Gregor Gysi German politician Date of Birth: 16.01.1948 Country: Germany

1. Biography of Gregor Gysi - German Political Activist
2. Early Life and Family
3. Education and Legal Career
4. Political Career

Biography of Gregor Gysi - German Political Activist

Gregor Gysi is a German political activist who has served as a member of the Bundestag, the national parliament, for over 20 years with a few breaks. He is known for his public speeches criticizing the policies of Western countries, particularly the United States.

Early Life and Family

Gregor Gysi's father, Klaus Gysi, was born into a Jewish family and was a well-known public and political figure in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He held positions such as Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Council for Church Affairs under the GDR's Council of Ministers. Gregor Gysi's mother, Irene Gysi (formerly Lessing), was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, to a merchant family. After the end of World War I, she immigrated to Germany with her parents. Gregor Gysi is also the nephew of the renowned British writer and Nobel Prize laureate, Doris Lessing, through his mother's brother, Gottfried Lessing.

Education and Legal Career

Gregor Gysi graduated from the Law Faculty of Berlin University in 1970. He became a practicing lawyer in 1971, and among his clients were dissidents who criticized the political system of the GDR, such as Robert Havemann and Rudolf Baro. Gysi has been a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SEPG) since 1967 and joined the protest movement in the late 1980s, advocating for liberalization similar to the Soviet Union's perestroika.

Political Career

In 1990, Gregor Gysi was elected Chairman of the reformed Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which was later renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). He was also elected to the People's Chamber of the GDR. In the first federal elections of unified Germany held on October 16, 1994, Gysi was elected as one of the thirty PDS representatives in the Bundestag. In 1998, he stepped down as party chairman but remained the leader of its parliamentary group from 1998 to 2000. He was re-elected to the Bundestag in the elections held on September 27, 1998. His resignation as party chairman was prompted by a scandal involving his collaboration with the Stasi, the East German secret police.

After the coalition of the PDS and SDPG (Social Democratic Party of Germany) came to power in Berlin following municipal elections, Gregor Gysi became the Deputy Mayor and Senator for Economy, Labor, and Women's Affairs in Klaus Wowereit's government. However, he was involved in a scandal related to the misuse of "bonus miles" accumulated from official business trips for personal purposes, which led to his resignation on July 31, 2002.

In May 2005, Gregor Gysi played a prominent role in the pre-election campaign for the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and participated in the merger of the left-wing spectrum of German politics into a united party called The Left Party. The party achieved considerable success at the federal and state levels in subsequent elections. After the merger of left-wing forces on July 16, 2007, forming the party "Die Linke" (The Left), Gregor Gysi became one of its main leaders and co-chair of its parliamentary group.

The German edition of the film "The Lives of Others" on DVD was recalled from sale due to remarks made by the director in the audio commentary about Gregor Gysi's activities and actress Jenny Gröllmann's involvement as agents of the East German secret police, the Stasi.