Heinz Vietze

Heinz Vietze (born 19 September 1947) is a former German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) and its successors, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and The Left. A local functionary of the SED in the 1980s, Vietze rose to become the last First Secretary of the Bezirk Potsdam SED during the Peaceful Revolution. He remained an influential politician of the PDS even after German reunification, being elected to the Landtag of Brandenburg, where he was the longtime whip of his party, and serving as key player of the Brandenburg PDS. At the same time, Vietze stirred controversy especially due to his collaboration with the Stasi.

Vietze retired from active politics in 2007, being elected chairman of the PDS's Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, a position he left in 2012.

Life and career Early life Heinz Vietze was born in 1947 in Zeitz, which at the time was part of the Soviet occupation zone, to a working-class family. He joined the Free German Youth (FDJ), the only legal youth movement in East Germany, in 1961. He became a member of the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1966,

Following this, he attended a one-year course for youth functionaries at the FDJ Youth Academy "Wilhelm Pieck" at the Bogensee. From 1968 to 1970, he thereafter worked as an employee of the Potsdam FDJ and then served as the Second and later First Secretary of the Potsdam FDJ until 1974. As Stasi informant, Vietze passed on critical remarks about the GDR made by young people, including their names and addresses.

In 1982, he summoned the future Brandenburg Finance Minister Rainer Speer, who was working in an FDJ cultural center at the time, and forced him to cancel a planned event because church groups, who became a center of the opposition movement, were also supposed to participate, threatening to transfer him to production. making him the absolute ruler of a mostly rural district of about 130,000 people north of Berlin. In May 1989, Vietze removed Wilfried Seidel, the dry and unpopular Lord Mayor of Potsdam, as well as one-third of all members of the city government.

Peaceful Revolution Former Bezirk Potsdam SED building in 2008. The SED's logo still is faintly visible. The building later housed the Landtag of Brandenburg. During the Peaceful Revolution, on 14 September 1989,

Despite these previous hardliner stances, longtime incumbent Günther Jahn having resigned due to public pressure.

Reunified Germany Even after German reunification, Vietze remained an influential politician of the PDS. He was the first chairman of the Brandenburg PDS From 2004, he again was part of party leadership as member of the Die Linke.PDS's party executive. which is affiliated with the party. In December 2012, Dagmar Enkelmann was elected chairwoman of the foundation, Vietze retiring.

Personal life Vietze is married and has three children. He lives in Potsdam-Golm, where he served as borough councillor until July 2024.