Enlarge image
Frankfurt Ex-OB Peter Feldmann: “The CDU was taken in by the trap”
Photo:
SEBASTIAN GOLLNOW / AFP
The former mayor of Frankfurt, Peter Feldmann, who came under criticism and was voted out of office, resigns from the SPD.
The politician announced this on Friday.
"Dear comrades, after almost 50 years in the SPD, I'm leaving the party," says a letter in which he again appreciates his own work and raises allegations against parts of the Social Democrats.
»With the campaign against me, parts of the party leadership have jeopardized the social-democratic structure of our city and have been taken in by the CDU.«
In the letter, the 64-year-old once again describes his career with the Social Democrats, ending up with the longest term as mayor of the SPD.
He fought many thousands of hours with "heart and soul" for his party and its election campaigns.
A lot has been achieved in Frankfurt.
The city has become more human due to the rent freeze or free daycare centers.
Feldmann was voted out of office on November 6 last year in a referendum.
His own party had also opposed him.
In December he was sentenced to a fine for accepting an advantage in the affair of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Awo), against which he appealed.
He had also lost sympathy through various slips, for example when he took the trophy at the European Cup celebration of Eintracht.
"But there was another solution," writes Feldmann, citing an agreed withdrawal in January.
“Parts of the party leadership missed this opportunity.” In his blackest fantasies, he could never have imagined that his party would one day be at the forefront of a campaign to get rid of him.
»Large advertisements and posters against me«
"History shows impressively that the SPD has a special talent for dismantling itself from the inside," writes Feldmann.
»Large advertisements and posters against me were actually financed with my own mandate fee and with membership fees from me and our comrades.
A unique event in the history of the Frankfurt SPD.« He no longer wanted to make a contribution to this.
After Feldmann was voted out, his deputy, Green Party politician Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg, took over office.
Around 508,000 eligible voters are called on March 5 to elect a new mayor.
Feldmann has been mayor since 2012.
sol/dpa
