Peter Feldmann

Peter Manuel Feldmann (born 7 October 1958) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). On 25 March 2012, he was elected Mayor of Frankfurt as successor of Petra Roth (CDU). On 6 November 2022, he was recalled, with 95% of the vote against him, and he left office on 11 November 2022.

This article is about the Mayor of Frankfurt. For other uses, see Peter Feldman (disambiguation).

Peter Feldmann
Peter Feldmann (2017)
Feldmann in 2017
Lord Mayor of
Frankfurt am Main
In office
1 July 2012 – 11 November 2022
DeputyOlaf Cunitz
Uwe Becker
Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg
Preceded byPetra Roth
Succeeded byNargess Eskandari-Grünberg (interim)
Member of the
Frankfurt am Main City Council
In office
8 May 1988 – 1 July 2012
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Personal details
Born
Peter Manuel Feldmann

(1958-10-07) 7 October 1958
Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partySocial Democratic Party (1974–2023)
ChildrenHannah (b. 2009)
Alma materUniversity of Marburg
Websitefeldmann-frankfurt.de

Early life and education

Peter Feldmann was born into a Jewish family[1] in Helmstedt. After passing the Abitur at Frankfurt Ernst-Reuter-Schule in 1979, he spent a year in an Israeli Kibbutz where he became a gardener.[2][3] He then studied political science at the University of Marburg until 1986, before he took on an academic career as a lecturer there. Later he specialised in economics for the social sector, becoming a Sozialbetriebswirt in 2009. Feldmann has worked for several German non-profit organizations, both for hire, and as a volunteer.

Political career

Early beginnings

Feldmann joined the SPD in 1974. From 1981, he took an active part in university politics as chair of the General Students' Committee, or AStA, at Marburg university. In the same year he was also elected vice president of the SPD youth organization Young Socialists in the SPD, or Jusos, in the German State of Hesse. He joined the Frankfurt city council in 1988 and was elected vice president of his party's parliamentary group in 2004.

In 2007, Feldmann – together with Sergey Lagodinsky – was a co-founder of the Arbeitskreis jüdischer Sozialdemokratinnen und Sozialdemokraten, or AJS, a committee of Jewish members within the SPD.[4][5][6] Feldmann has described himself as a "liberal Jew", but says his beliefs are a private matter.[7][8]

Mayor of Frankfurt, 2012–2022

In a ballot on 25 March 2012, Feldmann was elected mayor of Frankfurt, gaining 57.4 percent of the votes cast against his competitor Boris Rhein (CDU) who came out second with 42.6 percent.[9] Feldmann was successful with an election programme putting social aspects such as affordable housing on top of the agenda. Mr Feldmann "is also a strong advocate of Israel’s security", the Jerusalem Post noted.[3] He is the first German-Jewish politician to be elected mayor of Frankfurt since Ludwig Landmann who was expelled from his office in 1933.[3][10] He was the first Jewish politician to be directly elected mayor of any major city in Germany since World War II,[8][11] and second overall to Herbert Weichmann (SPD) who was indirectly elected mayor of Hamburg in 1965.

In 2019, Feldmann's wife Zübeyde was found to be being paid above her pay grade by her employer, the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) welfare organization, and to have been given use of a company car. The city prosecutor opened an investigation into whether Peter Feldmann, also formerly an employee of AWO, had influenced his wife's compensation.[12]

After the football club Eintracht Frankfurt won the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League on 18 May 2022, Feldmann was severely criticized for several acts at the celebration, including making a sexist statement about air stewardesses, barring club board members from the Römer city hall, and snatching the UEFA Cup trophy from the team captain and coach. The Frankfurt SPD withdrew their support of Feldmann and urged him to resign. On 25 May 2022, Feldmann announced that he would not resign, but would withdraw from duties until the summer break.[13] Feldmann faced a recall election on 6 November 2022, after announcing and subsequently withdrawing his resignation.[14]

Feldmann lost the recall election, with 95% of votes against him and the turnout threshold of 30% reached. He left office on 11 November 2022.[15]

Post-mayoral career

On 23 December 2022, Feldmann was found guilty of two counts of accepting a benefit and fined 21,000 euros. Feldmann announced he would appeal the verdict.[16]

Feldmann left the SPD in February 2023. In October 2023, Feldmann announced that he had joined The Left and would work with the party on projects in Wetteraukreis. The national leadership of The Left denied that he was a member, noting that there were reservations within the party about accepting him. Feldmann later agreed not to pursue his application to join.[17]


