Klaus Thielmann

Klaus Thielmann
Thielmann (centre) in 1989
Minister of Health and Social Affairs[a]
In office
27 January 1989 – 12 April 1990
Chairman of the
Council of Ministers
Preceded byLudwig Mecklinger
Succeeded byJürgen Kleditzsch (Health)
Regine Hildebrandt (Labor and Social Affairs)
Personal details
Born
Klaus Thielmann

(1933-10-29)29 October 1933
Pulsnitz, Free State of Saxony, Nazi Germany (now Germany)
Died25 January 2024(2024-01-25) (aged 90)
Political partySocialist Unity Party
(1978–1989)
EducationUpper Sorbian Gymnasium in Bautzen
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Civil Servant
  • Academic
  • Physician

Klaus Thielmann (29 October 1933 – 25 January 2024) was an East German physician, civil servant and politician of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

He served as East Germany's penultimate Health Minister, being appointed on the eve of and serving during the Peaceful Revolution. Thielmann was of Sorbian descent and the only Sorb to ever hold a ministerial position in East Germany and, to date, Germany on a national level.

Life and career

Early career

Thielmann grew up as the son of a family of physicians and graduated from the Sorbian High School in Bautzen,[1] and studied medicine from 1952 to 1957 at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig and the Medical Academy in Erfurt.[1][2]

In 1957, he earned his doctorate in medicine (Dr. med.), worked for one year as an assistant doctor at the district hospital in Stralsund, and from 1958 to 1959, served as a ship's doctor for the Deutsche Seereederei (DSR).[2]

Academic career

From 1959 to 1963, Thielmann worked as a scientific assistant at the Institutes of Physiological Chemistry at the universities of Greifswald and Jena. At Friedrich Schiller University Jena, he was appointed senior physician in 1963 and became a university lecturer after his habilitation in 1965.[2] From 1968 to 1971, Thielmann was a guest professor at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas (CNIC) in Havana.[1][2]

In 1974, he was appointed a full professor at the Medical Academy in Erfurt and served as prorector for Natural Sciences and Medical Research there from 1976 to 1982.[1][2] Thielmann joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1978.[2]

In 1982, he left academia when he was appointed deputy minister in the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education.[1][2]

Health minister

On 27 January 1989, he was made minister of health.[1][2][3] With this, Thielmann was the only Sorb to ever hold a ministerial position in East Germany and Germany as a whole.[1]

He succeeded fellow physician Ludwig Mecklinger, who officially retired "at his own request",[3] but was actually fired and replaced by Thielmann on the instigation of Karl Seidel, head of the Central Committee Health Policy Department. Mecklinger had already fallen out of favor with Erich Honecker for calling the death of his beloved two-year-old granddaughter Mariana in January 1988 "tragic and unavoidable".[4]

At the start of Thielmann's tenure, the East German health care system had been crumbling for several years, many hospitals being in a state of disrepair and suffering from outdated technical equipment, high workloads on medical and nursing staff and severe labor and material shortages.[5][6][7] These problems were exacerbated by the wave of refugees in the summer of 1989.[5][6][7] Thielmann encouraged open discussion, holding the first East German National Health Conference in September 1989.[6]

During the Peaceful Revolution, Thielmann was one of only a few ministers kept by the new transitional government of Hans Modrow, additionally taking on the responsibility for social affairs.[2]

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Thielmann requested help from West Germany in late 1989, directly writing to Chancellor Helmut Kohl.[8] In cooperation with the German Red Cross and the Federal Government, an emergency aid programme was initiated in February 1990, which saw the Federal Government providing East Germany with 500 million DM for the purchase of medicines, highly specialised medical technology, medical consumables and rehabilitation technology.[6][8] Thielmann additionally deployed 2,000 National People's Army members in the health sector in every Bezirk from December 1989.[5][6][7] At the same time, his decision-making was increasingly hampered by having to consult with the round table for his office.[4]

His ministerial career ended in April 1990 after the first free elections in East Germany, when Jürgen Kleditzsch was appointed as his successor. After leaving office, Thielmann expressed shame for the SED's failures, accusing them of having abused the public's trust.[9]

Reunified Germany

After the reunification of Germany, he was employed as a full professor at the Institute of Pathology of the Medical Faculty (Charité) of Humboldt University in Berlin until October 1991.[2]

From 1992 to 1994, Thielmann worked as a management consultant at the International Finance and Banking School in Moscow on behalf of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and from 1994 to 1997, he was on a similar mission at the Regional Bank Training Center for the Central Asian region (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) in Tashkent. From 1998 to 2001, Thielmann led an EU project in Moscow to support the management and leadership of the Russian healthcare system (EU/TACIS: ‘Support to Health Care Management in the Russian Federation’). Afterwards until 2004, Thielmann was involved in the implementation of several international projects aimed at reforming the Russian healthcare system. Concurrently and thereafter, Thielmann dedicated himself to his extensive publication and lecture activities.[2]

