Klaus Thielmann (29 October 1933 – 25 January 2024) was a German physician, civil servant and politician of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Thielmann was of Sorbian descent and the only Sorb to ever hold a ministerial position in the GDR and, to date, Germany on a national level.

Thielmann grew up as the son of a family of physicians and graduated from the Sorbian High School in Bautzen,[1] and studied medicine from 1952 to 1957 at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig and the Medical Academy in Erfurt.

[5] During the Peaceful Revolution, Thielmann was one of only a few Ministers kept by the new transitional government of Hans Modrow, additionally taking on the responsibility for social affairs.

[2] After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Thielmann requested help from West Germany in late 1989, directly writing to Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

[7] In cooperation with the German Red Cross and the Federal Government, an emergency aid programme was initiated in February 1990, which saw the Federal Government providing the GDR with 500 million DM for the purchase of medicines, highly specialised medical technology, medical consumables and rehabilitation technology.