Peter Feldmann

Peter Feldmann
Peter Feldmann (2011)
Mayor of Frankfurt am Main
Assumed office
1 July 2012
Preceded by Petra Roth (CDU)
Frankfurt City Council
In office
1988–2012
Personal details
Born (1958-10-07) 7 October 1958
Helmstedt, Germany
Political party Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Children Daughter, who was born in 2009
Alma mater University of Marburg until 1986
Religion Judaism
Website feldmann-frankfurt.de

Peter Feldmann (born 7 October 1958) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). On 25 March 2012, he was elected mayor of Frankfurt am Main as successor of Petra Roth (CDU). Feldmann took over the office of mayor on 1 July 2012.

Life

Peter Feldmann was born into a Jewish family,[1] in Helmstedt. After passing the Abitur at Frankfurt Ernst-Reuter-Schule in 1979, he spent a year in an Israeli Kibbutz where he became a gardener.[2][3] He then studied political science at the University of Marburg until 1986, before he took on an academic career as a lecturer there. Later he specialised in economics for the social sector, becoming a Sozialbetriebswirt in 2009. Peter Feldmann has worked for several German non-profit organizations, both for hire, and as a volunteer.

He joined the SPD in 1974. From 1981, Feldmann took an active part in university politics as chair of the General Students' Committee, or AStA, at Marburg university. In the same year he was also elected vice president of the SPD youth organization Young Socialists in the SPD, or Jusos, in the German State of Hesse. Feldmann joined the Frankfurt city council in 1988. He was elected vice president of his party's parliamentary group in 2004.

In 2007, Peter Feldmann together with Sergey Lagodinsky was a co-founder of the Arbeitskreis jüdischer Sozialdemokratinnen und Sozialdemokraten, or AJS, a committee of Jewish members within the SPD.[4][5][6] Feldmann has described himself as a "liberal Jew", but says his beliefs are a private matter.[7][8]

In a ballot on 25 March 2012, Peter Feldmann was elected mayor of Frankfurt am Main, gaining 57.4 percent of the votes cast against his competitor Boris Rhein (CDU) who came out second with 42.6 percent.[9] Feldmann was successful with an election programme putting social aspects such as affordable housing on top of the agenda. Mr Feldmann "is also a strong advocate of Israel’s security", the Jerusalem Post noted.[3] He is the first German-Jewish politician to be elected mayor of Frankfurt since Ludwig Landmann who was expelled from his office in 1933.[3][10] Although some papers said after his election that he was the first Jewish politician to be elected mayor of any major city in Germany since World War II,[8][11] he was probably second to Herbert Weichmann (SPD) who was elected mayor of Hamburg in 1965.

Peter Feldmann lives with his longterm partner in Frankfurt am Main. They have a daughter, who was born in 2009.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Jew Elected Mayor of Frankfurt, Germany—Why This Isn’t News. From: Heeb. 5 April 2012. Accessed on 12 April 2012.
  2. ↑ If not noted otherwise, see Peter Feldmann's biography on the website of SPD Frankfurt am Main for details. Accessed on 25 March 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Benjamin Weinthal: Frankfurt elects 1st Jewish mayor since Holocaust. From: The Jerusalem Post. 29 March 2012. Accessed 23 April 2012.
  4. ↑ dpa: Report: German party forms first Jewish caucus since Nazi era. From: Haaretz. 26 April 2007. Accessed on 26 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Canan Topçu: Peter Feldmann. In: Die Zeit. No.21. 16 May 2007, p.13. Accessed 25 March 2012.
  6. ↑ Arbeitskreis jüdischer Sozialdemokratinnen und Sozialdemokraten. Website. Accessed 25 March 2012.
  7. 1 2 Canan Topçu: Herr Feldmann von der SPD. Wie ein jüdischer Sozialdemokrat darum kämpft, am Sonntag Oberbürgermeister zu werden. In: Jüdische Allgemeine. 8 March 2012. Accessed on 25 March 2012.
  8. 1 2 Raphael Ahren: For first time since WWII, a Jew to reign over major German city. Peter Feldmann, mayor-elect of Frankfurt am Main, calls himself a liberal Jew, but says his religious beliefs are a private matter. From: The Times of Israel. 26 March 2012. Accessed on 26 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Feldmann neuer Rathauschef von Frankfurt. In: faz.net. 25 March 2012. Accessed on 25 March 2012.
  10. ↑ Jewish politician elected as new mayor of German city of Frankfurt. World Jewish Congress. 26 March 2012. Accessed on 26 March 2012.
  11. ↑ לראשונה מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה: ראש עיר יהודי בגרמניה. From: mako.co.il. 26 March 2012. Accessed on 26 March 2012 (Hebrew: "For the first time since World War II: German-Jewish mayor. A historic day in Germany").

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