Sarracin, Tilo

After graduating from high school in Recklinghausen and serving in the army, Tilo Sarrazin studied economics at the University of Bonn . Upon graduation, he entered graduate school and worked as an assistant at the Institute of Industrial Policy. In 1973 he received a doctorate. ^[2] From November 1973 to December 1974 he worked as a research fellow at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation . Around the same time he joined the SPD .

Since 1975, his public service begins. From 1975 to 1978, Sarracin was a referent in the German Ministry of Finance, after which, until 1981, in the Ministry of Labor, and then returned to the Ministry of Finance. Since October 1981, he worked directly with the Minister of Finance Hans Matthofer , and then with his successor Manfred Lanshtein. He remained in the Ministry of Finance after the Free Democratic Party left the coalition with the SPD in October 1982 , where he was the head of several committees (the so-called “abstracts”) of the ministry, in particular, from 1989 to 1990, he headed the committee on intra-German relations, which dealt with preparing a new - united - monetary system in the territory of reunited Germany.

From spring 2000 to December 2001, Sarrazin worked for Deutsche Bahn ( German for German Railways). At the beginning, he was for four months the head of the audit department, ^[3] later became a member of the board of directors and was responsible for strategic planning and investment. ^[four]

Sarracin is considered the author of the so-called. “Model of popular shares”, involving the issuance of “popular” shares without voting rights, in order to limit the influence of private investors. He is a supporter of the organization of railways in accordance with economic feasibility. His relationship with the former chairman of the board of directors, Hartmouth Medorn, is characterized by mutual hostility and even repeated personal insults. ^[four]

Following the dismissal of Sarrazin from Deutsche Bahn, a legal conflict arose between him and his former leadership on the issue of severance pay. He demanded benefits from three authorities, but was refused by the German Supreme Court. According to Medorn, this is because Sarrazin took office as a finance senator in violation of an employment contract with Deutsche Bahn, namely, a provision prohibiting other paid activities.

In January 2002, Tilo Sarrazin became a member of the Berlin Senate as Senator for Finance. He adhered to the cameral method of maintaining the municipal budget. ^[5] It was thanks to him that in 2007 for the first time in history a surplus was achieved in the Berlin municipal budget, which amounted to 80 million euros. ^{[6] [7]}

Thanks to his harsh remarks on Berlin's social and educational policies, Sarrazin has earned fame as a provocateur. ^[8] His calls for lower social benefits provoked numerous protests. ^[9] In 2008, he claimed that recipients of unemployment benefits could live on less than 4 euros per day. ^[10] The statement made by him in 2009 about the energy consumption of unemployed people is known: “Firstly, they often sit at home, secondly, they like warmth, thirdly, they regulate the temperature in the house with the help of a window.” ^[11] He calls raising pensions "a completely meaningless event." ^[12] In June 2008, he became a member of the Berlin Senate with the largest number of other activities. Among other things, he is a member of the board of directors of Berlin City Transport, the Charite Clinic, the investment bank and Vivantes. ^[13] In 2004, the German Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Sarrazin for alleged misuse of budget funds. The court refused to accept the case for consideration of the insolvency of the arguments of the prosecutor's office. ^[4] In 2009, a new criminal case was instituted against Sarrazin. Berlin prosecutors accuse him of selling a municipal piece of land to the Berlin-Wannsee Golf Club for an unreasonably low price. ^[14] Sarrazin himself denies any guilt. ^[15]

In April 2009, Tilo Sarrazin resigned from the Berlin Senate and joined the board of directors of the German Federal Bank . ^[16] Ulrich Nussbaum became his successor. ^[17]

Sarrazin’s remarks about German migration policy made in an interview with the Lettre International magazine on September 30, 2009 caused a great resonance. He said that a significant part of Arab and Turkish immigrants cannot and do not even want to become part of German society: “ Integration is the task of one who integrates. I do not have to respect someone who does nothing for this. I don’t have to respect anyone who lives at the expense of the state, rejects this state, does not properly care about the education of their children and constantly produces little “girls-in-shawls”. ” ^{[18] [19]} Sarrazin spoke in favor of a tougher migration policy in relation to visitors, except for those who are highly qualified ^[20]

Reaction

Sarrazin’s words criticized the chairman of the Bundestag’s committee on internal affairs, Sebastian Edati, ^[21] representatives of trade unions and political scientists, as well as many party colleagues. ^[22] Supported by his former head of the German Industrial Union ( German: Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie ) Hans-Olaf Henkel, ^[23] writer and director Ralph Giordano, ^[24] culturologist and philosopher Peter Sloterdijk , sociologist Nejla Kelek ^[25] , former federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt ^[26] and others. Axel Weber, President of the German Federal Bank, expressed dissatisfaction with the words of Sarrazin on behalf of the Bank. He demanded the resignation of Sarrazin, but the latter refused. Then the board of directors limited the powers of Sarrazin, in particular on issues of issue and circulation of cash.

In connection with the release of the book “ Germany. Self-liquidation ”, on September 2, 2010, the federal bank ’s department decided to petition the federal president to dismiss Sarrazin from the position of member of the board of directors. ^[27] Between September 7 and 9, on the initiative and with the mediation of the administration of the federal president, an agreement was reached between representatives of the German Federal Bank and Sarrazin that he would voluntarily leave his post on September 30. In exchange for this, the pension that he will receive upon reaching his retirement age must be raised by 1000 euros per month to the level corresponding to the planned end of his contract with the federal bank in 2014 . ^[28] Sarrazin explained his voluntary resignation as a reluctance to jeopardize the authority of the federal president if he had to dismiss Sarrazin by his order and it would subsequently be declared unlawful by the court. ^[29] Sarrazin also faces expulsion from the SPD. ^[30] The ideological continuation of the book “Germany is self-destructing” was published in February 2014, the work “New Righteous Terror”, which was received by sharp criticism in the scientific community. ^[31]

• German Federal Bank
• Deutsche bahn
• Senate of Berlin
• Social Democratic Party of Germany
• Freedom (Party, Germany)