CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

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CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
CDU LV MV.png
Chairman Michael Sack
Deputy Eckhardt Rehberg
Ann Christin from Allwörden
Sascha Ott
Secretary General Wolfgang Waldmüller
Treasurer Dietrich Monstadt
executive Director Klaus-Dieter Götz
Establishment date July 5, 1945 / March 3, 1990
Place of foundation Schwerin
Headquarters Wismarsche Strasse 173
19053 Schwerin
Landtag mandates
18/71
Number of members 5,245 (as of end of 2016)
Website www.cdu-mecklenburg-vorpommern.de

The CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the state association of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania of the CDU .

history

Founding and conformity (1945–1952)

Advertising poster of the CDU

The founding call of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is dated July 5, 1945. At the founding meeting in Schwerin on that day, Reinhold Lobedanz became chairman, Hans Krukenmeyer became vice chairman and Heinrich Albert , Rudolf Behrens , Carl Garz , Martin Karsten , Werner Pöhls and Hans Wittenburg elected as assessor. The first state party congress from April 27 to 28, 1946 confirmed this executive committee.

While in the other state associations the state boards had played an active role in the fight against the alignment of the GDR CDU to the bloc party , in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the state chairman Reinhold Lobedanz was a representative of SED- oriented politics from the start. Consequently, he was also the only state chairman who was not forced to resign by the Soviet military administration in Germany (SMAD). Until his death in 1955 he was actively involved in building up the GDR dictatorship.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the opposition therefore started from the grassroots. The policy of SMAD was therefore aimed at silencing these voices. Thus Werner Jöhren deposed as district and forced to flee. The editor-in-chief of the CDU newspaper Der Demokrat resigned after the SMAD forced the publication of an article directed against Kaiser. A large number of local CDU functionaries were removed from their offices by the SMAD or fled to the free west. Economics minister Siegfried Witte and member of the state parliament, Karl Heinz Kaltenborn, were the last notable CDU representatives who dared to object to the enforced policy.

Block party in the three northern districts (1952–1989)

After the states in the GDR were dissolved in 1952 , the CDU adapted organizationally to the new districts . Instead of the regional association, there were now associations in the districts of Rostock , Schwerin and Neubrandenburg . As a bloc party , the CDU was also involved at the district level via the unit lists of the National Front in all district political bodies such as the district council or the district council and always voted with the SED.

Re-establishment after the fall of the Wall (1989/1990)

Günther Krause (1990)

During the peaceful revolution in autumn 1989, the leadership of the CDU in the three northern districts resigned under the pressure of events and were replaced by CDU members from the second row. On November 8, 1989, the new district executive in Rostock questioned the SED's claim to leadership and admitted its own failure in the past. He called for a constitution to be approved by the people, free elections, the abolition of military studies as a school subject , a civil substitute service and the approval of new democratic organizations such as the New Forum . The Schwerin and Neubrandenburg district associations followed shortly afterwards with similar declarations. At a special party conference in Berlin on November 21, 1989, after intense debates, the CDU rejected socialism and committed itself to an ecological-social market economy . Associated with this was a rejection of the imposed “Christian socialism” and a commitment to democracy, the market economy and the welfare state. This complete reorientation was very controversial in parts of the party. With great political talent, but also with a remarkable change of conviction, Günther Krause , party member since 1975 and district chairman in Bad Doberan since 1987, made a name for himself as an advocate of the market economy and German unity.

Helmut Kohl as election assistant for the Eastern CDU for the Volkskammer election in Rostock

The regional association of the CDU Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania was reconstituted on March 3, 1990 in Rostock from the three district associations of Schwerin, Rostock and Neubrandenburg. Günther Krause prevailed over the Schwerin district chairman Lothar Moritz in the election for the first state chairman. In contrast to the newly founded SPD or Bündnis 90 , for which even telephones and printing machines were in short supply, the Union was able to build on the existing organizational structures, the party assets and a large member base of the former bloc party and thus had one in the four landmark elections in 1990 enormous starting advantage. In addition, there was massive campaign support from the West German Union. However, inherited from CDU party block hours was both conservative-oriented East German civil rights activists as well as the Bonn CDU party leadership as a contaminated site . Some of the citizens' movements formed in 1989, namely the Democratic Awakening (DA) and the German Social Union (DSU) entered an electoral alliance with the CDU as an alliance for Germany in the first free Volkskammer election on March 18, 1990 .

