Achim Großmann (April 17, 1947, in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

– April 14, 2023, in Würselen ) was a German politician ( SPD). From 1998 to 2009 he was Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Transport, Construction and Housing and from 2005 Federal Minister for Transport, Construction and Urban Development.

Life and career

After graduating from high school in 1966 at the Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium in Aachen, Großmann studied psychology at the

TH Aachen RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

, which he completed in 1972 with a diploma in psychology. He then worked as an educational consultant at the advice center for parents, children and young people in Alsdorf until 1986, and as its director since 1979. At the same time, he worked for several semesters as a lecturer in administrative psychology at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration in Aachen. Achim Großmann was divorced and had two children.

Public offices

From 1975 to 1998, Großmann was a councilor for the city of Würselen. After the 1998 federal election, he was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Transport, Construction and Housing in the Government led by Gerhard Schröder. After the formation of the

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

under Chancellor Angela Merkel, the ministry was renamed the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. After the 2009 federal election and the subsequent change in government, Großmann left office in October 2009. In his eleven years in office, he served under five different construction and transport ministers. As Parliamentary State Secretary, Achim Großmann was a member of the supervisory board of

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

and was involved in the preparations for the IPO.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Großmann, Achim 20th-century German politicians 21st-century German politicians Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990 Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 1947 births 2023 deaths