Else Ackermann
Else Ackermann | |
---|---|
Member of the Bundestag | |
In office 3 October 1990 – 20 December 1990 | |
In office 22 October 1991 – 10 November 1994 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 6 November 1933 Berlin, Germany |
Died | 14 September 2019[1] Neuenhagen bei Berlin, Germany | (aged 85)
Political party | Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) (1985–1990) Christian Democratic Union of Germany (from 1990) |
Occupation |
|
Else Ackermann (6 November 1933 – 14 September 2019) was a German physician and
Life
Career
Ackermann was born in
Ackermann passed her state medical exams in 1957 and received her doctorate in medicine in 1958.[2] During this period, between 1957 and 1959, she undertook her clinical training in a hospital.[4] That was followed by a training in pharmacology and toxicology while working as an academic assistant at the Charité between 1960 and 1965.[2] During 1965 she relocated to Dresden, appointed to a position as a senior research assistant at the "Carl Gustav Carus" Medical Academy (as it was known at that time) where she remained for a decade, until 1975.[4] During this period in 1969 she obtained her habilitation. This was the first habilitation awarded for Clinical Pharmacology in Germany, and she received it for work on "Microsomal electron transport in the human liver".[4] After that, in 1971 she received a full lectureship at the "Carl Gustav Carus" academy.[2] Returning to the Berlin area, between 1975 and 1989 Ackermann worked as a senior research assistant with the Central Institute for Cancer Research at the (East) German Academy of Sciences, based in the Buch quarter, in the northern part of Berlin. She was able to combine the research work at the Cancer Research Institute with a lectureship contract at the Charité.[2]
Politics
In 1985 Ackermann became a member of the
It was, Ackermann indicated, partly in order to try and broaden participation from the local party membership, that from the time she took over chairmanship of the local party in 1986, she arranged for a series of relatively "provocative" presentations to take place, linked by the theme "Do we need more democracy?" ("Brauchen wir mehr Demokratie?").[3] In June 1988, as chair of the Neuenhagen local party, Ackermann sent an internal letter to Gerald Götting, the Christian Democratic Union party national chairman in Berlin. There may have been input from fellow members, but it is widely assumed that the text of what came to be known as the "Neuenhagen letter" was composed by Ackermann herself. The theme of the letter was reform ("der Reformprozess").[3] It identified an institutionalised resistance to reform. Local party members could in some ways be taken as a microcosm for East German society as a whole. In personal conversations, where the "psychological barriers" presented by public discussion could be set aside, you would find the concerns, anxieties, irritations, disappointments, and political disagreements that you would find in the wider population and in workplaces, together with more positive attitudes and other joys. But none of the "opinion research" undertaken by one-on-one conversations was reflected in the state institutions or in the state-controlled media.[3] The closely thought through "beef" of the letter was divided into four sections:
- The growing wave of emigration pressure and its handling by the state authorities ("Die Ausreise-und Reisewelle in der DDR und ihre Handhabung durch den Apparat "),
- Absence of any spirit of [political] pluralism ("Der fehlende geistige Pluralismus"),
- The condition of representative democracy ("Der Stand der Vertretungsdemokratie,") and
- The church/state relationship.[3]
Back in the early 1950s, as the East German leadership struggled to impose itself, the "Neuenberger letter" might have led to arrest and imprisonment or worse. Back then
Ackermann did not withdraw from politics, however, and her actions were indeed part of a wider series of
In
German reunification formally took place in October 1990. This was accompanied by a dissolution of the East German Volkskammer, and the transfer of 144 (out of the 400 former members) Volkskammer members into an enlarged German Bundestag. Those making the transfer, which included Elise Ackermann, were elected by fellow members.[7] The East German Christian Democratic Union had leap-frogged into first place in the March election, as a result of which 71 of the 144 eastern members transferring to the Bundestag on 3 October 1990 came from the eastern Christian Democratic Union and its close ally, the German Social Union. The eastern and western CDUs were now merged, leaving Ackermann as a member of the pan-German Christian Democratic Union. She remained a Bundestag member until the general election which took place in December 1990.[8]
After reunification
Ackermann found herself back in the Bundestag in October 1991 following the resignation from the assembly of Lothar de Maizière, who had served as East Germany's last prime minister during the summer of the previous year. Ackermann was selected to take on her former colleague's Brandenburg seat. She now remained a member till the 1994 election after which she withdrew from national politics,[9] though she remained politically active in her own region.
