Peter Schowtka

Schowtka was born on 7 January 1945 in the town of Wittichenau in Saxony, then part of Nazi Germany. Six months after his birth, Schowtka's father was kidnapped by the Soviet occupation force and taken to the NKVD Special Camp No. 1 in Mühlberg, where he was killed in 1947. Schowtka was a Roman Catholic of Sorb ethnicity. Schowtka grew up in East Germany. From 1961 to 1964, he received vocational training as a concrete worker. Schowtka attended the University of Rostock from 1964 until 1969, where he studied Latin American studies. However, Schowtka was denied a diploma due to his "lack of socio-political maturity". == Career ==

From 1969 until 1990, Schowtka worked as an economist, and he later served as an interpreter for foreigners working in lignite mines in Mozambique. In 1990, upon German reunification, Schowtka was elected mayor of Wittichenau, the first person freely elected to that office in 57 years. The next year, Schowtka became a member of the Landtag of Saxony following the resignation of ; Schowtka was to fill the remainder of Sachse's term. In the 1994 Saxony state election, Schowtka was elected via party list for a full term in the Landtag, and he resigned as mayor. In the 1999 Saxony state election, Schowtka was re-elected to represent the (Lower Silesian Upper Lusatia constituency 2). While in the state parliament, Schowtka served on several parliamentary committees, including the Home Affairs Committee and the Constitutional, Legal and European Committee. In 2016, Schowtka received the Saxon Constitutional Medal. Schowtka was married and had one child. He died on 5 August 2022 at the age of 77. == References ==