The alliance clearly won the Volkskammer election. Krause became parliamentary group chairman in the People's Chamber and at the same time State Secretary to the Prime Minister, so that he was given a key position in the GDR CDU. In view of this burden, however, he had less time for the regional association. The CDU election result in the Volkskammer election in what would later become Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - compared to the overall result - was below average:

District / party GDR Neubrandenburg Rostock Schwerin
CDU 40.80% 36.00% 34.30% 39.80%
DSU 6.30% 2.00% 2.80% 2.00%
THERE 0.90% 0.50% 0.70% 0.60%

Local elections followed on May 6, 1990. The CDU confirmed its claim to leadership in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania.

In July 1990, the Democratic Peasant Party of Germany (DBD), also a former bloc party, joined the Eastern CDU. On August 4, 1990, the DA merged with the CDU. The DSU, however, remained as an independent party, but could not play a role at the state level.

Black and Yellow State Government (1990–1994)

Alfred Gomolka (December 1990)

With German reunification , the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was rebuilt on October 3, 1990 on the basis of the Land Introduction Act. In the state elections on October 14, 1990 , the CDU was, as expected, by far the strongest force in the Schwerin state parliament, with 38.3 percent of the vote. Nevertheless, there was a stalemate: both the Union and the FDP on the one hand and the SPD and PDS on the other hand each received 33 mandates. The transfer of Wolfgang Schulz , a member of the SPD until September 1990, to the CDU dissolved the stalemate, so that the CDU formed a coalition with the FDP, which had just managed to overcome the five percent hurdle , on October 27, and with Alfred Gomolka could provide the Prime Minister. Before the state elections, Gomolka had surprisingly prevailed against Georg Diederich as the top candidate in a fight candidate.

Half of the ministers in the Gomolka cabinet , including Gomolka himself, had already been members of the CDU during the GDR era. This relationship was reflected even more clearly in the parliamentary group: 16 of the 37 MPs had already belonged to the CDU before 1989, and five others had been members of the DBD. By contrast, only three members of the CDU parliamentary group had made it through the democratic awakening. Four members of the CDU resigned their mandates at the insistence of the party and parliamentary group leaders after their previous work as an unofficial employee for the Ministry for State Security became known.

The government was marked by fierce controversy within the CDU. These were sparked primarily by the privatization of the shipbuilding industry . CDU state chief and Federal Transport Minister Günther Krause spoke out against the partial privatization planned by Gomolka and the liberal Minister of Economics Conrad-Michael Lehment . There were also personal tensions within the cabinet and conflicts between the state government and the CDU state parliamentary group. After Gomolka had dismissed Justice Minister Ulrich Born on March 14, 1992 for "disloyalty", the CDU parliamentary group under the leadership of its chairman Eckhardt Rehberg withdrew his trust.

After Gomolka resigned as Prime Minister on March 19, 1992, after only 18 months in office, Berndt Seite took over this office ( Cabinet Seite I ). Seite had come across the CDU through the New Forum , since 1990 district administrator in the Röbel / Müritz district and since 1991 Secretary General of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. He continued the black-yellow coalition . During the term of office of Cabinet I, Günther Krause, who stumbled upon one of his numerous affairs, was replaced by Angela Merkel as state party leader of the CDU in June 1993. She led the party until May 20, 2000. With the exception of the parliamentary group leader Eckhardt Rehberg the entire first leadership team of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was replaced.

Black-Red Coalition (1994–1998)

Angela Merkel (left, with Wladimir Wladimirowitsch Putin in 2002), state party leader 1993–2002

In the 1994 state elections , which took place parallel to the federal elections , the CDU was able to maintain its position (37.7%, −0.5 percentage points), while the SPD rose slightly (29.5%, +2.5 percentage points). Since the FDP left the state parliament (1.9%) and otherwise only the PDS was represented in the state parliament, a grand coalition was formed, the side presided over as prime minister ( cabinet side II ).

The state parliament election revealed a fundamental strategic problem of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which became even more apparent in the subsequent elections: the party had once again become by far the strongest force in the Schwerin state parliament, but without the prospect of an absolute majority and without the FDP as the majority procurer she was dependent on the Social Democrats, who in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were toying with a coalition with the PDS more than anywhere else.

The CDU as an opposition party (1998-2006)

In the state elections in 1998 , which again took place parallel to the federal elections , the CDU suffered severe losses (30.2%, −7.5 percentage points), while the SPD under Harald Ringstorff became the strongest force (34.3%) and together with the PDS formed the first red-red coalition nationwide. During the election campaign, both the SPD and the PDS signaled the possibility of cooperation. The CDU therefore saw the greatest danger in a strong PDS and tried on the one hand to sharpen its profile as an East German regional party, on the other hand to distance itself from the red sock campaign of the federal party. In view of the federal trend to the detriment of the Union, an unemployment rate in the country between 20% and 30% and constant coalition quarrels, this strategy was unsuccessful. It lost 7.5 percentage points compared to 1994 and was the clear loser of the election.

After going into the opposition and thus losing his government office, parliamentary group leader Rehberg, who was only elected in the second ballot in October 1999, took on the role of spokesman for the CDU in state politics. Since the state chairwoman Angela Merkel was also general secretary of the federal party in 1999 , she became the most important representative of the Eastern CDU.

From December 1999, the CDU donation scandal also shook the state association in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Both the federal party's salary subsidies for the secretaries-general of the regional association in the amount of DM 100,000 and the assumption of campaign costs in the 1994 federal election campaign in the amount of DM 147,200 came from black coffers with illegally acquired money. One of the consequences of this scandal was the resignation of Wolfgang Schäuble from the office of federal party chairman and the election of Angela Merkel to this office. At the same time she gave up the state chairmanship. First, Steffie Schnoor took over this in May 2000, before she was replaced by Eckhardt Rehberg in 2001. Merkel initially reserved a candidacy for Prime Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The CDU remained in opposition even after the state elections in 2002 . The CDU's top candidate was Eckhardt Rehberg. As in 1994 and 1998, the state elections were heavily influenced by the Bundestag election that took place again on the same day. In the polls for both elections, the CDU was still far ahead of the SPD in polls up to a few weeks before the election. In the federal and state levels, however, shortly before the election, the mood turned in favor of the SPD.

In the 2005 Bundestag elections , Eckhardt Rehberg entered the Bundestag and gave up his offices in the state party. Successor as party chairman was Jürgen Seidel , as the new parliamentary group leader Harry Glawe was elected. Lorenz Caffier took over the post of General Secretary from Hubert Gehring .

Red-black coalition (since 2006)

In 2006 the SPD collapsed by 10 percentage points in the state elections , but was still just ahead of the CDU. The SPD decided to reissue the grand coalition, but this time under the SPD leadership. Harald Ringstorff was elected Prime Minister with the votes of the Union. In the Ringstorff III cabinet , the CDU, Jürgen Seidel, provided the deputy prime minister and half of the cabinet. Even after Ringstorff's resignation, the grand coalition under Erwin Sellering continued; Jürgen Seidel remained Deputy Prime Minister in Sellering I's cabinet.

Lorenz Caffier has been party chairman since 2009. Vincent Kokert has been Secretary General since then .

