Helmut Holter

Helmut Holter, 2017

Helmut Holter, 2013

Helmut Holter (born May 22, 1953 in Ludwigslust ) is a German politician ( Die Linke ). From 2017 to 2020 he was Minister for Education, Youth and Sport in the Free State of Thuringia in the Ramelow I cabinet and was President of the Conference of Ministers of Education in the 2018 year of office . On March 4, 2020, he was reappointed minister of his previous ministry in the Ramelow II cabinet .

Before that he was Minister for Labor and Construction of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from 1998 to 2006 and Chairman of the Left Group in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Parliament from 2009 to 2016 .

Life and work

After graduating from high school in Halle (Saale) in 1971 , Holter completed a course of studies at the Moscow Institute for Civil Engineering , which he completed in 1976 as a “ Diplomingenieur ” (equivalent to a German “Dipl.-Ing. ( FH )”) for concrete technology. The legally binding addition “(FH)” is missing in Holter's official résumés.

He then worked as a technologist and from 1979 as production manager at VEB Beton Nord in Milmersdorf . From 1981 to 1985 he was secretary of the SED operational organization.

In 1985 he began postgraduate studies at the party college of the CPSU in Moscow , which he completed in 1987 as a social scientist (equivalent to a federal German university degree). He then worked in the Construction / Transport / Energy department of the SED district management in Neubrandenburg until 1989 .

Helmut Holter is married for the second time and has two daughters.

Political party

In 1973 Holter became a member of the SED . From 1991 to 2001 he was state chairman of the PDS in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and from 2000 to 2002 a member of the PDS party executive committee. In 2016, as in 2011, Holter led Die Linke as the top candidate in the state election campaign.

MP

From November 1994 until the resignation of his mandate on December 31, 2002, Holter was a member of the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . In the 2006 state election, Holter was re-elected to the state parliament. From 2006 to 2009 he was deputy chairman of the Die LINKE parliamentary group before becoming parliamentary group chairman in April 2009. In connection with his appointment as minister in Thuringia, he resigned from his state parliament mandate on August 16, 2017.

Holter was always elected to the state parliament via the state list; In 2006 it took fourth place on the list, in 2011 and 2016 it led the list. Holter also ran for a direct mandate in the Schwerin II state electoral district in 2006 , 2011 and 2016 , but failed each time because of the SPD member Jörg Heydorn .

Public offices

Holter in his role as Minister for Education, Youth and Sport at the Luge World Cup 2020 in Oberhof, with Anna Berreiter , Tobias Wendl , Tobias Arlt and the mascot snowman Flocke

After the state elections in 1998, he was appointed Minister for Labor and Construction on November 3, 1998 as well as Deputy Prime Minister in the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania led by Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff ( SPD ).

From November 6, 2002 he was Minister for Labor, Building and Regional Development for the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. After the SPD entered into a coalition with the CDU after the state elections in 2006, Holter left office on November 7, 2006.

After the resignation of Thuringian Education Minister Birgit Klaubert , Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow named Holter as his designated successor. He was sworn in on August 17, 2017.