Former GDR civil rights activist Werner Schulz is dead. He died under dramatic circumstances on Wednesday during an event at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace. This was announced by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, visibly shocked, during a conference at which Schulz wanted to participate in the discussion.
The Green politician was 72 years old. Schulz had been “a good and close advisor to him in all things East-West,” said Steinmeier when he brought the news of the accident to the conference participants.
Schulz collapsed on the sidelines of the conference. The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, who is a doctor, tried to resuscitate the Green politician. However, this did not work. The conference ended after a minute’s silence by the participants.
Steinmeier pays tribute to the deceased
In a letter of condolence to the widow Monika Schulz, the Federal President recognized the deceased as a passionate fighter for democracy and freedom. “Werner Schulz was one of those courageous personalities to whom we all owe the fall of the Wall in our reunited country,” he wrote. “I admired him deeply for his courage, his always upright attitude and at the same time for his analytical skills.” He will miss Schulz as an important and highly valued interlocutor.
In the GDR, Schulz fought fearlessly and persistently despite repression, first in the church peace movement and later as a co-founder of the New Forum and as a member of the Central Round Table of the GDR for a democratic revolution. As one of the first East German MPs in the Bundestag, he was highly respected across party lines. “We are losing one of our most passionate politicians, who maintained his independence and took positions where it was uncomfortable.”
Member of the Bundestag and EU Parliament
Schulz was born on January 22, 1950 in Zwickau. He studied food chemistry and technology at the Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1968 he was active in various opposition groups in the GDR. In 1989 he was one of the founding members of the New Forum, which he represented at the Round Table. In 1990 Schulz became a member of the first freely elected People’s Chamber of the GDR. From October 1990 to October 2005 he was a member of the Bundestag for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and from 2009 to 2014 of the European Parliament.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) paid tribute to the deceased on Twitter: “He has done a great job for our country, for the merging of East and West,” said the head of government. “My thoughts are with his family and companions – I wish them a lot of strength.”
“Tireless champion of democracy”
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) was sad and shocked. “He was able to make the totalitarianism of the SED regime and the difference to democracy and the rule of law understandable like no other.” Schulz was a civil rights activist through and through. “His voice and rousing intervention will be missed.”
Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) wrote on Twitter: “On the 33rd anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we are losing a tireless advocate of democracy in Werner Schulz.” Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) praised Schulz as someone who was driven in the best sense of the word in the service of democracy. “His thinking was characterized by the courage to contradict.”
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) described the Green politician as an important voice in German democracy. “As a GDR opposition figure, as a politician and speaker, he tirelessly emphasized the importance of discussion, expertise and the clear commitment to democracy for our society.”
The director of the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, Anna Kaminsky, said: “With Werner Schulz we are losing a committed, combative and, above all, warm-hearted supporter.” Schulz has been a member of the board of trustees since the foundation was established in 1998. Its chairman Markus Meckel also paid tribute to him: “For years he has been far-sighted – especially as a member of the European Parliament – criticizing Germany’s Russia policy and calling for a realistic debate with Putin.”
