Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's long-time Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff died at the age of 81.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's former Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff is dead. As announced by the State Chancellery in Schwerin, the SPD politician died last Thursday (November 19) at the age of 81. Dagmar Ringstorff, the wife of the former Prime Minister, personally informed Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (46) about it.
"We mourn a great Prime Minister and a great person. With his strong ties to his homeland, his down-to-earth, calm and at the same time hands-on manner and his love for the Low German language, he excellently filled the office of Prime Minister. We will miss him very much," explains Schwesig including on Instagram.
Ringstorff, born in Wittenburg in 1939, was one of the founding members of the SPD in Rostock in 1989. From 1998 to 2008 he was Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, longer than any other head of government in the state's history. In August 2008, he announced his retirement from office for reasons of age. After his departure, his "life was increasingly determined by a serious illness," the State Chancellery said.