Thielmann died on 25 January 2024 at the age of 90.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Zschöckner, Tobias. "Politik - mit sorbischer Kraft für Staat und Gesellschaft". www.sorbe.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-02. Der spätere Minister für Gesundheitswesen Klaus Thielmann wuchs in Quoos auf, sein Weg führte über die Oberschule in Bautzen, die Universität Leipzig und die Medizinische Akademie Erfurt bis nach Havanna. 1974 kehrte er nach Erfurt zurück, wurde 1982 zum Ministerstellvertreter für Hoch- und Fachschulwesen und bekleidete in der ehemaligen DDR von 1989 bis 1990 als erster und einziger Sorbe ein Ministeramt.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Herbst, Andreas (2010). "Thielmann, Klaus". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de. Wer war wer in der DDR? (in German). Berlin: Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-10-26. Geb. in Pulsnitz (Krs. Kamenz) in einer Arztfamilie; Grund- u. Oberschule, 1952 Abitur; 1950 Mitgl. der Domowina; 1952 – 57 Studium der Med. an der Univ. bzw. KMU Leipzig u. der Med. Akad. Erfurt, 1957 Prom.; anschl. Assistenzarzt am Bezirkskrankenhaus in Stralsund; 1958 – 59 Schiffsarzt der DSR; 1959 – 63 wiss. Ass. an der EMAU Greifswald u. der FSU Jena, 1964 Habil.; 1963 – 65 Oberarzt an der Universitätsklinik Jena; 1965 – 73 Doz. an der FSU; 1968 – 71 Gastprof. in Havanna; 1974 ord. Prof., 1976 – 82 Prorektor für Naturwiss. u. med. Forschung an der Med. Akad. Erfurt; 1978 SED; 1982 – 89 Stellv. des Ministers für Hoch- u. Fachschulwesen; Jan. 1989 – März 1990 Minister für Gesundheitswesen (Nachf. von Ludwig Mecklinger); 1990 / 91 ord. Prof. am Inst. für Pathologie der Med. Fak. (Charité) der HU zu Berlin. 1992 – 94 im Auftrag der Europ. Bank für Wiederaufbau u. Entw. (EBRD, London) Managementberater an der Internat. Finanz- u. Bankschule in Moskau; 1994 – 97 in gleicher Mission am Regionalen Banktrainingszentrum für die zentralasiat. Region Usbekistan, Kirgistan u. Tadschikistan in Taschkent; 1998 – 2001 Ltr. eines EU-Projekts zur Unterstützung der Führung u. Ltg. des russ. Gesundheitswesens (Tacis-Projekt »Support to Health Care Management in the Russian Federation«) in Moskau; 2001 – 2004 beteiligt an der Durchführung mehrerer internat. Projekte zur Reformierung des russ. Gesundheitswesens.
  3. ^ a b "Prof. Dr. Klaus Thielmann Minister für Gesundheitswesen". Neues Deutschland (in German). Berlin: Berlin State Library. 1989-01-27. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  4. ^ a b Möbis, Harry (1999). Von der Hoffnung gefesselt: zwischen Stoph und Mittag - mit Modrow (in German). Müncheberg/Mark: Frankfurter Oder-Ed. pp. 296–297. ISBN 978-3-930842-35-3.
  5. ^ a b c "Operation Heldenklau". Der Spiegel (in German). 1989-11-19. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Stabilisierung des Gesundheitswesens". Deutsche Einheit 1990 (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  7. ^ a b c "Ministerium für Gesundheitswesen". Deutsche Einheit 1990 (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  8. ^ a b Metzing, Birgit (ed.). ""Sehr ernst und an vielen Stellen kritisch" - Die Situation im Gesundheitswesen in den neuen Bundesländern 1989-1994". Google Arts & Culture. German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  9. ^ "Hunger nach Information: Die "Ärzte Zeitung" kommt in die DDR". Ärzte-Zeitung (in German). 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2024-10-26. Schließlich: ein ausführliches Interview mit dem letzten SED-Gesundheitsminister Professor Klaus Thielmann. Mit einem Eingeständnis des Scheiterns. […] "Es ist vieles an Glauben, an Vertrauen der Menschen missbraucht worden. Das ist das Schlimme, das macht mich beschämt."
  10. ^ "Klaus Thielmann: Traueranzeige". SZ Trauer (in German). Sächsische Zeitung. Retrieved 2024-10-26.

Notes

  1. ^ Minister of Health from January 1989 to November 1989
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