Member of the German Parliament
for Baden-Württemberg
In office
1976–2009
Personal details
Born
(1944-05-16) 16 May 1944 (age 80)
Heidelberg
Citizenship
German
Nationality
German
Political party
Spouse
Renate Weisskirchen (1969–present)
College of Education in Heidelberg
Committees
Bundestag committee on Education and Science
OCSE committee for Humanitarian Affairs and Human Rights
Gert Weisskirchen (orWeißkirchen; born 16 May 1944 in Heidelberg) is a German politician (Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD]).
Weisskirchen graduated from the Gymnasium Wiesloch in 1960 and then went to the Higher Commercial School in Heidelberg until 1962. He then graduated from the College of Education in Heidelberg and Karlsruhe and further studied education, political science and economic and social history at the University of Heidelberg. From 1969 to 1972 Weisskirchen was a teacher at the Epping high school, and from 1972 to 1975 worked as scientific assistant at the Heidelberg College of Education. Then until his leave of absence in 1980 he was Professor of Social Education at the University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden. Since 1995 he has been Honorary Professor of Applied Cultural Studies at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.
Weisskirchen has been married since 1969 and has one daughter.
Weisskirchen joined the SPD in 1966 and became involved first with the Young Socialists; he was a member of the State Executive Committee in Baden-Württemberg from 1969 to 1972; from 1971 to 1972 as state chairman.
From 1973 to 1991 Weisskirchen was chairman of the SPD district association Rhein-Neckar and from 1973 to 1997 a member of the executive committee of the SPD in Baden-Württemberg.
From 1976 to 2009 he was member of the German Bundestag. From 1976 to 1980 he was deputy chairman and from 1980 to 1983 chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag Committee on Education and Science. From 1987 to 1990 he headed the defense conversion working group of the SPD parliamentary group, and was also chairman of the SPD parliamentary group "Education 2000". In December 1991 he was the only member of the Bundestag to observe the Ukrainian referendum on independence.[1] From 1993 to 1998 he was speaker of United Nations working group and from 1998 to 1999 Group Spokesman on culture and media. From November 1998 to October 2007 Weisskirchen was on the board of the SPD parliamentary party and was from 1999 to 2009 speaker of the group working party on foreign policy. Gert Weisskirchen has always been a representative of Baden-Württemberg state in the Bundestag.
From 1994 to 2009 Weisskirchen was a member of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where from 1997 to 2002 he was Chairman of the Committee for Humanitarian Affairs and Human Rights. He was then to 2005 Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly. From 2005 to 2008, Weisskirchen was Personal Representative of the OSCE chairman on anti-Semitism. In 2009 Weisskirchen did not run as a candidate for the Bundestag.
President: Rainer Barzel until 25 October 1984; Philipp Jenninger from 5 November 1984 (CDU)
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Alfred Dregger
SPD
Speaker: Hans-Jochen Vogel
FDP
Speaker: Wolfgang Mischnick
GRÜNE
Speaker: Marieluise Beck-Oberdorf, Petra Kelly, Otto Schily until 3 April 1984; Annemarie Borgmann, Waltraud Schoppe, Antje Vollmer until 30./31. January 1985; Sabine Bard, Hannegret Hönes, Christian Schmidt until 1 February 1986; Annemarie Borgmann, Hannegret Hönes, Ludger Volmer until 18 July 1986); Willi Hoss (8 September 1986)
OTHER
President: Philipp Jenninger until 11 November 1988; Rita Süssmuth from 11 November 1988 (CDU)
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Alfred Dregger
SPD
Speaker: Hans-Jochen Vogel
FDP
Speaker: Wolfgang Mischnick
GRÜNE
Speaker: Thomas Ebermann, Bärbel Rust, Waltraud Schoppe until 26 January 1988; Helmut Lippelt, Regula Schmidt-Bott, Christa Vennegerts until 30 January 1989, Helmut Lippelt, Jutta Oesterle-Schwerin, Antje Vollmer until 15 January 1990; Willi Hoss, Waltraud Schoppe (until 21 June 1990), Marianne Birthler (from 4 October 1990), Antje Vollmer
PDS
Speaker: Gregor Gysi
OTHER
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Alfred Dregger until 25 November 1991; Wolfgang Schäuble from 25 November 1991
SPD
Speaker: Hans-Jochen Vogel until 12 November 1991; Hans-Ulrich Klose from 12 November 1991
FDP
Speaker: Hermann Otto Solms
PDS
Speaker: Gregor Gysi
GRÜNE
Speaker: Werner Schulz
OTHER
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Wolfgang Schäuble
SPD
Speaker: Rudolf Scharping
GRÜNE
Speaker: Joschka Fischer and Kerstin Müller
FDP
Speaker: Hermann Otto Solms
PDS
Speaker: Gregor Gysi
OTHER
SPD
Speaker: Peter Struck, since 25 July 2002 Ludwig Stiegler
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Wolfgang Schäuble; since 29 February 2000 Friedrich Merz
GRÜNE
Speaker: Rezzo Schlauch and Kerstin Müller
FDP
Speaker: Wolfgang Gerhardt
PDS
Speaker: Gregor Gysi; since 2. October 2000 Roland Claus
OTHER
SPD
Speaker: Franz Müntefering
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Angela Merkel
GRÜNE
Speaker: Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Krista Sager
FDP
Speaker: Wolfgang Gerhardt
OTHER
CDU/CSU
Speaker: Angela Merkel and Volker Kauder
SPD
Speaker: Franz Müntefering and Peter Struck
FDP
Speaker: Wolfgang Gerhardt and Guido Westerwelle
LINKE
Speaker: Gregor Gysi and Oskar Lafontaine
GRÜNE
Speaker: Renate Künast and Fritz Kuhn
OTHER
International
National
People