After the state elections in 2011 , in which the CDU had achieved by far the worst result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 23.0%, Lorenz Caffier also became Deputy Prime Minister in the Sellering II cabinet . The coalition with the SPD was continued after the state elections in 2016 and the Sellering III cabinet was formed. After the resignation of the Prime Minister, the grand coalition under Manuela Schwesig (SPD) was continued and the Schwesig cabinet was formed.

On January 31, 2020, Vincent Kokert surprisingly announced his resignation as parliamentary group and state chairman of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania due to private and personal considerations. Torsten Renz was elected to succeed the CDU parliamentary group in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Eckhardt Rehberg has taken over the provisional management of the regional association .

In May 2020 , Barbara Borchardt , the left-wing politician, member and co-founder of the anti-capitalist left- wing association observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the chapter on left-wing extremism , was elected state constitutional judge with votes from the CDU and SPD. This election result, which received a lot of attention nationwide, was viewed by the Eastern Commissioner Marco Wanderwitz (CDU) as a mockery of those who died in the Wall. The chairman of the board of trustees of the Federal Foundation to come to terms with the SED dictatorship, Markus Meckel (SPD), criticized it.

After Katy Hoffmeister and Philipp Amthor initially expressed their interest in the party leadership, Hoffmeister withdrew their candidacy on June 9, 2020.

Election results since 1990


organization

The regional association is divided into eight district associations, under which the city and local associations exist. At the state level there are associations of the party such as the Junge Union or Frauen Union . Six state technical committees prepare the content-related work:

  • Science and Research
  • School, culture and sport
  • Social policy
  • Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection
  • Inside and right
  • Economy and tourism

The state party congress is the highest organ of the party and elects the state board.

Membership development

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the regional association of the CDU has experienced a massive restructuring process, in the course of which it has shrunk by two thirds. Today, with around 6,000 party members (as of 2008), the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania CDU lacks the basis to be a classic people 's party based on the West German model. Instead, it is described as a faction and cadre party. However, this description applies to all parties in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. At a low level, the CDU is significantly larger than the SPD Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with almost 3,000 members. The Left has about 5,700 members.

The problem of the low level of organization can be seen, for example, in the fact that the CDU puts up around 5,500 candidates in local elections. In the municipal elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2009 , 278 CDU candidates won seats; in 1999 there were 378.

year Membership numbers
1990/91 18,300 1
1995 9,600
2000 7,600
2003 7,400
2006 7,000
2008 6,047

1 including DBD

people

As Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel is an advisory member of the state board.

Party leader

Years Chairman
1945–1952 Reinhold Lobedanz
From 1952 to 1990 the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania did not exist
1990-1993 Günther Krause
1993-2000 Angela Merkel
2000-2001 Steffie Schnoor
2001-2005 Eckhardt Rehberg
2005-2009 Jürgen Seidel
2009-2017 Lorenz Caffier
2017-2020 Vincent Kokert
2020-2020 Eckhardt Rehberg (acting)
2020 Michael Sack

General Secretaries

Years Secretary General
1991-1992 Berndt page
1992-1993 Günter Reitz
1993-1995 Klaus Preschle
1995-1997 unoccupied
1997-2000 Hubert Gehring
2000-2005 unoccupied
2005-2009 Lorenz Caffier
2009-2017 Vincent Kokert
from 2017 Wolfgang Waldmüller

Group leaders

Years Chairman
1946-1948 Werner Jöhren
1948-1952 Gustav Röseler
July 1952 Helmut Rother
From 1952 to 1990 the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania did not exist
1990-2005 Eckhardt Rehberg
2005-2009 Armin Jäger
2009-2011 Harry Glawe
2011-2020 Vincent Kokert
since 2020 Torsten Renz

