Dieter Helm (13 July 1941 – 19 July 2022) was a German farmer and politician who served in the

Landtag of Brandenburg The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the state of Brandenburg in Germany. Its 88 members of parliament are usually elected every 5 years. It is responsible for deciding on state laws, controlling the state government an ...

from 1990 to 2009 and in the parliament of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, the

Volkskammer __NOTOC__ The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany). The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...

, in 1990. Helm represented the area around

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

first as a member of the Democratic Farmers' Party and later the Christian Democratic Union.

Early life and career

Helm was born on 13 July 1941 in ,

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. From 1955 to 1957, he received vocational training in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, working as a farmer from 1957 until 1959. Between 1959 and 1962, Helm studied agriculture and

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

at a technical school in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, and he became a state-certified farmer. In 1963, Helm began attending the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, graduating in 1968 with a diploma in agriculture. From 1962 until 1990, Helm worked as the manager of a ''

Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft In East Germany, a Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft (LPG) (English: 'Agricultural Production Cooperative') was a large, collectivised farm in East Germany, corresponding to the Soviet kolkhoz. In the agriculture of East Germany, ...

'', a type of

collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...

, also serving as the farm's deputy chairman and economist beginning in 1972. From 1991 until his death, Helm worked as a self-employed farmer in

Wusterhausen Wusterhausen (official name Wusterhausen/Dosse) is a municipality in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in northwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Dosse, 7 km southeast of Kyritz, and 75 km northwest of Berlin. De ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Political career

In the March

1990 East German general election General elections were held in East Germany on 18 March 1990. They were the only free and fair parliamentary elections in the history of the country, and the first free and fair election held in that part of Germany since November 1932. The All ...

, the first

free and fair A free and fair election is defined by political scientist Robert Dahl as an election in which "coercion is comparatively uncommon". A free and fair election involves political freedoms and fair processes leading up to the vote, a fair count of e ...

parliamentary election in the country's history, Helm was elected to the

as a member of the Democratic Farmers' Party, representing the Potsdam District. In August 1990, Helm, who had been a member of the DFD since 1959, switched his party affiliation to the

Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (german: Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands, CDU) was an East German political party founded in 1945. It was part of the National Front with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and a bl ...

. Following the

reunification of Germany German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

later in 1990, Helm ran in the

1990 Brandenburg state election The 1990 Brandenburg state election was held on 14 October 1990 to elect the members of the first Landtag of Brandenburg. It was the first election held in Brandenburg since the reunification of Germany, which took place on 3 October. The Social De ...

as a member of the unified Christian Democratic Union, and was elected to represent

Ostprignitz-Ruppin Ostprignitz-Ruppin is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from north clockwise) the districts Müritz and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the districts Oberhavel and Have ...

in the

. Helm was re-elected to the Landtag in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. He did not run for re-election in the

2009 Brandenburg state election The 2009 Brandenburg state election was held on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the 5th Landtag of Brandenburg. It took place on the same day as the 2009 federal election and 2009 Schleswig-Holstein state election. The incumbent governm ...

. During his tenure in the Landtag, Helm was a staunch advocate for agricultural and rural issues. He also served as the CDU's spokesman for agricultural issues. Additionally, Helm held several functionary roles within the CDU. From 1992 to 1994, Helm served as the CDU's

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are the ...

, and from 2002 until 2008, he was the chairman of the of the State of Brandenburg. Helm also held several elected positions in local office. From 1993 until 1998, he served on the municipal council of , at some point also serving as the town's mayor. From 1998 to 2010, he also served on the Ostprignitz-Ruppin District Council. At some point, Helm later served on the board of trustees of the Brandenburg Main and State

Stud Farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation o ...

in Neustadt. Helm died on 19 July 2022 at the age of 81. High-ranking CDU officials, including Sebastian Steineke and Jan Redmann, paid tribute to Helm following his death, stating that he was a "fighting spirit that was also open to compromises".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helm, Dieter 1941 births 2022 deaths People from Meissen (district) People from Ostprignitz-Ruppin German farmers Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany politicians Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the 10th Volkskammer Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg 20th-century German politicians 21st-century German politicians Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Mayors of places in Brandenburg