Lothar Bisky

Lothar Bisky
Lothar Bisky in 2005
Chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism
In office 1993–2000
Preceded by	Gregor Gysi
Succeeded by	Gabi Zimmer
In office 2003–2007
Preceded by	Gabi Zimmer
Succeeded by	-
Member of the Volkskammer
In office March 1990 – October 1990
Member of the Landtag of Brandenburg
In office 1990–2005
Member of the Bundestag
In office 2005–2009
Member of the European Parliament
In office 2009–2013
Personal details
Born	(1941-08-17)17 August 1941 Zollbrück, Pomerania, Germany
Died	13 August 2013(2013-08-13) (aged 71) Leipzig, Germany
Nationality	German
Political party	SED (1963–1989) PDS (1989–2007) The Left (2007–2013)
Website	lothar-bisky.de

Lothar Bisky (17 August 1941 – 13 August 2013) was a German politician. He was the chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED). In June 2007 he became co-chairman of the The Left (Die Linke) party, formed by a merger of the PDS and the much smaller Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative. From 2007 until 2010 he was the President of the Party of the European Left. Also, he was the Publisher of the socialist newspaper Neues Deutschland.

Bisky was born in Zollbrück, Pomerania, Germany (now Korzybie, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland), from where he came after 1945 as refugee to Schleswig-Holstein in northern West Germany. In order to get a free university education he emigrated to Communist GDR at the age of 18, and after facing initial doubts due to his heritage was allowed to join the Socialist Unity Party in 1963, but did not rise to leadership positions until shortly after the fall of communism and the resulting purge of hardliners from the party. He was rector of the University of Film and Television (Potsdam-Babelsberg) from 1986 to 1990. In 1991 he became a member of the board of directors of regional television channel ORB (now part of RBB).