Achim Großmann (April 17, 1947, in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

– April 14, 2023, in

Würselen Würselen (, Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ) is a town in the borough of Aachen (district), Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Würselen lies north of the city of Aachen in the immediate vicinity of the tripoint of Belgium, ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

(

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

). From 1998 to 2009 he was

Parliamentary State Secretary A Parliamentary State Secretary (') is a member of the Bundestag given a portfolio to assist a Minister with running a government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations us ...

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 Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the TH Aachen, 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 Alsdorf () is a municipality in the district of Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Until the 21st century Alsdorf was a mining area, but now many service companies have established themselves in Alsdorf. Alsdorf has an indoor arena, a ...

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

. 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 Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

. 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 party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

under Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

, 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 (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

and was involved in the preparations for the IPO.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Großmann, Achim 20th-century German politicians Parliamentary State Secretaries of Germany 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 Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1947 births 2023 deaths