Ortwin Runde is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 from the Social Democratic

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 party. He was the First Mayor (Erster Bürgermeister) of the Free and Hanseatic City Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 from 1997 to 2001.

Early life and education

Runde was born in Elbing (Elbląg)

Elblag

Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...

, Danzig-Westpreußen. After receiving his high-school diploma in 1964, Runde studied Economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 and Sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 at the universities of Münster

University of Münster

The University of Münster is a public university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The WWU is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities...

 and Hamburg

University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

. He received his diploma in Sociology in 1969. He entered public service in Hamburg in 1970.

Political career

Runde joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1968, and was member of in the state executive of the youth organizations of the SPD (Young Socialists in the SPD

Young Socialists in the SPD

Young Socialists in the SPD is the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .The Jusos see themselves as a socialist and feminist association within the SPD. Generally more left-wing in their approach to current events than their mother party, Jusos tend to criticize leading...

) from 1969 to 1971. In 1978 he became one of deputy chairman of Hamburg's SPD, from 1983 to 1988 he was chairman of Hamburg's SPD.

From 1974 to 1988 he was elected as a member of Hamburg's city assembly (Hamburger Bürgerschaft).

From 1988 to 1993 he was senator (as the official title in Hamburg is) of the department for labour, health and social welfare, from 1993 to 1997 of the treasury department.

After Henning Voscherau

Henning Voscherau

Henning Voscherau is a German notary and Social Democratic politician. He was the First Mayor of his home city from 1988 to 1997, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 1990 – 91.-Education:...

 (SPD) stepped down after internal arguments which whom a political coalition should formed, Runde was elected as First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City Hamburg on November 12, 1997. In the next election four years later, the coalition of SPD and the Green Party

Alliance '90/The Greens

Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...

 lost its majority, and therefore Runde had to leave his office as mayor as well on October 31, 2001.

Since 2002, Runde has been a member of the German parliament, the Bundestag

Bundestag

The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

.

External links

• Website of Ortwin Runde
• Biography at German Bundestag
  Bundestag
  The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...