Minister President of Land Brandenburg Matthias Platzeck

Ministerpräsident Matthias Platzeck

The biography of the Minister President Matthias Platzek

Matthias Platzeck was born on 29 December 1953 to a medical practitioner and a medical technical assistant in Potsdam. From 1960 to 1966 he attended a general school in Potsdam, and from the 7th grade to the Abitur (general qualification for university entrance) in 1972, he attended the Erweiterte Spezialoberschule Kleinmachnow (extended special secondary school of Kleinmachnow). Subsequently, he did his basic military service in the National People’s Army of the GDR to 1974. From 1974 to 1979, he studied biomedical cybernetics at the Technische Hochschule Ilmenau (Technical University of Ilmenau) and graduated as Diplomingenieur (degreed engineer).

From 1979 to 1980, Matthias Platzeck worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Air Hygiene Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz), from 1980 as Director for Economy and Technology of the Kreiskrankenhaus Bad Freienwalde. From 1982 to 1990, he worked as head of the division of environment hygiene at the Hygiene Inspection Potsdam. During that time (1982 to 1987) he also pursued postgradual studies of environmental hygiene at the Akademie für Ärztliche Fortbildung Berlin (Medical Academy for Postgradual Studies).

Together with like-minded people, Matthias Platzeck was involved in the foundation of the AG Pfingstberg (working group Pfingsberg) and the Potsdamer Bürgerinitiative ARGUS (Potsdam citizens’ group ARGUS) (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Umweltschutz und Stadtgestaltung) (working group for environmental protection and urban design). In November 1989, he became the spokesman of the Grüne Liga (Green League) as its co-founder. In his capacity, he participated at the negotiations of the Central Round Table from December 1989 to February 1990. From February 1990 to April 1990, he was Minister without portfolio of the Cabinet Modrow.
In the People’s Chamber Election in March 1990, Matthias Platzeck achieved a mandate for the Green Party of the GDR. He became the Parliamentary Manager of the parliamentary group Bündnis90/Grüne. He belonged to the 144 Members of the newly-formed German states, who were delegated to the German Bundestag after the unification.

After the federal state election of Brandenburg on 14. 10. 1990, Matthias Platzeck entered the regional parliament as Member of the parliament for the parliamentary fraction Bündnis 90. On 22 November, he was appointed Minister for Environment, Natural Protection and Regional Planning of the State of Brandenburg.

From 1991 to 1993 he belonged to the executive committee of the party "Bündnis 90" in whose merger with the West German Greens in 1993 Platzek was not involved.
In 1994 he was again appointed Minister; in 1995, Matthias Platzeck joined the SPD.

Matthias Platzeck acquired great merits in 1997 when it came to the flooding disaster at the Oder in July /August. Except for the years 1999 to 2002, he has been Member of the Bundesrat since 1991 and since June 1998, he has been a member of the Regional Executive of the SPD.

On 14 June 1998, Matthias Platzeck was nominated by the SPD as candidate for the office of the Lord Mayor of the state capital. He won the elections on 27 September with 63.51 % and became the municipal leader of Potsdam from 4 November 1998 to 26 June 2002.

He became the Regional Chairman of the SPD Brandenburg on 8 July 2000 and was elected Federal Chairman of the SPD. On 10 April 2006, he stepped down as the SPD`s Federal Chairman.
On 26.06.2002, he was elected Minister President of the Federal State of Brandenburg by the Brandenburg state parliament. On 13 October 2004 and on 6 November 2009, he was re-elected Minister President of the Federal State by the Brandenburg state parliament.

Awards:

Lina-Hähnle-Order of the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (German Society for Nature Conservation ) (December 1991),
Hans-Klose-Award of the Alfred-Toepfer-Stiftung für Naturschutz (Alfred-Toepfer Foundation for Environmental Protection) (November 1995),
Goldene Kamera (February 1998),
Gold medal of the IHK Potsdam (Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Potsdam)for the integration of economic and environmental policy (May 1998),
Umweltpreis (prize for environmental care)of the European Natural Heritage “Euronatur“ (June 1998),
Award for his merits from the German-Polish cooperation by the Voivodeship Zielona Gora (July 1998),
1st Class Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (August 1998)
Honorary award “Greif Westpommerns“ by the executive board of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in recognition of his achievements concerning the development of the region (April 2004)
Order “Peter der Große“ of the Russian Academy for Safety related Issues, Defence and Legal System (June 2005)
Order of Commander of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic for his commitment to the German-French cooperation (September 2005)
Honorary award by the Lubuskie Voivodeship for the merits of his achievements in the Lubuskie Voivodeship (October 2006)
Grand Commander with the star of an Order of Merit awarded by the Republic of Hungary in recognition of his achievements concerning the German-Hungarian and Brandenburg-Hungarian relationships (August 2007)
Medal of Honour for his achievements concerning the Lubuskie Voivodeship (February 2008)
Heinz Sielmann Prize of the Heinz Sielmann Foundation (June 2009)
Kristall-Fußball of the Brandenburg Regional Soccer Association (March 2010)
Awarded with the “Lebensboten“ of the Bundesverband der Organtransplantierten e.V. (Federal Association of Organ Transplantation Patients) (September 2010)
Wilhelm-Naulin-Plakette of the Landesverband Brandenburg der Gartenfreunde (Brandenburg Regional Association for Gardening) (June 2011)
Major Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star and Sash (2011)