Thilo Sarrazin

Thilo Sarrazin
Thilo Sarrazin (2009)
Personal details
Born	12 February 1945 Gera, Germany)

}} Thilo Sarrazin (12 February 1945 in Gera, Germany) is a German politican (SPD). He was minister of finance for the State of Berlin (2002-2009). Since 2009 he has been a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank. He received heavy criticism for his controversial comments about immigration in his book Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany Abolishes Itself), which was published in August 2010.

Early life

Sarrazin was born in Gera, Germany to a doctor and the daughter of a West Prussia landowner. He grew up in Recklinghausen and at age seven he was sent to a children's home in Bavaria. He graduated from the local gymnasium and then served in the military from 1967 to 1971 after which he studied Economics at the University of Bonn, earning his doctorate. From November 1973 to December 1974 he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and became active in the SPD.

In 1975 Sarrazin began working in the Federal Ministry of Finance. Until 1981 he served as Head of Unit in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and from 1981 he returned to the Federal Ministry of Finance. From October 1981 he served as bureau chief and was a close collaborator of Federal Finance Minister Hans Matthöfer and his successor Manfred Lahnstein. Even after the end of the socialist-liberal coalition in October 1982, Sarrazin remained in the Finance Ministry, where he was director of several units, including (from 1989 to 1990) the "Innerdeutsche Beziehungen," which the German monetary, economic and social union prepared. During his time as Head of the Federal Ministry of Finance, he was partly responsible for German railways.

From 1990 to 1991 Sarrazin worked for the Treuhand. Then he was up to 1997 State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Rhineland-Palatinate. Subsequently, he was chief executive of TLG Immobilien (TLG).

Sarrazin is married to Ursula Broad and has two sons.

Deutsche Bahn

Between spring 2000 and December 2001 he was employed by the Deutsche Bahn. Durign his first four months he served as head of internal auditing and from 1 September 2000 he was on the board of DB Netz, responsible for planning and investment.

Sarrazin is considered a key developer of the people's share of the German model railway, which provided for the issue of people voting shares in order to limit the voice of private investors. He claims to have made this proposal to bring the model of capital privatization of Deutsche Bahn to case. He is regarded as a clear supporter of alignment of the railway on profitability under a cost-effectiveness analysis. His relationship with the former CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG, Hartmut Mehdorn, is characterized by a permanent hostility, marked by mutual insults.

After Sarrazin's dismissal from the board of DB Netz AG legal disputes followed. He drew his salary for a transitional period during which the details of the separation procedures were regulated. According to Hartmut Mehdorn, Sarrazin had broken his contract with the company that stated that secondary activities are not allowed. The employment contract was subsequently terminated without notice by the DB. Sarrazin sued, but the case was dismissed by the Federal Court.

Finance Senator

Sarrazin was appointed Finance Senator in the Serlin Senate in January 2002. He held fast to the single-entry bookkeeping system for the financial management of local authorities. Materially, he led a strict savings and budgetary policy. In 2007, there was a boom for the first time in the history of Berlin which led to a budget surplus of € 80 million.

Sarrazin acquired a reputation as a provocateur as a result of his remarks on Berlin's social and educational reputation. His proposals for cuts in the social sphere were often accompanied by protests. In 2008 he made suggestions, such as that ALG II could eat for less than € 4 per day. In 2009 he said of unemployed persons' management of energy: "First, Hartz IV receivers are more at home, second, they like it warm, and thirdly, many regulate the temperature with the window." He called pension increases "completely senseless action", but instead reccommended that the government prepare older citizens for a "long term decline to the level of subsistence."

Controversy

Sarrazin advocates a restrictive immigration policy (with the exception of the highly skilled) and the elimination of transfer payments. There were severe reactions to his statements on economic and immigration policy in Berlin, which were published in September 2009 in Lettre International. In it he described many of the Arab and Turkish immigrants as unwilling to integrate. He said, among other things:

"Integration is a benefit in that it is integrated. I do not recognize someone who does nothing. I must acknowledge anyone who lives by the state and refuses to provide for the education of his children and constantly produces new small girls with headscarves."

The statements of Sarrazin were criticized by the chairman of the Interior Committee of the German Bundestag, Sebastian Edathy (SPD), Verdi and the political scientist Gerd Wiegel. Arno Widmann, culture editor of the Frankfurter Rundschau, wrote: "He reacted hysterically to the change in conditions of West Germany. He's crazy."

Sarrazin's 2010 book Deutschland schafft sich ab came under criticism for stating that Germany's Muslim population does not want to pay taxes and will be responsible for a Germany-wide decrease in intelligence. In an interview with Welt am Sonntag he also claimed that there is a common Jewish gene.