Friday questions: He has been in the SPD for 45 years, in 1994 he became a member of the Bundestag for 19 years. Volkacher Frank Hofmann takes stock of a remarkable career.
Frank Hofmann was a member of the Bundestag for his constituency in Kitzingen / Schweinfurt for 19 years. Most recently, the SPD man, born in Schweinfurt in 1949, was still in the district council. Since his election, the Volkacher has finally given up on politics. A balance sheet.
Question: What prompted you to join the SPD in 1975?
Frank Hofmann: That was not a spontaneous decision. I was interested in politics ten years earlier, at 16. The strengthening of the NPD in the 1960s, the construction of a nuclear power plant in Grafenrheinfeld, the social injustices in Germany and in the developing countries were important issues for me. Then the impetus came in 1975 from my neighbor Wolfgang Härtel, who was then the SPD local association chairman and city councilor in Volkach.
You used to be at the Federal Criminal Police Office – what would have become of you if you hadn’t become a member of the Bundestag?
Hofmann: I cannot answer this question. But maybe the following gives an assessment. I formed a carpool for one year with the later police president of Lower Franconia. Every Sunday 400 kilometers to Münster-Hiltrup and Friday back to Würzburg. That connects. During my training as a higher police enforcement service, I also met Jörg Ziercke, who would later become the BKA president. I was able to use these networks to prepare Otto Schily for his office as Federal Minister of the Interior.
How did the candidacy for the German Bundestag come about?
Hofmann: I already had contacts with the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag and was invited as an expert on crime statistics. For the Bavarian SPD parliamentary group, I had largely designed an election program for internal security. The SPD district association in Kitzingen asked me whether I dare to run such a candidacy. In Bavaria, the SPD member comes to the Bundestag via the party list, the CSU candidate is usually directly elected, so in Schweinfurt / Kitzingen, Michael Glos. I won 27th place in December 1993 against two other competitors. That brought me to the Bundestag in 1994.
Photo: Simone Schubert
–What characteristics does a politician need?
Hofmann: Lots of sitting meat. A selective memory is also good, you shouldn’t take every criticism to heart. And a stomachache is important. There are no regular breaks. Anything but healthy.
What do you like to look back on most?
Hofmann: In 1998 I was secretary in the German Bundestag. When the Chancellor is elected, the secretaries call on the deputies to secretly elect the Chancellor. As luck would have it, I called Gerhard Schröder to vote, who then became Chancellor.
The most impressive encounter in this time?
Hofmann: A flight to Greece with the constitutional judge Winfried Hassemer as a neighbor. Our topic: Can the Minister of Defense order the shooting down of an airplane to save thousands of lives? I was also moved by a visit to a German-Russian military cemetery in Russia.
How many kilometers are between Volkach and Berlin? How many times have you covered this route?
Hofmann: Since I always took the train, I was never interested in the kilometers, but in the time I was traveling. It was usually five to six hours. But I could use the time sensibly with reading, talking on the phone and taking a little nap.
Photo: Hegerich
–How satisfied are you with what you have achieved politically?
Hofmann: I have fought to ensure that the police get all the tools they need to successfully fight crime. But I also made sure that the citizen has to be informed if the state secretly monitors.
Which companions do you keep in touch with?
Hofmann: To my predecessor as district chairman, long-time parliamentary state secretary and Würzburg MP Walter Kolbow. From 1990 to 2020 I was a volunteer and engaged as a professional politician as a city and district councilor, as a member of the G 10 Commission of the German Bundestag and as a member of the Bundestag. I have a high opinion of many of my colleagues.
Is there a kind of Bundestag pensioners’ round table?
Hofmann: I am a member of the Association of Former Parliamentarians of the German Bundestag and the European Parliament. It is not a regulars’ table for retirees, it is more about lectures, trips and meetings.
How do you see the current situation of the SPD?
Hofmann: At the federal level, the survey values are more than modest. At the state level, the SPD in the south has no chance of participating in government. In Bavaria, however, it is remarkable that the SPD is firmly anchored in cities and municipalities.
Photo: Frank Weichhan
–How did the SPD get this far?
Hofmann: I have no conclusive answer to that. Meanwhile, citizens are not interested in the federal SPD, no matter how good their policies are. The good work of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is attributed to the Chancellor, but not to the SPD.
Your tip to the two chairmen?
Hofmann: They have a hard time because they are not located in the center of political power. Current policy is made by the ministers and the parliamentary group leaders. But is the CDU party leader AKK doing better? It disappears from the media almost unnoticed. Nobody is interested in them anymore. But that has no negative impact on the survey results. I do not understand that.
Is Kevin Kühnert the future of the SPD?
Hofmann: The SPD is not a one-person party and not a chancellor election association. But a party that defines itself through values and wants to translate them into political programs. Kevin Kühnert can play a role here, but by no means alone.
Photo: Heike Grigull (assembly)
–What does Frank Hofmann’s existence as a pensioner look like?
Hofmann: On Mondays, before the corona virus thwarted our plans, there was a weekly round of sheep heads at Düll in Krautheim. Table tennis is still an addiction. I can’t let go of it. I watch the Bundesliga games in Bad Königshofen and “our little houses” and make point games for my team from Sommerach. Cycling on the e-bike has become another passion. Lower Franconia is a paradise for cyclists. The goal is 4000 to 5000 kilometers annually, with Zabelstein, Friedrichsberg, Schwanberg and once a year also the Rhön and the Kreuzberg.
Why is it most beautiful in Volkach?
Hofmann: Many have to drive 1000 kilometers and more to go on vacation in Tuscany. I take my bike, ride down to the Main and into the vineyards and am already in the middle of my Franconian Tuscany.
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