Walter Romberg (politician)

Walter Romberg (1990)

Grave - old cemetery in Schwerin

Walter Romberg (born December 27, 1928 in Schwerin ; † May 23, 2014 in Teltow ) was a German politician ( SPD ). In 1990 he was Minister without Portfolio in the “ Cabinet of Responsibility ” under Prime Minister Hans Modrow and Minister of Finance of the GDR in the cabinet of Lothar de Maizière .

Life

Walter Romberg was born as the eldest child of the Sparkasse employee Friedrich Wilhelm Romberg and his wife Paula, geb. Marxen, born.

After high school graduated Romberg in 1947 to study physics and mathematics at the University of Rostock and the Humboldt University of Berlin , which he in 1954 as a graduate -Mathematiker and with the promotion of Dr. rer. nat. finished. He then worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Pure Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . From 1965 to 1978 he was editor-in-chief of the Zentralblatt für Mathematik and then headed the Scientific Information, Edition and Library department until 1990.

From 1960 Romberg was active in church lay work and from 1976 he worked in the peace department of the theological study department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR in the areas of peace research, security policy and disarmament. He was also a member of the Christian Peace Conference (CFK). In 1988/89 Walter Romberg worked at the “ Ecumenical Assembly for Justice, Peace and the Preservation of Creation ” in the GDR as an advisor to the working group “The transition from a system of deterrence to a system of political peacekeeping”.

In October 1989, Romberg came during the turn of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR at that united in 1990 with the SPD, and became a member of its Policy Commission.

On February 5, 1990 he was appointed minister without portfolio to the government of the GDR led by Prime Minister Hans Modrow . After the Volkskammer election on March 18, 1990 he was appointed Minister of Finance in the GDR government headed by Lothar de Maizière . He was one of five ministers who took their oath of office without reference to God. As Minister of Finance , he was also a member of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers . In his function as finance minister, he was head of the GDR delegation in negotiations with the federal government on monetary, economic and social union . On May 18, 1990, Romberg and Federal Finance Minister Theo Waigel signed the corresponding state treaty between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany.

In August 1990 Romberg was dismissed as finance minister by Prime Minister de Maizière . This was the reason for the SPD's withdrawal from the government coalition on August 19, 1990. There are different accounts of the reasons for the dismissal. Der Spiegel wrote at the time: “The prime minister had been at odds with his treasurer for weeks because Romberg was incessantly - in the eyes of the prime minister - making new or excessive financial demands on Bonn, but did not pass the available funds on to the distressed companies or municipalities quickly enough . On top of that, the social democrat did not want to accept de Maizière's negotiating concept for the unification treaty , because the planned funding would make the GDR countries in the unified Germany 'economically and politically second class for years to come'. "

In 1991 he was sent to the European Parliament as an observer from the former territory of the German Democratic Republic . After retiring from active politics in 1994, he worked as a consultant for the Society for Technical Cooperation on a project in Kazakhstan .

Walter Romberg was a member of the Protestant Research Academy .

literature

Helmut Müller-Enbergs : Romberg, Walter . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Walter Romberg - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Literature about Walter Romberg in the state bibliography MV

Individual evidence

↑ Walter Romberg died. The SPD minister in the GDR government's turnaround was 85 years old. In: New Germany. May 30, 2014
↑ SPIEGEL 34/1990
^ Motion by the SPD parliamentary group of February 20, 1991 (PDF file); Stenographic report of the Bundestag session on February 21, 1991 , p. 404 (PDF file)

personal data
SURNAME	Romberg, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German politician (SPD), MdV
DATE OF BIRTH	December 27, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH	Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH	May 23, 2014
Place of death	Teltow

[1] Walter Romberg died. The SPD minister in the GDR government's turnaround was 85 years old. In: New Germany. May 30, 2014

[2] SPIEGEL 34/1990

[3] Motion by the SPD parliamentary group of February 20, 1991 (PDF file); Stenographic report of the Bundestag session on February 21, 1991 , p. 404 (PDF file)