[5] He spoke with eloquence and some passion: "My first argument is visible to you all, this uniform ... the result, the exercise in the art of war, is forced on us daily by the actions of the imperialists"[6] Western observers subsequently identified more than a trace of irony in his performance.

[7] The Berlin Wall was breached in November, ushering in a period of rapid transition which by August 1990 had led to German reunification.

Ortleb's career as a party leader was cut short in August 1990, however, when his LDP merged with its West German counterpart, the FDP (Freie Demokratische Partei).

In 1999 Ortleb resigned from his party chairmanship in Saxony following poor performance in a regional election for which his name had been at the top of the FDP candidate list.

In the 2009 election Ortleb gave his support to "Die Linke", the successor to East Germany's old ruling SED (party).

[1] In November 2009 he gave a wide-ranging press interview celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in which he called for a reorientation of his former party, the FDP.

He was one of the 144 deputies in the chamber who on 3 October 1990, as part of the German reunification process, became members of the Bundestag (National Assembly) of the reunited Germany.

[1] On 3 October 1990 Rainer Ortleb was one of the formerly East German political leaders to join the cabinet of the newly reunified Germany, under Federal Chancellor Kohl.