Other activities

Corporate boards
  • Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2013)[18]
  • Fraport, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2012)[19]
  • ABG Frankfurt Holding, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2012)[20]
  • Nassauische Heimstätte, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2012)[20]
  • Dom-Römer Project, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board[21]
  • Messe Frankfurt, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board[22]
  • Helaba, Member of the Supervisory Board (-2015)[23]

Non-profits

Personal life

In 2016, Peter Feldmann married Zübeyde in Frankfurt am Main.[31] He has a daughter from his previous marriage, who was born in 2009.[7][31] In 2021, the couple announced that they had separated and were divorcing.[12]

References
  1. Jew Elected Mayor of Frankfurt, Germany—Why This Isn’t News. From: Heeb. 5 April 2012. Accessed on 12 April 2012.
  2. If not noted otherwise, see Peter Feldmann's biography on the website of SPD Frankfurt am Main for details. Accessed on 25 March 2012.
  3. Benjamin Weinthal: Frankfurt elects 1st Jewish mayor since Holocaust. From: The Jerusalem Post. 29 March 2012. Accessed 23 April 2012.
  4. dpa: Report: German party forms first Jewish caucus since Nazi era. From: Haaretz. 26 April 2007. Accessed on 26 March 2012.
  5. Canan Topçu: Peter Feldmann. In: Die Zeit. No.21. 16 May 2007, p.13. Accessed 25 March 2012.
  6. Arbeitskreis jüdischer Sozialdemokratinnen und Sozialdemokraten. Website. Accessed 25 March 2012.
  7. Canan Topçu: Herr Feldmann von der SPD. Wie ein jüdischer Sozialdemokrat darum kämpft, am Sonntag Oberbürgermeister zu werden. In: Jüdische Allgemeine. 8 March 2012. Accessed on 25 March 2012.
  8. Raphael Ahren: For first time since WWII, a Jew to reign over major German city. Peter Feldmann, mayor-elect of Frankfurt am Main, calls himself a liberal Jew, but says his religious beliefs are a private matter. From: The Times of Israel. 26 March 2012. Accessed on 26 March 2012.
  9. Feldmann neuer Rathauschef von Frankfurt. In: faz.net. 25 March 2012. Accessed on 25 March 2012.
  10. Jewish politician elected as new mayor of German city of Frankfurt. World Jewish Congress. 26 March 2012. Accessed on 26 March 2012.
  11. לראשונה מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה: ראש עיר יהודי בגרמניה. From: mako.co.il. 26 March 2012. Accessed on 26 March 2012 (Hebrew: "For the first time since World War II: German-Jewish mayor. A historic day in Germany").
  12. Wenig, Yannick (13 August 2021). "Ehe-Aus nach über fünf Jahren: Frankfurts OB Peter Feldmann und seine Frau trennen sich". Frankfurter Neue Presse. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  13. "Kein Rücktritt - Feldmann will Frankfurter OB bleiben" (in German). Hessenschau. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  14. "Feldmann lässt letzte Frist verstreichen - Bürger entscheiden über Abwahl". Hessenschau. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  15. "Peter Feldmann als Oberbürgermeister in Frankfurt abgewählt". Hessenschau. 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  16. "Peter Feldmann im AWO-Korruptionsprozess zu Geldstrafe verurteilt". Hessenschau. 23 December 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  17. "Frankfurter Ex-OB Feldmann will Mitgliedsantrag zur Linkspartei ruhen lassen". Hessenschau. 14 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  18. Hans Riebsamen (25 February 2013), Vorsitz im Aufsichtsrat: Feldmann will RMV kontrollieren Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
  19. Oberbürgermeister Peter Feldmann in den Fraport-Aufsichtsrat bestellt Fraport, press release of 3 September 2012.
  20. Feldmann geht in ABG-Aufsichtsrat Frankfurter Rundschau, 25 July 2012.
  21. Supervisory Board Dom-Römer Project.
  22. Members of the Supervisory Board Archived 25 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine Messe Frankfurt.
  23. 2015 Annual Report Helaba.
  24. Board of Trustees Max Planck Institute for Brain Research.
  25. Board of Trustees Goethe University Frankfurt.
  26. Board of Trustees Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (HSFK).
  27. Board of Trustees Fritz Bauer Institute, Frankfurt.
  28. Board of Trustees Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.
  29. Board of Trustees Senckenberg Nature Research Society.
  30. Board of Trustees BHF Bank Foundation.
  31. Vetter, Johannes (16 April 2016). "OB Feldmann heiratet". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved 18 April 2016.
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