Gregor Gysi

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Gregor Florian Gysi (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʁeːɡoːɐ̯ ˈɡiːzi]; born 16 January 1948) is a German attorney, former president of the Party of the European Left and a prominent politician of The Left (Die Linke) political party.^[1]

He belonged to the reformist wing of the governing Socialist Unity Party of Germany at the time of the pro-democracy transition inspired by then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He has strongly denied allegations that he used to assist the Stasi, the East German secret police. He was the last leader of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and led the effort that transformed it into the post-Communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), forerunner of The Left.

Family background

Gysi was born in

Gysi's political career began in the then-ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) of East Germany, to which he was admitted in 1967. In 1971 he became a licensed attorney, and during the 1970s and 1980s defended several prominent dissidents, including Rudolf Bahro, Robert Havemann, Ulrike Poppe, and Bärbel Bohley.

In addition to his legal work, Gysi emerged as one of East Germany's leading Gorbachev-inspired political reformists within the SED, especially towards the end of the 1980s. In 1989, he and a group of lawyers presented a counter-draft to the government's Travel Bill, which authorised mass public demonstrations. This led to a mass rally on East-Berlin's Alexanderplatz on 4 November^[6] in which he spoke and called for reforms, including free elections. In December 1989, he became a member of a special SED party session investigating official corruption and abuse of power.

Fall of Communism

In an interview conducted in 2011, Gysi recalled that in late 1989 he had become the attorney for several of the people who were arrested in the first early public protests. As such he became known to leading figures in the Artistic and Cultural unions and was contacted by a group of actresses about the legality of a large demonstration. He recalls having examined the laws and advising them that they could apply for such a permit from the police and the worst outcome would be that their request could be denied, but they would not be breaking any law or doing anything illegal. He further recalls assisting the group in requesting and completing the appropriate forms and paperwork required for such a permit. ^[7]

In December 1989, Egon Krenz, the last Communist leader of East Germany, resigned all of his posts. Gysi was elected as the party's chairman. He did not, however, become the leader of East Germany; the SED had abandoned its monopoly of power on 1 December. In his first speech, Gysi admitted that the SED had brought the country to ruin, repudiating everything it had done since 1949. He declared that the party needed to adopt a new form of socialism.^[8]

To that end, he immediately set about transforming the SED into a

In 1998, the Bundestag's immunity committee concluded that Gysi had been a collaborator with the Stasi from 1978 to 1989 under the name IM Notar, and fined him 8,000 Deutsche Mark. However, both the Free Democratic Party and his own PDS disputed the verdict, and Gysi appealed against the finding. Despite the affair, he retained his seat in the Bundestag in the 1998 elections.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, he resigned as chairman of the PDS's parliamentary group, but continued as an active member of the party. Following the victory of a "

Gysi is an outspoken supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations. This is due to his belief in the need for "functioning and democratically legitimate global politics."^[10]

In the

Gysi is one of the most present politicians in German entertainment Media. He regularly appears on political entertainment talk shows and is host of conversation programs himself.[11]

In 2019, Gregor Gysi stated to the Bundestag administration that he had received fees for almost 90 lectures, discussions and conversations. On average he has one appearance per week. He also earns money from jobs as lawyer and book publishing.^[12]

Controversies

Stasi informant "IM Notar"

Gysi continues to deny allegations, which first surfaced in 1992, that he was a

In November 2014, after being invited by Inge Höger and Annette Groth, also members of The Left (Die Linke) to talk with them in the Bundestag, journalists Max Blumenthal and David Sheen learned that Gysi tried to cancel the meetings on the grounds that Blumenthal and Sheen held extremist views^[14][15] from which he wished to dissociate the party.^[15]

Gysi fled, followed by the two men and other parliamentary members down a parliament corridor and into a bathroom in an incident referred to as "toiletgate". After this event, Blumenthal and Sheen were banned from ever setting foot in the Bundestag again.^[16][17][18]

Comments on Germans and Immigration (2015)

In a 2015 interview, Gysi stated that "Every year more Germans die than are born. Fortunately, this is due to the fact that the Nazis do not reproduce particularly well and therefore, we depend on immigrants from other countries."^[19][20][21] The comparison of all Germans to Nazis and the statement that it was good that Germans had a declining birth rate generated significant criticism from the public.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gregor Gysi.

• Will Germany Go Left of the Left? by Markus Deggerich, Der Spiegel, 25 September 2009
• Portrait at the website of the parliamentary group of the Left Party
• Biography at
  Deutsches Historisches Museum

Preceded by Egon Krenz (as General Secretary)	Chairman of the SED 1989	Succeeded by Himself as chairman of the PDS
Preceded by Himself as chairman of the SED	Chairman of the PDS 1989–1993	Succeeded by Lothar Bisky
Preceded by Post created	Chairman of the PDS Parliamentary Group 1990–2001	Succeeded by Roland Claus
Preceded by Juliane Freifrau von Friesen (Alliance 90/The Greens)	Minister for Economy, Labour and Women in Berlin 2001–2002	Succeeded by Harald Wolf (PDS)
Preceded by Roland Claus	Chairman of the Left Party Parliamentary Group 2005–2015	Succeeded by Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch