Peter Schowtka Explained

Peter Schowtka
Native Name:Pětr Šołtka
Native Name Lang:hsb
Office:Member of the Landtag of Saxony
Termstart:November 1991
Termend:31 August 2014
Successor:Constituency disestablished
Office1:Mayor of Wittichenau
Termstart1:1990
Termend1:1994
Predecessor1:Office re-established
Successor1:Udo Popella
Birth Date:7 January 1945
Birth Place:Wittichenau, Saxony, Germany
Party:Christian Democratic Union (1989–2022)
Otherparty:Independent (until 1989)
Children:1
Alma Mater:University of Rostock
Awards:Saxon Constitutional Medal

Peter Georg Schowtka (pronounced as /hsb/; 7 January 1945 – 5 August 2022) was a German politician who served as a member of the Landtag of Saxony from 1991 to 2014. Schowtka was an ethnic Sorb.

Early life and education

Schowtka was born on 7 January 1945 in the town of Wittichenau in Saxony, then part of Nazi Germany. Six months after his birth, Schowtka's father was kidnapped by the Soviet occupation force and taken to the NKVD Special Camp No. 1 in Mühlberg, where he was killed in 1947. Schowtka was a Roman Catholic of Sorb ethnicity.[1] [2]

Schowtka grew up in East Germany. From 1961 to 1964, he received vocational training as a concrete worker. Schowtka attended the University of Rostock from 1964 until 1969, where he studied Latin American studies. However, Schowtka was denied a diploma due to his "lack of socio-political maturity".

Career

From 1969 until 1990, Schowtka worked as an economist, and he later served as an interpreter for foreigners working in lignite mines in Mozambique.

In 1989, Schowtka joined the Christian Democratic Union. He had previously been an independent. From 1991 until his death in 2022, Schowtka served as a member of the CDU's executive committee in Saxony. Schowtka helped establish a CDU educational institute for local government in Saxony. He also negotiated a sister city partnership between Wittichenau and the town of Bad Honnef in North Rhine-Westphalia.[3]

In 1990, upon German reunification, Schowtka was elected mayor of Wittichenau, the first person freely elected to that office in 57 years.[4] The next year, Schowtka became a member of the Landtag of Saxony following the resignation of ; Schowtka was to fill the remainder of Sachse's term. In the 1994 Saxony state election, Schowtka was elected via party list for a full term in the Landtag, and he resigned as mayor. In the 1999 Saxony state election, Schowtka was re-elected to represent the (Lower Silesian Upper Lusatia constituency 2). Schowtka was re-elected in 2004 and 2009. He did not run for re-election in the 2014 Saxony state election.[5]

While in the state parliament, Schowtka served on several parliamentary committees, including the Home Affairs Committee and the Constitutional, Legal and European Committee. He was also a member of a committee established to investigate the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi terrorist group.[6]

In 2016, Schowtka received the Saxon Constitutional Medal. Schowtka was married and had one child. He died on 5 August 2022 at the age of 77.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Schulz . Uwe . 9 August 2022 . Peter Schowtka verstorben . Peter Schowtka passed away . 9 August 2022 . . de.
  2. Web site: Peter Schowtka, CDU . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110810092700/http://www.landtag.sachsen.de/de/abgeordnete_fraktionen/abgeordnete/abgeordneter.do/682 . 10 August 2011 . 9 August 2022 . . de.
  3. Web site: 8 August 2022 . Früherer Wittichenauer Bürgermeister verstorben . Former mayor of Wittichenau died . 9 August 2022 . hoyte24.de . de.
  4. Web site: 725 Jahre Stadtrechte . 725 Years of City Rights . 9 August 2022 . Partnership Committee of Wittichenau/Bad Honnef . de-DE.
  5. Web site: Kolodziej . Mirko . 4 August 2014 . Der Wahlkampf hat begonnen . The election campaign has begun . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006144528/http://www.hoyerswerdsche.de/index.php/nachrichten-lesen/items/der-wahlkampf-hat-begonnen.html . 6 October 2014 . 9 August 2022 . Die Hoyerswerdsche . de .
  6. Web site: 2014 . Untersuchungsausschuss Neonazistische Terrornetzwerke in Sachsen . Committee of Inquiry into Neo-Nazi Terrorist Networks in Saxony . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140109104508/http://www.landtag.sachsen.de/de/landtag/ausschuesse/ausschuss.do/35 . 9 January 2014 . 9 August 2022 . . de .