With the drop in support of the center-right and center-left Volksparteien (catch-all parties) it seems as though Germany’s political middle is hollowing out. Different forces and trends are at play. Join us for a Hot Topics Call on Friday, March 13, at 10:00 am (EST) with Thomas Krüger, Director of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, who will discuss how new social and economic cleavages are shaping German politics.
To register for this call, please click here.
Thomas Krüger has been Director of the Federal Agency for Civic Education since 2000, President of the Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk since 1995, and Second Deputy Chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM) since 2012. His career began in 1976 in the then-German Democratic Republic (GDR) with an apprenticeship as a plastics processing worker. Mr. Krüger studied theology in Berlin and Eisenach before becoming a pastor. He started his political career in 1989 as one of the founding members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the GDR and served as the party’s Secretary and as a member of the East German Parliament until 1990. Mr. Krüger was then appointed the first Acting Representative of the Lord Mayor of East Berlin in addition to his function as a City Council member for internal affairs in the joint Berlin city and state government between 1990 and 1991. From 1990 to 1992, he was Deputy State Chairman of the Berlin SPD for the entire city. From 1991 to 1994, Mr. Krüger also served as Senator for Youth and Family in Berlin, after which he was elected to the German Bundestag for four years.