Steffen Heitmann

Steffen Heitmann (8 September 1944 – 14 April 2024) was a German politician, church jurist and Protestant theologian.

Heitmann took his Abitur examination in Dresden in 1963, refused military service and began training at the German Evangelical Church administration.

[3] In April 1990, he headed the Working Group on the Gohrisch Draft Constitution of the Free State of Saxony.

In 1993, Heitmann was the CDU candidate for the May 1994 election of the President of Germany, chosen by Helmut Kohl.

[5] On 25 November 1993, after disputed statements on the role of women, the Holocaust and foreigners which were regarded as ultra-conservative or even reactionary by critics, he renounced his candidacy.

[6] The support of the FDP party in the 1994 Federal Assembly, essential to Heitmann's election, was already uncertain.

[9][10] In 2000 accusations were made that Heitmann, as Minister of Justice, had influenced ongoing proceedings in favor of party friends.

After a complaint by the Saxon Data Protection Supervisor and after protest letters from a large number of judges, he resigned from the ministry, but rejected any wrongdoing.

In the letter he held the Chancellor responsible for an "uncontrolled stream of refugees" and said, "I have never felt so alien to my country, even in the GDR.