Honorary Chairwoman

literature

  • Karsten Grabow : The party system of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In: Parties and party systems in the German states. Edited by Oskar Niedermayer , Uwe Jun and Melanie Haas, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften / GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-90912-7 , pp. 280–282.
  • Hans Jörg Hennecke : The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Olzog, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-7892-8047-X , pp. 15-65.
  • Philipp Huchel, Stefan Rausch: The CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , in: Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Martin Koschkar, Christian Nestler and Christopher Scheele, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-02652-3 , Pp. 55-85.
  • Philipp Huchel, Stefan Rausch: Losing in order to stay - The CDU , in: The state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 2011. The parties in the election campaign and their voters (Rostock information on politics and administration, issue 31; PDF; 2.4 MB), edited by Martin Koschkar and Christopher Scheele, Institute for Political and Administrative Sciences at the University of Rostock, Rostock 2011, pp. 43–54.
  • Christian Schwießelmann: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania 1945 to 1952. From the foundation to the dissolution of the regional association. A representation of party history . Droste, Düsseldorf 2010, ISBN 978-3-7700-1909-0 , ( research and sources on contemporary history 58).
  • Christian Schwießelmann: Election campaign with fabric softener? - The CDU , in: The state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 2006. The parties in the election campaign and their voters (Rostock information on politics and administration, Issue 27; PDF; 3.0 MB), edited by Steffen Schoon and Nikolaus Werz, Institute for Political and administrative sciences at the University of Rostock, Rostock 2006, pp. 30–42.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oskar Niedermayer : Party members according to federal states. Federal Agency for Civic Education , July 8, 2017, accessed on August 25, 2017 .
  2. ↑ SBZ Handbook, page 536
  3. ^ Michael Richter, pp. 56–58
  4. ↑ a b c Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , published by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 18.
  5. ↑ a b Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 19.
  6. ↑ Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 21.
  7. ↑ ndr.de: 20 years ago: Tension in the first free state election (September 29, 2010)
  8. ^ A b Karsten Grabow: The party system in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , in: Parties and party systems in the German states , edited by Uwe Jun, Melanie Haas and Oskar Niedermayer, GWV, Wiesbaden 2008, p. 280.
  9. ^ Result of the Volkskammer election
  10. ↑ a b Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 59.
  11. ↑ Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , published by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 32.
  12. ↑ a b c d e Karsten Grabow: The party system of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , in: Parties and party systems in the German states , edited by Uwe Jun, Melanie Haas, Oskar Niedermayer, VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, p. 268.
  13. ↑ Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 34.
  14. ↑ a b c Karsten Grabow: The party system of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , in: Parties and party systems in the German states , edited by Uwe Jun, Melanie Haas and Oskar Niedermayer, GWV, Wiesbaden 2008, p. 270.
  15. ↑ Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , published by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 54.
  16. ↑ Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 55.
  17. ↑ Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 56.
  18. ↑ wahlrecht.de: survey results
  19. ^ NDR: CDU country chief Kokert withdraws from politics. Retrieved June 9, 2020 .
  20. ^ NDR: CDU will determine new party leadership at the end of March. Retrieved June 9, 2020 .
  21. ↑ The constitutional judge is a member of the observed association. In: mirror . May 19, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Eastern Commissioner criticizes controversial constitutional judge. In: Tagesspiegel . May 29, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 .
  23. ↑ NDR: CDU chairmanship: Hoffmeister lets Amthor go first. Retrieved June 9, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdu-mecklenburg-vorpommern.de
  25. ^ A b Karsten Grabow: The party system in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , in: Parties and party systems in the German states , edited by Uwe Jun, Melanie Haas and Oskar Niedermayer, GWV, Wiesbaden 2008, p. 282.
  26. ↑ Information for 1999 according to Hans Jörg Hennecke: The CDU in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , in: Parties and Politics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , edited by Nikolaus Werz and Hans Jörg Hennecke, Munich 2000, p. 58.
  27. ↑ Karsten Grabow: The party system of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , in: Parties and party systems in the German states , edited by Uwe Jun, Melanie Haas and Oskar Niedermayer, GWV, Wiesbaden 2008, p. 280; Information for 2008 follows the information from the Federal Agency for Civic Education .