Ludwig Stiegler (born 9 April 1944 in

Parsberg Parsberg is a town in the county of Neumarkt in Bavaria, Germany. It is 23 km southeast of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, and 33 km northwest of Regensburg, next to the A3 autobahn, the main route from Nuremberg to Regensburg (and then ...

) is a German politician. He was chairman of the

SPD 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 t ...

's group in 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 ...

in 2002Ludwig Stiegler
Bundestag.de, archive.org and deputy chairman - with the exception of the period as a chairman - from 1998 to 2007. From 2003 to 2009, Stiegler was chairman of the

SPD Bavaria The SPD Bavaria (SPD Bayern, own spelling BayernSPD, full name ''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD), Landesverband Bayern'', ''Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), State Association of Bavaria'') is the Bavarian State Association of ...

Education and early career

Stiegler finished high school in 1964. From 1964 to 1967 he was a soldier of the

Bundeswehr 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 ...

. Afterwards he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. He finished in 1976 with the second juridical ''Staatsexamen'' (

Bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...

). Since that he has worked as a lawyer.

Political career

In 1964 Stiegler joined the

. Since 1999 he has been a member of the federal executive board and in 2005 he became a member of the SPD-Presidium. For a short period he was chairman of the party's

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

(July–October 2002), before and afterwards he acted as deputy chairman (1998-2007). Stiegler has been a member of the

since 1980. In 2003 he was elected chairman of the SPD in the state of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and held this office until 2009.

Controversies

Stiegler has been criticized several times for controversial statements. In July 2002 he said that the CDU and FDP didn't have the right to criticize then Federal Minister of the Interior and former

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

-lawyer

Otto Schily Otto Georg Schily (born 20 July 1932) is a former Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany, his tenure was from 1998 to 2005, in the cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Earl ...

in relation to the attempt to ban the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

NPD, because "the forerunners of CDU and FDP helped bring

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

to power." In July 2005 he said that the only thing that came to his mind in relation to the CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

's slogan during the election campaign ''Sozial ist, was Arbeit schafft!'' ("Social is that which creates work") was the line at the door to Nazi Germany's death camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

: "

Arbeit macht frei () is a German phrase meaning "Work sets you free" or "Work makes one free". The slogan is known for appearing on the entrance of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Origin The expression comes from the title of an 1873 novel by Ge ...

" ("Work makes free").

References

External links

Ludwig Stiegler at www.bundestag.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stiegler, Ludwig 1944 births Living people People from Neumarkt (district) Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany