Sylvia Bretschneider
Sylvia Bretschneider | |
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Speaker of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |
Personal details | |
Born | Waren, Bezirk Neubrandenburg, East Germany | 14 November 1960
Died | 28 April 2019 Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany | (aged 58)
Political party | SPD |
Alma mater | Leipzig University |
Occupation |
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Website | www |
Sylvia Bretschneider (14 November 1960 – 28 April 2019) was a German teacher, education administrator and politician (SPD). She was a member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern between 1994 and 2017, taking over as speaker of the state parliament in 2002, and serving in that office, formally, till her death.
Early life and career
[edit]Sylvia Bretschneider was born on 14 November 1960 in Waren (Müritz), a small town located between Rostock and Berlin. She attended school locally, successfully completing her Abitur in 1979.[1] Between 1979 and 1983 she studied at the institute of Theoretical and Applied Language Sciences at Leipzig University, then called Karl Marx University, graduating with a teaching degree in the English and German languages. She worked as a teacher in Neubrandenburg between 1983 and 1989. In 1989 she switched careers, working for a year in a senior administrative position with the bus and transport company in her home town. She then worked from 1990 to 1994 at the Neubrandenburg Education Department.[2]
Political career
[edit]During the GDR years, Bretschneider was not a member of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) nor of any other political party. During the Wende – the months of massive political change that followed the breaching by protesters of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 – she joined the moderately left-wing Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She served as a member of the party's regional executive from 1991 to 2003, becoming deputy chair in 1998 or 1999.[1][2]
In 1994, she was elected to the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[3] Between 1994 and October 2002, she served as her party's speaker on education, youth policies and culture.[4] In 2002, she was elected president of the Landtag, a position she continued to hold until her withdrawal from office.[4] She was most recently re-elected in October 2016, receiving the votes of 45 of the chamber's 71 members.[3] She was elected Speaker of Parliament (Landtagspräsidentin) in 2002.[1][2]
Bretschneider withdrew from her offices in 2017 for cancer treatment.[5]
Personal life
[edit]Bretschneider was married; she and her husband had three daughters.[5]
She died of cancer on 28 April 2019 in Neubrandenburg at the age of 58.[5][6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Sylvia Bretschneider, SPD". Persönliche Angaben: Diplomlehrerin, Präsidentin des Landtages. Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ a b c Helmut Müller-Enbergs. "Bretschneider, Sylvia * 14.11.1960 Präsidentin des Landtags von Mecklenburg-Vorpommern". Wer war wer in der DDR?. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ a b "Bretschneider als Landtagspräsidentin wiedergewählt". NNN Norddeutsche Neueste Nachrichten GmbH, Rostock. 4 October 2016. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
- ^ a b "Sylvia Bretschneider". Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
- ^ a b c Voigt, Simon (28 April 2019). "Sylvia Bretschneider ist tot". Nordkurier (in German). Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ "Landtagspräsidentin Sylvia Bretschneider (58) ist tot". Ostsee-Zeitung (in German). 28 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
External links
[edit]- 1960 births
- 2019 deaths
- People from Waren (Müritz)
- People from Bezirk Neubrandenburg
- Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
- Members of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- Deaths from cancer in Germany
- Women members of state parliaments in Germany
- 20th-century German politicians
- 21st-century German women politicians
- 20th-century German women politicians
- 21st-century German politicians
- German schoolteachers
- Leipzig University alumni