Sylvia Bretschneider

Sylvia Bretschneider (14 November 1960 – 28 April 2019) was a German teacher, education administrator and politician (SPD). She was a member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern from 1994, and became speaker of the state parliament in 2002.

Sylvia Bretschneider
Sylvia Bretschneider in 2017
Speaker of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Personal details
Born(1960-11-14)14 November 1960
Waren, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
Died28 April 2019(2019-04-28) (aged 58)
Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
Political partySPD
Alma materLeipzig University
Occupation
  • Teacher
  • Education administrator
  • Politician
Websitewww.sylvia-bretschneider.de

Early life and career

Sylvia Bretschneider was born on 14 November 1960 in Waren (Müritz), a small town located between Rostock and Berlin. She attended school locally, successfully completing her Abitur in 1979.[1] Between 1979 and 1983 she studied at the institute of Theoretical and Applied Language Sciences at Leipzig University, then called Karl Marx University, graduating with a teaching degree in the English and German languages. She worked as a teacher in Neubrandenburg between 1983 and 1989. In 1989 she switched careers, working for a year in a senior administrative position with the bus and transport company in her home town. She then worked from 1990 to 1994 at the Neubrandenburg Education Department.[2]

Political career

During the GDR years, Bretschneider was not a member of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) nor of any other political party. During the Wende – the months of massive political change that followed the breaching by protesters of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 – she joined the moderately left-wing Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She served as a member of the party's regional executive from 1991 to 2003, becoming deputy chair in 1998 or 1999.[1][2]

In 1994, she was elected to the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[3] Between 1994 and October 2002, she served as her party's speaker on education, youth policies and culture.[4] In 2002, she was elected president of the Landtag, a position she continued to hold until her withdrawal from office.[4] She was most recently re-elected in October 2016, receiving the votes of 45 of the chamber's 71 members.[3] She was elected Speaker of Parliament (Landtagspräsidentin) in 2002.[1][2]

Bretschneider withdrew from her offices in 2017 for cancer treatment.[5]

Personal life

Bretschneider was married; she and her husband had three daughters.[5]

She died of cancer on 28 April 2019 in Neubrandenburg at the age of 58.[5][6]

References
  1. "Sylvia Bretschneider, SPD". Persönliche Angaben: Diplomlehrerin, Präsidentin des Landtages. Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  2. Helmut Müller-Enbergs. "Bretschneider, Sylvia * 14.11.1960 Präsidentin des Landtags von Mecklenburg-Vorpommern". Wer war wer in der DDR?. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  3. "Bretschneider als Landtagspräsidentin wiedergewählt". NNN Norddeutsche Neueste Nachrichten GmbH, Rostock. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  4. "Sylvia Bretschneider". Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  5. Voigt, Simon (28 April 2019). "Sylvia Bretschneider ist tot". Nordkurier (in German). Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  6. "Landtagspräsidentin Sylvia Bretschneider (58) ist tot". Ostsee-Zeitung (in German). 28 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
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