Ackermann returned to the Charité, was appointed a director in 1994, and remained engaged as a teacher at the medical faculty's Institute for Clinical Pharmacology till her retirement in 1998.[4] She had also remained a member of the local council in Neuenhagen since 1989, and in 1996 she was elected chair of the Christian Democratic Union party group on the council.[10] In Summer 2007 she resigned the chair after the majority of the group had indicated that the time had come for a change. Press reports indicated that this came as the culmination of a period of internal ructions in the group who had as much to do with personality differences as with policy differences. In September 2007 Ackermann also resigned her party membership. Her fellow council member, Susanne Ahrens, withdrew her support from the Christian Democratic Union faction in the council at the same time. They formed an alternative grouping which they called the "Christlich soziale Frauen" ("Christian Social Women"). Else Ackermann explained the move by criticising the misogynistic attitude of her replacement as Christian Democratic Union group leader on the council, Alfred Kuck, and some of his male colleagues. The local party reacted by submitting a motion at state level calling for Ackermann's exclusion from the party. Ackermann pointed out that she had already resigned. A certain amount of rancour was on very public display.[11] Pointing out that the reason that she had retained her position with the Christian Democratic Union group on the Neuenhagen council was that she was the one who had always attracted the votes in local elections ("Ich habe immer die Stimmen geholt"), she again stood as a candidate for the local council in the 2008 municipal elections, now representing the "New Neuenhagen Citizen's Alliance" ("Neue Bürger Allianz Neuenhagen" /NBA). This time her candidacy was not successful, and she resigned from the NBA in February 2009.[12]
Meanwhile, the motion submitted by the Neuenhagen party to have Ackermann excluded from the Christian Democratic Union was rejected by the party state leadership for Brandenburg. Ackermann was handed a reprimand for conduct damaging to the party and remained a Christian Democratic Union of Germany member.[4][12]
Honour
In 2014 Ackermann became the first recipient of the Wilhelm Wolf prize.
References
- ^ https://www.neuenhagen-bei-berlin.de/startseite-de/neuigkeiten/zum-tod-von-dr-else-ackermann/ [dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Manfred Agethen. "Ackermann, Else * 6.11.1933 CDU-Reformerin". Wer war wer in der DDR?. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Sankt Augustin. pp. 89–114. Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Dr. Else Ackermann, Brandenburg (Neuenhagen)". "Der von mir verfasste 'Neuhagener Brief' war ein Zustandsbericht über die beklagenswerten politischen und wirtschaftlichen Verhältnisse in der DDR.". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin (Zeitzeugenportal). Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ Chung Min-uck (22 November 2011). "Who is Lothar de Maiziere?". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ^ "Dr.med.habil. Else Ackermann... MdVK 18.03.1990–02.10.1990 Wahlkreis 05 (Frankfurt/Oder), Listenplatz 2, CDU". Politische Betätigung... Lebenslauf. Deutscher Bundestag. December 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ^ "Art 42 Entsendung von Abgeordneten". Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik über die Herstellung der Einheit Deutschlands (Einigungsvertrag). Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz, Berlin. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Dr.med.habil. Else Ackermann... MdB 3.Okt.-20.Dez.1990, CDU/CSU". Politische Betätigung... Lebenslauf. Deutscher Bundestag. December 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Dr.med.habil. Else Ackermann... MdB 22.Okt.1991–1994 Landesliste Brandenburg, CDU". Politische Betätigung... Lebenslauf. Deutscher Bundestag. December 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Dr.med.habil. Else Ackermann... 1989–2008 Mitglied der Gemeindevertretung in Neuenhagen, 1996–2008 dort Vorsitzende der CDU-Fraktion". Politische Betätigung... Lebenslauf. Deutscher Bundestag. December 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Ich habe immer die Stimmen geholt". Märkisches Medienhaus GmbH & Co. KG ("Das Nachrichtenportal für Brandenburg"), Frankfurt (Oder). 11 January 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ a b Irina Voigt (19 February 2009). "Bürgerallianz den Rücken gekehrt". Märkisches Medienhaus GmbH & Co. KG ("Das Nachrichtenportal für Brandenburg"), Frankfurt (Oder). Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Ehrenamtspreis der Märkischen Union Brandenburg für Frau Dr. Else Ackermann". Frau Dr. Else Ackermann wurde für ihr gesellschaftliches Engagement in Brandenburg der Ehrenamtspreis der Märkischen Union Brandenburg verliehen. CDU Neuenhagen. 21 June 2014. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.