Edelbert Richter

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Edelbert Richter (1990)

Edelbert Richter (born February 25, 1943 in Chemnitz , † July 23, 2021 in Weimar ) was a German theologian , politician ( DA , SPD , Die Linke ) and member of the German Bundestag .

Life

education and profession

Edelbert Richter, whose father was a civil servant, began after high school, he at the Extended Secondary School "Käthe Kollwitz" in Zwickau had taken, studying philosophy, but was in 1961 due to "insufficient political maturity" shortly after the start of study expelled . From 1961 to 1963 he worked as a crane operator "to test in production". He then began studying theology in Halle (Saale) , which he completed in 1968. After completing his studies, he became an assistant at the catechetical college in Naumburg and then a vicar in Saxony. In 1974 he became a pastor in Naumburg and Stoß, two years later he finished his church qualification work . After submitting his dissertation , he was promoted to Dr. theol . PhD.

In 1987 he was appointed pastor to Erfurt and worked as a lecturer at the Preacher's School in Erfurt, which was housed in parts of the former Augustinian monastery. From 1987 to 1990 Richter worked as a lecturer and repeater for systematic theology and philosophy at the Catechetical College of the Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony in Naumburg, one of the three non-state Protestant universities in the GDR. At the same time he was a student pastor in Naumburg between 1977 and 1987 .

After German reunification , Richter became a member of the Association of German Scientists and, from 2004 to 2008, taught philosophy at the Bauhaus University Weimar . However, he no longer actively worked in the church.

Edelbert Richter was married; he died in July 2021 at the age of 78 in Weimar, where he had lived during the last years of his life.

politics

From 1977 to 1989 dedicated to judges in dissident groups and in peace - and ecology movement . In doing so, he developed political models for the reunification of Germany . In 1989 Richter was a founding member of the Democratic Awakening party , an oppositional political group in the GDR. From December, leading members turned to the CDU , with which they and the DSU later formed the alliance Alliance for Germany . Richter joined the SPD in January 1990 . From March 18 to October 2, 1990 he was a member of the last (and at the same time the first freely elected) People's Chamber of the GDR, and then of the Bundestag .

In 1991 Richter became a member of the Basic Values ​​Commission of the SPD party executive. From 1991 to 1994 he was an observer in the European Parliament . He was re-elected for the 1994 Bundestag election and was a member of the Bundestag until 2002. Richter was the first to sign the Erfurt Declaration in 1997.

Richter became involved in the anti-globalization movement Attac from 2000 and was a member of the future commission of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung . In contrast to some ex-civil rights activists in the GDR, in 2004 Richter welcomed the use of the term “Monday demonstrations” in connection with the protests against the Hartz reforms of the federal government.

In view of the Agenda 2010 path taken by the SPD under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , Edelbert Richter resigned from the SPD in 2005. In 2007 Richter joined the party Die Linke . He became a member of the Willy Brandt Circle .

Richter was the author of more than ten socio-political books .

Works (selection)

  • Two Lands - One Lesson. Consequences of the German misery. GDR samizdat , Berlin 1989.
  • Socialism - Despotic Legacy or Idea? In: André Glucksmann among others: Debakel einer Utopie (= pro vocation 3). Union Verlag, Berlin, 1990, ISBN 3-372-00384-5 , pp. 41-44.
  • Christianity and Democracy in Germany: Contributions to the spiritual preparation of the turning point in the GDR. Kiepenheuer, Leipzig / Weimar, 1991, ISBN 3-378-00495-9 .
  • Achieved unity - missed identity: In search of the foundations for a new German policy. Context, Berlin, 1991, ISBN 3-86161-012-4 . On-line
  • Times of change: the end of the conservative era. Böhlau, Cologne et al., 1994, ISBN 3-412-07394-6 .
  • From an East German perspective: Against the neoliberal zeitgeist. Böhlau, Cologne et al., 1998, ISBN 3-412-07498-5 .
  • A second chance? The SPD under the pressure of "globalization". VSA, Hamburg, 2002, ISBN 3-87975-895-6 .
  • “Reform” as restoration and hegemonic nostalgia. VSA, Hamburg, 2005, ISBN 3-89965-133-2 .
  • "... that power in itself is evil": An update by Jacob Burckhardt , Hamburg, 2006.
  • The Left in the Change of Epochs - A Historical Determination of Location. VSA, Hamburg, 2009, ISBN 3-89965-157-X .
  • German reason - Anglo-Saxon mind. Intimate relationships between intellectual and political history , Berlin, 2015.
  • For an end to the half-truths: corrections to our image of Judaism and National Socialism. Manuscriptum, Lüdinghausen, 2018, ISBN 3-944872-84-3 .
  • Dare to do your own thing: reflect on German traditions in politics, culture and economy. quartus, Bucha, 2020, ISBN 3-947646-26-7 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert : History of the Opposition in the GDR 1949–1989 . Federal Agency for Civic Education, Series Volume 346, Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-89331-294-3 , p. 824.
  2. ↑ a b Edelbert Richter. In: Who was who in the GDR? Retrieved on July 28, 2021 (reproduced on the website of the Federal Foundation Reconstruction ).
  3. ↑ a b c Jens Kirsten: Edelbert Richter. In: Literaturland Thuringia. Retrieved July 27, 2021 .
  4. ^ The Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. (Video; 1:21 minutes) In: MDR Zeitreise . Retrieved July 28, 2021 .
  5. ^ Ehrhart Neubert: History of the opposition in the GDR 1949–1989. Links, Berlin, 2nd edition, 1998, p. 467.
  6. ^ East German theologian Edelbert Richter has died. In: epd.de . July 26, 2021; Archived from the original on July 28, 2021 ; accessed on July 28, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Herbert Ammon : Annus mirabilis 1989: On the pre- and post-history of an encounter. In: GlobKult . June 11, 2013, accessed July 28, 2021 .
  8. ↑ Erfurt declaration: Up to here and no further. In: spw - magazine for socialist politics and economy . 1/97, January 9, 1997, accessed July 27, 2021 .
  9. ^ Declaration by members of former GDR opposition groups: We protest against Hartz IV. In: docstoc.com. August 29, 2004, archived from the original on May 17, 2013 ; accessed on July 28, 2021 .
  10. ↑ Hanno Müller: Edelbert Richter died: A bridge builder of unity and champion for justice. In: thueringer-allgemeine.de . July 27, 2021, accessed on July 28, 2021 : “The co-founder of the Democratic Awakening (DA) at the time of transition, who then believed that his political home was in the SPD, left the party in 2005 when, in his opinion, they were dealing with the Agenda 2010 revealed the principles of social coexistence. "
  11. ^ Willy Brandt Circle: Members. In: willy-brandt-kreis.de. Retrieved October 5, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Richter, Edelbert
SHORT DESCRIPTION German theologian and politician (Die Linke), Member of the Bundestag, Member of the Bundestag
BIRTH DATE February 25, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Weimar