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Thomas Oppermann was a vigorous Social Democrat. He held together the often divided SPD and became its keen explainer. He showed a sense of humor not only as Vice President of the Bundestag.
By Georg Schwarte, ARD capital studio
Thomas Oppermann always breathed a little more. As a lawyer, as a person and as a politician. He was a wanderer who did not get out of the way. “I really like going to the Brocken. You can clear your head and take a deep breath,” he said. He was often away from home on Brocken, his local mountain, so to speak.
Oppermann was born in 1954 on the Münsterland plain as the son of a dairy master. He had three brothers. Only he graduated from high school. Years later he was at his alma mater, the Georg-August-Universität zu Göttingen, where he only matured as a qualified lawyer in eight semesters, and there he said what matters at times like these:
“At a time when the right of the fittest is being ranted again. Where emotions take precedence over facts and nationalist thinking is preached. At a time like this, we must reflect on the values of the Enlightenment. At the university we have learned something like this: tolerance and openness. ”
Schröder took him to the state cabinet
Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann was open to some things. In 1976 he went to the United States as a community organizer for Aktion Sühnezeichen. Barack Obama once had the same job. His fascination with the United States lasted throughout his life. Like the sometimes arduous fascination with his SPD:
“Oak is a slow-growing wood. The SPD is also carved from this wood. That is why we also last longer. That is an advantage that I do not want to miss.”
He kept his party together for a long time. Always where I was. 1980 entry into the party, 1986 second degree exam, judge, legal secretary, state parliament, ministerial office, five years minister of science in Lower Saxony. Gerhard Schröder, who later became chancellor, brought him into the state cabinet.
Sharp-tongued declarant from the SPD
Oppermann always called himself a “fundamentally optimistic person”. He once said that his mother gave him great joie de vivre. Of course, Willy Brandt provided the staying power:
“First, we can learn from him that you have to stand up even in difficult situations. Then, he developed ideas for reform at times that weren’t entirely popular. He overcame it and ultimately he was right. We can learn from Willy. Brandt: the long breath “.
Oppermann won at Göttingen four times as a member of the Bundestag. He replaced current Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz as Parliamentary Managing Director. The sharp-tongued Oppermann became the SPD’s declarant. To the verbal firefighter in times of crisis, to the electoral activist: “The grand coalition must not become a permanent establishment. I do not want this grand coalition to continue.”
Minister of the Interior as a dream job
He wanted to be Minister of the Interior. The father of four sat in the shadow cabinets of Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Peer Steinbrück. But in 2013 Herbert Wehner had to follow or was allowed to follow in the footsteps of the presidency of the SPD parliamentary group. It’s not an easy job. This parliamentary group of the SPD likes to argue and often fought, also with him:
“Unfortunately, I have no authority to give instructions to the 192 members of the group.”
There was the Edathy affair, there were the turbulent years with Sigmar Gabriel, Andrea Nahles and Martin Schulz. Oppermann, the man with stamina, always kept his nerves and kept an overview.
He chaired the plenary with irony
In 2017 he was then Vice President of the Bundestag. He was one of those who led the plenary with irony – if need be in the direction of the AfD with cool precision: “I cannot forbid you to read the newspaper during the debate. But if you hold the newspaper so high, the wrong impression might arise that It is what it is. Around a café here. But it is a functioning parliament. “
“You were a good guy,” wrote CDU politician Peter Altmaier, saying what is the highest praise in Lower Saxony: Being a good guy.
Oppermann recently announced that he did not want to run for the Bundestag again and would pursue other new projects in the future. Last night the lawyer, hiker, person and good companion Oppermann surprisingly died at the age of 66 in his hometown of Göttingen.
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Thomas Oppermann: his political career in pictures
