Peter-Michael Diestel

Diestel on the roof of a detention center during a detainee revolt on 9 July 1990

Diestel at a demonstration by members of the police on 19 July 1990

Diestel with Joachim Gauck on 28 September 1990.

Diestel came from an East German military family. He completed vocational training in 1972, but was initially not allowed to study for political reasons. He was therefore active as a swimming instructor, lifeguard and cattle breeder before he studied law at Karl Marx University Leipzig from 1974 to 1978. He was honored as a "Honored Milker of the People".[1] He later worked as head of the legal department of the Agricultural Industry Association Delitzsch from 1978 to 1989. In 1986, he earned his doctorate's degree with a doctoral thesis on LPG law.

In December 1989, Diestel co-founded the German Social Union (Christlich-Soziale Partei Deutschlands or CSPD) and, in January 1990, the German Social Union (DSU), where he was the general secretary until June.[2]

From March to October 1990, Diestel was a member of the Volkskammer and from April to October, Deputy Prime Minister and successor to Lothar Ahrendt as Minister of the Interior of the GDR. In June 1990, he left the DSU and was, by 3 August, a member of the CDU.[3] On 7 June 1990, on the initiative of Diestel, RAF terrorist Susanne Albrecht was arrested,[4] and thereafter, the admission of nine other RAF members into the GDR became known. In his term in 1990, there was a transfer of Stasi-intercepted files about West German politicians to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.[1]

Critics accused him during his time as Minister of the Interior for the perceived trivial handling of former employees of the Stasi, who remained employed at the Ministry of Interior. Furthermore, many Stasi files were destroyed in his administration, including the destruction of files of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance.[5]

During the first election of the Landtag of Brandenburg on 14 October 1990, he was vetted as the CDU's top candidate, but was defeated by Manfred Stolpe of the SPD, who formed the first democratic state government of the re-established state of Brandenburg.

Subsequently, Diestel belonged to the Landtag of Brandenburg as a member until 1994. From 1990 until his resignation in 1992,[1] partly because of the controversial petrol station privatization in Brandenburg,[6] he was the first faction leader of the CDU, as well as the first opposition leader in the Landtag. As a co-initiator of the "Committee for Justice", he encouraged the committee to launch an inquiry into Stolpe - however, later in connection with his still controversial Stasi contacts, Stolpe made a personal declaration of honor for him.[1] Diestel published a statement in 1993 with others calling for "reconciliation instead of retribution".[1]

Diestel has been running a law firm in Potsdam since 1993; he also manages other offices in Berlin, Leipzig, Güstrow and Zislow, his place of residence.[7] In his practice, he represented, inter alia, former full-time Stasi staff, Stasi IM, those suspected of doping former East German athletes, and GDR sports officials. In 2004, he worked as legal counsel for PDS' leading candidate for the Landtag election in Saxony, Peter Porsch, who was suspected of being involved in Stasi activities. In 2005, he took over as part of the football betting scandal, the mandate for football referee Torsten Koop. Furthermore, he represented the athletics coach Thomas Springstein in 2005, who had administered the injection of drugs in minors. In 2006, he represented the ARD sports coordinator Hagen Boßdorf, who was accused of being a Stasi agent. He also initially represented Jan Ullrich during the Operación Puerto doping case. On 24 May 2007, however, he ended his representation for Ullrich; Ullrich's manager Wolfgang Strohband said that Ullrich had him withdraw representation because of a television appearance where Diestel said he had resigned due to disagreements.[8] In the Volkswagen corruption affair regarding the bribery of Volkswagen work councils, Diestel was defender of the former VW Work Council Chairman Klaus Volkert.

From 1994 to 1997, Diestel served as president of the football club Hansa Rostock and is the honorary president of SC Potsdam.[9]

Diestel has had three marriages, the most recent of which has been ongoing since 2014.[10]

• Peter-Michael Diestel, Jürgen Helfricht, Dieter Mechtel: D wie Diestel. Bouvier, Bonn 1990, ISBN 3-416-02275-0.
• Gregor Gysi, Peter-Michael Diestel, Guido Westerwelle, Gabriele Zimmer: Neue Gespräche über Gott und die Welt. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-351-9.

• Hans-Dieter Schütt: Peter-Michael Diestel, „Rebellion tut gut“: ein Populist teilt aus. Dietz, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-320-01797-7.
• Hannes Hofmann: Diestel. Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts? Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-360-01998-1.
• Peter-Michael Diestel, Oskar Lafontaine: Sturzgeburt. Vom geteilten Land zur europäischen Vormacht. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-360-02199-1.

• Literature by and about Peter-Michael Diestel in the German National Library catalogue
• Website of the law firm of Peter-Michael Diestel
• Peter-Michael Diestel: Biography and interview about his appointment as Minister of the Interior