Walter Momper

Walter Momper
Walter Momper at the Brandenburg Gate
Governing Mayor of Berlin (West Berlin 1989–1990)
In office 1989–1991
Preceded by	Eberhard Diepgen
Succeeded by	Eberhard Diepgen
Personal details
Born	(1945-02-21) 21 February 1945 (age 72) Sulingen, today Lower Saxony
Political party	Social Democrats

Walter Momper (born 21 February 1945) is a German politician and former Governing Mayor of Berlin (West Berlin 1989–1990, reunited Berlin 1990–1991). Whilst Governing Mayor, he served as President of the Bundesrat in 1989/90. He was at the opening of the Brandenburg Gate on 22 December 1989 and, on 3 October 1990, became the first mayor of a reunited Berlin.

He was born in Sulingen (near Bremen), today Lower Saxony, and is a member of the SPD (Social Democrats).

Momper went to school in Bremen. After leaving school in 1964 he began studying political science, history and economics at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Munich and at the Freie Universität Berlin, which he left in 1969 as a graduate in political science. He became a research assistant at the Institute of Political Sciences at the FU Berlin. In 1970 he became a research fellow at the Secret Prussian State Archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. From 1972 to 1986 he was a research associate and director of the Historical Commission at Berlin. After a time during which Momper was exclusively concerned in politics, from 1992 to 1993 he was the director of the Dr. Elling GmbH. Since August 1993 he has been managing partner of Momper Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH in Berlin. Critics and politicians of other parties have repeatedly criticised him over the links between his political and business activities, for example when he advised the IKEA group about its plans to establish itself in the East of Berlin.

Momper has been a member of the SPD since 1967. From 1986 to 1992 he was regional chairman of the SPD in Berlin. From 1988 to 1993 he was also a member of the SPD National Executive. 1975 Momper was elected to the Berlin House of Representatives, where from 1985 he was chairman of the SPD group. The SDP emerged under Momper’s leadership from the elections in Berlin in 1989 as the winner, while the CDU / FDP coalition led by mayor Eberhard Diepgen (CDU) suffered a surprise heavy defeat. The scandal concerning Wolfgang Antes (CDU) who was in charge of construction in Charlottenburg figured heavily in the media. On March 16, 1989 Momper was elected mayor. His support came from a Red-Green coalition between the SPD and the Alternative List (AL) (the former Berlin equivalent of the Greens). The Senate under Momper was the first Land government in Germany with more women than men (eight to six).