Fritz Felgentreu (born 1 September 1968) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD) who served as a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

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 ...

from the state of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

from 2013 to 2021. He has been the chairman of

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold The (, ''"Black, Red, ndGold Banner of the Reich"'') was an organization in Germany during the Weimar Republic, formed by members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the German Centre Party, and the (liberal) German Democratic Par ...

since October 2021.

Education and early career

Born in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, Felgentreu graduated from high school in Büsum in 1987 and then served in the

German Armed Forces The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

for two years. Felgentreu has been living in Berlin since 1989. From 1989 to 1995 he studied

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

and psychology at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

and received his doctorate in 1998 under Widu-Wolfgang Ehlers. From 1998 to 2008 he was a research assistant at the Institute for Classical Philology at the Free University of Berlin. He also taught at

Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster The Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, located in suburban Schmargendorf, Berlin, is an independent school with a humanistic profile, known as one of the most prestigious schools in Germany. Founded by the Evangelical Church in West Be ...

from 2010 until 2013.

Political career

Felgentreu first became member of the Bundestag in the

2013 German federal election Federal elections were held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany/ Christian ...

, representing the constituency of Berlin-Neukölln. Throughout his time in parliament, he was a member of the Defense Committee. From 2014 until 2017, he also served on the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, where he was his parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial suppo ...

. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

following the 2017 federal elections, Felgentreu was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalsco ...

and

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

. From 2018 until 2020, he served as his parliamentary group's spokesperson on defense policy; he resigned after his parliamentary group, contrary to his own recommendation, voted against the government's plans to procure armed combat drones for military use. In June 2020, Felgentreu announced that he would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Concilius, Member of the Senior Advisory Board

Non-profit organizations

Federal Academy for Security Policy The Federal Academy for Security Policy (german: Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik, BAKS) is the Federal Republic of Germany’s interministerial institution for advanced studies, education and training in security policy Security policy is ...

(BAKS), Member of the Advisory Board *

German Historical Museum The German Historical Museum (german: Deutsches Historisches Museum), known by the acronym DHM, is a museum in Berlin, Germany devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (2018–2019)Fritz Felgentreu
�SPD Parliamentary Group

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
1969 births Living people Politicians from Kiel Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub