Rainer Borner

Rainer Börner (born June 16, 1956 in Nordhausen ) is a German cultural manager and former FDJ functionary. For the PDS he was a member of the last people 's chamber in the GDR . He was the first member of the People's Chamber to publicly acknowledge his collaboration with the Ministry for State Security (MfS).

Life

Börner was born on June 16, 1956 in Nordhausen, the son of a farmer. From 1963 to 1973 he attended the Polytechnische Oberschule in Klettenberg , then he switched to the Extended Oberschule in Nordhausen, which he graduated from high school in 1975. Before starting basic military service with the NVA in 1976, Börner worked for a few months as a tractor driver. After completing his military service in 1977, he was admitted to study at the University of Economics in Berlin-Karlshorst , where he studied labor economics and demography until 1981. Associated with this was his entry into the SED . He graduated with a degree in economics. During his studies, Börner initially took on an honorary position within the university as FDJ secretary. His academic achievements and his social commitment within the FDJ were also honored with a Karl Marx scholarship . As part of this activity, Börner also took part as a speaker at the 5th University Conference. After completing his studies, Börner stayed at the university and worked as a full-time FDJ secretary until 1984 and was therefore essentially responsible for the supervision and guidance of the students by the FDJ.

Then Börner switched full-time to the FDJ district management in Berlin, where he initially worked as a department head and later as a secretary for culture. As part of this activity, Börner played a key role in the organization of several large concerts by Western artists in Berlin, including Depeche Mode , Rio Reiser , Uriah Heep , Bob Dylan and Kool & the Gang . In the course of the political change in the GDR, Börner stood for a number of young cadres and new faces in the SED at that time, such as Gabi Zimmer and Roland Claus . In order to keep mainly younger party members in the SED-PDS and later in the PDS, Börner committed himself to founding a working group of young comrades, to whose spokesman he was elected. As a kind of youth representative, the then 33-year-old also took part in the Central Round Table of the GDR for the PDS from January . This meant that the FDJ was at least unofficially represented at the round table, since the youth association, which was supposedly in the process of being dissolved, was not allowed to take part in the round table. Through his involvement within the PDS and at the round table, the party leadership soon became aware of him and, from February 1990, involved him as a member of the party executive committee and head of the Political System / Party Pluralism and Citizens Movement Commission of the PDS party executive committee. As a result, Börner ran for the PDS for the last parliamentary elections on March 18, 1990 . He ran for election in constituency 1 (Berlin) on the quite safe list position 4. Since the PDS was able to win nine people chamber seats in this electoral district, Börner moved into the people chamber as a member. On September 20, 1990, as part of his work as a full-time FDJ secretary, Börner confessed to his cooperation with the Ministry for State Security. This first happened at the University of Economics, where he z. B. was surveyed when coordinating management assignments abroad. After his work at the university, Börner was supposed to switch entirely to the MfS, which he refused. As the cultural secretary of the FDJ district management in Berlin, Börner later inevitably had contact with the MfS, as they were involved in the security concept at the big concerts together with the police. In some cases, his contacts with the MfS made the approval process for concerts easier, but Börner was also asked about people, clubs and bands with whom he had dealings in the course of his work. He also described this in a public letter to Bärbel Bohley , Reinhard Schult and Wolfram Kempe , which the New Germany published on September 22, 1990. As a result, Börner's announcement earned him a lot of respect, especially from civil rights activists, and until then he was the only MP who admitted that he was working with the MfS. Until the 2nd party congress of the PDS in December 1991, Börner remained a member of the party executive committee. When the party chairman Gregor Gysi attempted to exert significant influence on the election of the federal managing director at the party congress , Börner resigned from the party. As a result, he was initially unemployed until he opened a record store in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district in 1994 , which he ran until 1997. Then worked in youth social work until 1998. Due to his long-standing contacts in the music scene, Börner switched to the Rio Reiser Archive in 2000, where he has also worked as a producer since then.

Publications

• Parliament and round table , in Gregor Gysi : We need a third way , Konkret Literatur Verlag, Hamburg 1990, pp. 125–131, ISBN 3-922144-95-0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neue Zeit of September 5, 1980 p. 4.
2. ↑ Neues Deutschland from September 22, 1990 p. 2.

Web links

• Helmut Müller-Enbergs :  Rainer Börner . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Biography of Rainer Börner . In: Wilhelm H. Schröder : The members of the 10th People's Chamber of the GDR (Volkparl)