their opposition to working with AfD, while the CDU, FDP, and AfD refused to work with The Left. On 5 February 2020, Ramelow was defeated in the Landtag election for Minister President after AfD voted with the FDP and CDU to elect FDP leader Thomas Kemmerich.[6] After it surfaced that Kemmerich may have cooperated with AfD leader Björn Höcke to win the election, Ramelow published a tweet with a photo of Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Paul von Hindenburg during his inauguration as Chancellor alongside a photo of Höcke shaking hands with Kemmerich. The tweet also included a 1930 statement from Hitler about the Nazi Party's position as kingmaker after the 1929 Thuringian election.[7]
In February 2020, Ramelow was criticized because a tweet from the year 2012 surfaced where he posted a photograph of the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and commented "Comrade Stalin ;-)".[8]
On 4 March, Ramelow was again elected as Minister President by the Landtag due to the abstentions of the CDU and FDP. After the vote, he refused to shake the hand of Björn Höcke, leader of the Thuringian AfD.[9]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Ramelow became one of Germany's most prominent critics of lockdowns. Under Ramelow, Thuringia was the first state to lift restrictions following the first wave,[10] and Ramelow resisted lockdown measures requested by Angela Merkel during the second wave in late Autumn and the run-up to Christmas.[11] In January, as Thuringia became Germany's worst affected state, Ramelow announced that he regretted this decision and now supported a hard lockdown.[11]
Honours
2023 Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[12]
References
- ^ "Verfassungsschutz darf Linke beobachten". dpa (in German). Münchner Merkur. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ Küpper, Mechthild (22 July 2010). "Verfassungsschutz darf Ramelow beobachten" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ "Court rules against monitoring of Left party politician Ramelow". Deutsche Welle. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
- ^ Donahue, Patrick (9 October 2013). "German Court Rules Spying on Left Party Lawmaker is Illegal". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
- ^ Kirschbaum, Erik (5 December 2014). "German state elects reform communist leader in historic shift". Reuters. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ Olterman, Philip (5 February 2020). "Outrage as German centre-right votes with AfD to oust Thuringia premier". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Germany AfD: Thuringia PM quits amid fury over far right". BBC News. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
- Tagesschau. Retrieved 12 February 2020. In German Ramelow commented: "Genosse Stalin ;-)".
- ^ "Left party politician Bodo Ramelow wins key German state vote". Deutsche Welle. 4 March 2020.
- ^ Brady, Kate (25 May 2020). "Thuringia: Germany's coronavirus guinea pigs?". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Ramelow fordert "richtigen Lockdown"". n-tv. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- Der Bundespräsident(in German). 23 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
External links
- Official website
- Bodo Ramelow at IMDb
