Jochen Steffen

Jochen Steffen (1973)

Jochen Steffen in conversation with Helmut Schmidt , 1973

Stele (tombstone) Jochen Steffen in the garden of the Gustav Heinemann educational institution in Malente

Karl Joachim Jürgen Steffen (born September 19, 1922 in Kiel ; † September 27, 1987 there ) was a German politician of the SPD Schleswig-Holstein . Among other things, he was the state chairman of his party. In addition to his political activities, he gained fame as a cabaret artist with his character Kuddl Schnööf .

Study and job

Jochen Steffen studied from 1946 at the University of Kiel the subjects literature , philosophy , psychology and sociology . After seven semesters, he finished his studies without a degree. Nevertheless, Michael Freund employed him as his research assistant at the Department of Science and the History of Politics . Through this activity, Jochen Steffen was a colleague of Gerhard Stoltenberg , his later political opponent. Then Steffen worked as an editor in the SPD press, for example for the weekly Flensburger Presse , the Kieler Volkszeitung and others.

Since autumn 1974 Steffen has been on the advisory board of the newly founded magazine Technologie und Politik , of which Freimut Duve was the publisher.

Political mandates

Jochen Steffen was elected state chairman of the Young Socialists in 1954. From 1958 to 1977 he was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag . In 1965 the state party congress elected him chairman of the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein .

From 1966 to 1973 Steffen worked as an opposition leader in the state parliament and twice ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister ( 1967 and 1971 ). In the 1970/71 election campaign, the Schleswig-Holstein SPD was supported by the “North Voters' Initiative” ( Siegfried Lenz , Günter Grass , Eberhard Jäckel ). After the election defeat by Gerhard Stoltenberg ( CDU ) in 1971 , he gradually withdrew from politics.

The “red yoke” - so called not because of his hair color, as he said with a wink, but because of his “left” political position - broke with the growth ideology and stood up against nuclear power plants and for nature conservation. In 1973 he resigned the chairmanship of the SPD parliamentary group in the Kiel state parliament. Klaus Matthiesen was elected as his successor . In 1975 Steffen resigned from the chairmanship of the SPD regional association and also resigned from the SPD Fundamental Values ​​Commission. In 1977 he renounced his state parliament mandate and the seat on the SPD federal executive committee. In 1980 he left the party because he was disappointed with the party's course, which in his opinion was too capitalism- friendly.

After working as a politician, Jochen Steffen worked as a cabaret artist. He lived in Kiel-Holtenau until his death .

Cabaret work

Jochen Steffen alias Kuddl Schnööf gave cabaret lectures in Missingsch in Kiel . He was often compared to the figure of Adolf Tegtmeier , but differed from this ostensibly rather apolitical figure in his strong political and critical awareness. Today the cabaret artist name Kuddl Schnööf is almost better known than the politician name Jochen Steffen.

Award

• German Cabaret Prize 1978

Fonts (selection)

• Structural revolution. About the worthlessness of things. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1974, ISBN 3-498-06105-4 .
• Crisis Management or Politics? Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1974, ISBN 978-3-499-11826-5 .
• Kuddl Schnööf's mindful thoughts and opinions of the social revolution and other important matters . With wat in front from Siegfried Lenz. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1972, ISBN 3-455-07420-0 .
• Now you come !: Kuddl Schnööfs noie mindful thoughts and opinions . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1975.
• Off to the final interrogation. Findings of the responsible court jester of the revolution Karl Radek . (Together with Adalbert Wiemers.) Bertelsmann, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-570-00561-5 .
• There you go: Kuddl Schnööfs noieste eight-minded thought and opinion . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1981.
• Vonna's life - noieste un olle thoughts, Kuddl Schnööf . Edited by Jens-Peter Steffen. With a foreword by Siegfried Lenz, caricatures by Liz Crossley, Agimos, Kiel 1997, ISBN 978-3-931903-11-4 .

media

literature

• Jens-Peter Steffen (Ed.): Jochen Steffen. Personal description. Biographical sketches of a militant socialist. Agimos, Kiel 1997, ISBN 3-931903-09-5 .
• Uwe Danker: We make the future come true! - State politics in the 1970s, the Stoltenberg-Steffen era . In Uwe Danker: The Story of the Century . Volume 2, Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, Flensburg 1999, pages 228–247.
• Gert Börnsen : Memories of Jochen Steffen. In: Democratic History , Volume 20, editor: Society for Politics and Education Schleswig-Holstein eV, Malente 2010, Online (accessed December 10, 2017).
• Uwe Danker , Jens-Peter Steffen (ed.): Jochen Steffen: a political life. Schleswig-Holsteinischer Geschichtsverlag, Malente 2018, (special publication by the Advisory Board for History; 24), ISBN 978-3-933862-53-2 . (Table of contents here) [1]

Press

• Rudolf Augstein : Is the progress always red? In: Der Spiegel , No. 17/1971, p. 28.
• Hermann Schreiber : And lead us where we don't want to go. In: Der Spiegel, No. 17/1971, p. 28.
• Helmut Schmidt in Zeitmagazin No. 38, 2010
• (Cover story): Elections in Schleswig-Holstein. In: Der Spiegel, No. 17/1971, p. 28.
• Stefan Appelius : Hit someone in the bib. In: Vorwärts , 10/1992, p. 20.

Discography

• Jochen Steffen & Kuddl Schnööf . Record BASF 20 21789-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Holtenau history: Jochen Steffen

Web links

Commons : Jochen Steffen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Jochen Steffen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Jochen Steffen in the State Parliament Information System Schleswig-Holstein
• SPD history workshop Jochen Steffen