Johannes Kahrs (politician)
Johannes Kahrs (born 15 September 1963 in Bremen) is a German politician. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Life
Kahrs' parents are Wolfgang and Bringfriede Kahrs who were both senators in Bremen on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. After visiting school in Bremen, Kahrs joined the Bundeswehr and became an officer. Later, he began to study German jurisprudence. During his university studies, Kahrs became a member of Wingolfs, a student fraternity, in Hamburg and was speaker of the organization from 1990 to 1992. After he finished university, he worked for the state-owned housing company Siedlungs-Aktiengesellschaft Altona (SAGA). Kahrs is an openly gay person.[1]
Political career
Kahrs became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1982. He first worked for the Young Socialists in the SPD (Jusos). In 1992, Kahrs had a conflict with Juso member Silke Dose in which he threatened her by calling her phone anonymously at nights. He was identified by a trap installed by the police and was asked to resign from all posts by 50 members of his party but stayed on after paying a fine.[2]
In 1998, Kahrs was elected to the Bundestag. He is the speaker of the Seeheimer Kreis of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and represents the Hamburg Mitte constituency. He is known for receiving large sums from the arms industry and for being the center of a political network in Hamburg politics which has allegedly used its power to hinder and promote careers in a way that many journalists have called inappropriate.[2]
Kahrs has described Gustav Noske as one of his political role models.[3]
References
- ↑ Acht Homos im neuen Bundestag, Queer.de, 19 September 2005, retrieved 2007-09-17 (German)
- 1 2 Markus Wehner: Das System Johannes Kahrs. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 19. April 2009.
- ↑ http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/spdc-o24.shtml
External links
- Personal website of Kahrs
- Biography of Kahrs by German Bundestag
- Biography on the website of the SPD