Gerd Schuchardt is an electrical engineer who built his career and reputation in East Germany before 1990 in microprocessor technology and related forward-looking branches of science.
18 Facts About Gerd Schuchardt
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Gerd Schuchardt was interested in politics, but had avoided involvement in the country's ruling SED or any of the various so-called "bloc parties" which it controlled.
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Gerd Schuchardt became an activist member of the re-awakening Social Democratic Party.
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Gerd Schuchardt led his party to what turned out to be its best electoral result in Thuringia to date.
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Gerd Schuchardt was born in Erfurt, a midsized city in central southern Germany, at the height of the Second World War.
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Gerd Schuchardt attended junior and middle schools locally at Greiz and in Erfurt between 1948 and 1956 and then moved on to undertake and complete an apprenticeship as a radio technician.
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Gerd Schuchardt then attended the "Arbeiter-und-Bauern-Fakultat" at Halle between 1962 and 1964, successfully completing his school-level education.
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Between 1969 and 1989 Gerd Schuchardt was employed in the Research Centre attached to the Carl Zeiss "Peoples' Own Enterprise" in Jena.
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In 1975, while working at the VEB Carl Zeiss, Gerd Schuchardt received his doctorate in engineering, in return for work in the field of Production Metrology.
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Gerd Schuchardt joined the Social Democratic Party in January 1990.
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Gerd Schuchardt was one of 21 Social Democrat members elected to the 89 seat assembly, and was then elected by fellow members to lead the SPD group, serving as "Fraktionsvorsitzender" between 1990 and 1994.
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Gerd Schuchardt, having been the leader of the SPD group in the parliament, was now selected by the regional party as their lead candidate.
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Gerd Schuchardt had no longer been lead candidate on the party list.
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Gerd Schuchardt's name was nevertheless in third position, ranked high enough up on the party list to secure his re-election.
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Gerd Schuchardt remained a Landtag member until 2004, but nevertheless increasingly took a back-seat in terms of state politics and party affairs.
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Gerd Schuchardt did not seek re-election for a fourth parliamentary term in 2004.
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Gerd Schuchardt has held a number of honorary appointments since 1990, some more time absorbing than other.
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Gerd Schuchardt has been involved in similar oversight roles at the Ernst Abbe Foundation, the Pont Alpha prize association for the Kuratorium of German Unity and the SPD's "Forum East".