The former Brandenburg FDP state chairman and member of the Bundestag Heinz Lanfermann has died. He died at the age of 74, as the FDP Brandenburg announced on Sunday. The FDP state chairman Zyon Braun cited Lanfermann’s wife, as he told the German Press Agency. Lanfermann died on Friday. He had lived in Brandenburg for several years.
“The death of Heinz Lanfermann fills us with deep sadness,” said Braun. “With Heinz Lanfermann, the Free Democrats are losing a long-standing state chairman, a loyal comrade-in-arms and an important voice.” The Brandenburg FDP will “sorely miss” his advice, his striving for balance and his always open ear. He shaped legal and health policy.
The FDP parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Christian Dürr, also praised Lanfermann as a “passionate parliamentarian”. Dürr pointed out that after his time as a judge at the regional court in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament, Lanfermann had made a name for himself as chairman of the investigative committee on the Gladbeck hostage drama. In the Bundestag, he was “a highly respected social politician”.
Born in Oberhausen, he was a member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1988 to 1994 and a member of the state executive board of the FDP North Rhine-Westphalia from 1990 to 1996.
From 1994 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2013 he was a member of the Bundestag. From 1996 to 1998 he worked as a permanent State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Justice.
In Brandenburg, he was the state chairman of the FDP regional association from 2003 to 2011. In 2014, he became ombudsman for private health and nursing care insurance.