Thilo Sarrazin

Thilo Sarrazin (born 12 February 1945) is a German politician and former member of the SPD, writer, senator of finance for the State of Berlin from January 2002 until April 2009, former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank until 2010.

He became well known after publishing a controversial book about Muslim immigrants in Germany in 2010. In his book Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany Abolishes Itself), he denounces what he sees as the failure of Germany's post-war immigration policy, sparking a nationwide controversy about the costs and benefits of multiculturalism. As a result, he is no longer a member of the SPD as of 31 July 2020.

Sarrazin was born in Gera, Germany. His father was a doctor and his mother was the daughter of a West Prussian landowner. His paternal ancestors were French Huguenots who originated in Burgundy, while his grandmother was English and another ancestor was Italian. He has explained that his name means Saracen (i.e. Muslim) and is common in Southern France: "It is derived from the Arab pirates that were called 'Saracens' in the Middle Ages". He has referred to himself as "a European mongrel".

He grew up in Recklinghausen where he graduated from the local gymnasium after which he did his military service. From 1967 to 1971, he studied economics at the University of Bonn, earning his doctorate. From November 1973 to December 1974 he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and became active in the SPD.

In 1975 Sarrazin began working in the Federal Ministry of Finance. Until 1981 he served as a department head in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and from 1981 he returned to the Federal Ministry of Finance. From October 1981 he served as bureau chief and was a close collaborator of Federal Finance Minister Hans Matthöfer and his successor Manfred Lahnstein. Even after the end of the socialist-liberal coalition in October 1982, Sarrazin remained in the Finance Ministry, where he was director of several units, including (from 1989 to 1990) the "Innerdeutsche Beziehungen," which prepared the German monetary, economic and social union. During his time as Head of the Federal Ministry of Finance, he was partly responsible for German railways.

From 1990 to 1991 Sarrazin worked for the Treuhand. Up to 1997, he was State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Rhineland-Palatinate. Subsequently, he was chief executive of TLG Immobilien (TLG).

Between spring 2000 and December 2001 he was employed by the Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway. During his first four months he served as head of internal auditing; from 1 September 2000 he was on the board of DB Netz, responsible for planning and investment.

Sarrazin is considered a key developer of the people's share model of the German railway, which provides for the issue of non-voting preferred stock to limit the influence of private investors. He claims to have made this proposal to thwart the model of capital privatization of Deutsche Bahn. He is regarded as an explicit supporter of orienting the Deutsche Bahn on the principles of efficiency under a cost-effectiveness analysis. His relationship with the former CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG, Hartmut Mehdorn, is characterized as hostile.