Diether Dehm (full name Jörg-Diether Wilhelm Dehm-Desoi; born 3 April 1950) is a German singer-songwriter, music producer and left-wing politician. He is currently a member of the Left Party, and has previously been a member of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
and the
PDS
PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
* ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper
* Post Diaspora, a time frame in the ''Honorverse'' ...
.
Early life and education
Dehm was born in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
on 3 April 1950. His father Otto Dehm was a mechanic, and played football for
FSV Frankfurt
Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...
, and his mother Inge (née Schulz) was a clerk. He studied
remedial education
Remedial education (also known as developmental education, basic skills education, compensatory education, preparatory education, and academic upgrading) is assigned to assist students in order to achieve expected competencies in core academic ski ...
, graduating in 1972, and receiving a doctorate in 1975.
Career as songwriter and music producer
Dehm performed as a singer-songwriter in the 1960s under the pseudonym Lerryn, a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words''Lenin''. He won an award at the ', a seminal arts festival held in 1968. In 1971, he founded ('Songs in the Park'), a summer festival showcasing singer-songwriters, and organised ('Rock Against the Right Wing') events.
Dehm produced, wrote and played on Dutch folk rock band
Bots
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...
's album ('Stand Up'). Included on the album is , the German version of Bots's best-known song, ('Seven Days Long'); the translation was done by Dehm and
Günter Wallraff
Günter Wallraff (born 1 October 1942) is a German writer and undercover journalist.
Research methods
Wallraff came to prominence thanks to his striking journalistic research methods and several major books on lower class working conditions an ...
. Dehm, using the pseudonym N. Heirell, collaborated with
Klaus Lage
Klaus Lage (born 16 June 1950) is a German musician from Soltau, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land ...
to write the song ('1000 and 1 Night'), which reached number five on the German singles charts in September 1984.
In 1988, Dehm wrote a new party anthem for the SPD, titled .
In the 1990s, Dehm wrote the screenplay for the musical film , starring
Katharina Witt
Katarina Witt (, ; born 3 December 1965) is a German former Figure skating, figure skater. A two-time Winter Olympics, Olympic champion, Witt is regarded as one of the greatest ladies' singles figure skaters of all time. Her Laureus World Sport ...
; Dehm had been Witt's manager for a time.
Stasi activities
In 1970–1971, Dehm was recruited by the East German
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
secret service, and both he and his wife Christa Desoi became
unofficial collaborator
An unofficial collaborator or IM (; both from German ''inoffizieller Mitarbeiter''), or euphemistically informal collaborator (''informeller Mitarbeiter''), was an informant in the German Democratic Republic, German Democratic Republic (East German ...
s (IMs). Dehm used the codename ''Willy''. His most notable work for the Stasi came in 1976, after dissident East German songwriter
Wolf Biermann
Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976.
Early life
Biermann was b ...
was exiled while in West Germany. Dehm became Biermann's manager, and reported on Biermann's activities. According to Stasi files, Dehm also reported on, among other subjects, activities of the SPD and certain West German artists, and goings-on at the University of Frankfurt. In 1996, a court ruled that it was legal to refer to Dehm as a Stasi informer.
Political career
Dehm was a member of the SPD from 1966 to 1998, serving as a member of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
for a short time in 1994. He became a member of the
PDS
PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
* ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper
* Post Diaspora, a time frame in the ''Honorverse'' ...
in 1998, and was elected one of its deputy chairs in 1999. He won re-election to that position twice, but lost when he ran for a fourth term in 2003.
From 2004 to 2010, Dehm was state chairman for
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
in the Left Party. He has been a Left Party member of the Bundestag since 2005. Since 2010, he has chaired the , a Left Party group representing entrepreneurs, and has advocated on behalf of businesspeople.
Controversies
In 2016, it was revealed that Dehm had hired former
Red Army Faction
The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970.
The ...
terrorist
Christian Klar
Christian Klar (born 20 May 1952) is a former leading member of the second generation Red Army Faction (RAF), active between the 1970s and 1980s. Imprisoned in 1982 in Bruchsal Prison, he was released on 19 December 2008, after serving over 26 ...
to perform work on his website. His employment of Klar was disclosed when Dehm attempted to obtain clearance for him to work inside the Bundestag building.