Torsten Pötzsch

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Torsten Pötzsch (2016)

Torsten Pötzsch (born April 29, 1971 in Forst (Lausitz) ) is a German local politician ( voter association Klartext) who has been Lord Mayor of Weißwasser / Oberlausitz in Saxony since 2010 .

Life and work

Torsten Pötzsch was born in Forst (Lausitz) in the GDR . His parents moved to Weißwasser a few months after he was born. There Pötzsch attended the Polytechnic High School Bruno Bürgel and then the Extended High School Lew Landau , where he passed the Abitur examination in 1989 . In 1990 he began training as a banker at the local savings bank, where he worked until 2000, most recently as a corporate account manager. He completed a distance / direct course to become a savings bank business economist. He then worked as a controller in a regional mechanical engineering company. At the end of 2002 he founded a partnership for event marketing and organized the Day of Saxony 2005 in Weißwasser / Oberlausitz together with the city administration .

When he was elected mayor of Weißwasser / Oberlausitz in 2010, he stood for election with five other candidates. In the second ballot, he was elected the new mayor with 54% of the votes cast. The current, second term of office runs until 2024.

politics

In 2004 he founded the Klartext voter association with some friends . As an open and unbureaucratic representation of interests, they wanted to be a mouthpiece for the youth and put their work in the service of the common good of the people living here. Torsten Pötzsch moved into the Weißwasseran city ​​council in 2004 until he had to resign in 2007 because the city council appointed him the managing director of the municipal housing association.

Pötzsch has been Lord Mayor of Weißwasser since November 7, 2010.

In 2014 and 2019 he ran for the Free Voters for the district council of the district of Görlitz, where he has been a member since 2014. In 2014 and 2019 he was elected honorary second deputy to District Administrator Bernd Lange .

As Lord Mayor and District Council member , he is active in various committees. He is co-initiator of the local alliance Lausitzrunde and its spokesman for the Saxon part of the country. Since the beginning of 2020 he has been chairman of the supervisory board of Wirtschaftsregion Lausitz GmbH - whose shareholders are the districts of Dahme-Spreewald , Elbe-Elster , Spree-Neisse , Oberspreewald-Lausitz , Görlitz , Bautzen and the independent city ​​of Cottbus . According to his own statements, Pötzsch advocates a social structural change in the course of the exit from lignite-based power generation in Lusatia and wants to prevent a further structural break for his home region by relocating and strengthening the existing companies and skills . With various partners, he tries to inspire people, organizations (e.g. WWF Germany ) and companies across Europe for his homeland and to create new anchor locations. An example of such a place is the site of the former Telux glass factory in Weißwasser, on which the Telux Sociocultural Center and currently the first examples of the creative industries and other smaller companies have been located since late summer 2017 .

Together with the mayor Thomas Zschornak of the Saxon community Nebelschütz and the Saxon state parliament member and parliamentary group leader Franziska Schubert from Bündnis90 / Die Grünen, he advocates other ways in local politics. Instead of the term “sustainability”, they speak of “suitable for grandchildren” - this is how the future of the region should be shaped, with a view to possible opportunities for future generations.

Since the local elections in 2019, his electoral association has been the strongest faction of the 21 + 1 member city council of Weißwasser / OL with seven seats.

Volunteering and commitment

Torsten Pötzsch is a member of various networks such as the Mobile Youth Work and Socioculture eV, the Upper Lusatia Alliance or the Upper Lusatia Spatial Pioneers and a founding member of regionally committed associations such as the Neufert-Bau Weißwasser eV

With Neufert-Bau Weißwasser eV he strives to bring the legacy of Bauhaus culture in his city closer to the residents and visitors. One of the activities of the association is to renovate an old warehouse (the Neufert building), which was built by the Bauhaus architect Ernst Neufert for his friend, the Bauhaus designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld , and to make it accessible to the public again as a historic building.

In May 2020, it was approved by the German National Foundation with the German National Prize awarded, which is endowed with € 30,000. The jury justified the award with the fact that Pötzsch tirelessly sought dialogue with the citizens, although he was threatened and an attack on his life had already been carried out.

Private

Pötzsch lives with his partner and their two children in his hometown of Weißwasser / OL. In his spare time he plays volleyball, table tennis and tennis. Since 1990 has been running a mobile discotheque with other friends called "Nihil Novum Sole" and can be experienced as " DJ OB" with a musical mix of rock , indie , reggae , ska and more at various events - often with a charitable background.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lausitz round news. Retrieved on May 28, 2020 (German).
  2. ^ Lusatia in Brussels. May 28, 2020, accessed May 28, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Sabine Seifert: Coal phase-out in Lausitz: What comes after coal? In: The daily newspaper: taz . February 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed on May 28, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Lausitzer Rundschau: New beginning in Weißwasser: ?? Together we are strong ??. March 14, 2019, accessed May 28, 2020 .
  5. ↑ City Council | Weißwasser / OL Retrieved May 28, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Lausitzer Rundschau: Weißwasser: Hope for the Neufert building again. August 16, 2018, accessed May 28, 2020 .
  7. ^ Chronicle of the association's activities. Retrieved on May 28, 2020 (German).
  8. ↑ Weißwasser - Saxon Lord Mayor Pötzsch receives German National Prize. Retrieved on May 8, 2020 (German).
  9. ↑ "The price motivates me". Retrieved May 28, 2020 .


personal data
SURNAME Pötzsch, Torsten
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Forst (Lausitz)