Angelika Gramkow

Angelika Gramkow (born 27 September 1958) is a German politician. She grew up in the German Democratic Republic and remained true to the successors of the old ruling East German Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands / SED) after 1989. She was elected to the office of "High Mayor" ("Oberbürgermeisterin") of Schwerin in 2008: she intends to stand for re-election in 2016. Life Angelika Gramkow was born in Grevesmühlen, a small town a short distance to the west of Rostock and, at that time, a short distance to the east of the "internal" frontier that separated East Germany from the more economically dynamic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). Between 1965 and 1975 she attended the Polytechnic Secondary School ("zehnklassige Polytechnische Oberschule) in nearby Ludwigslust. Her higher education concluded successfully, involving by a period of vocational study at Schwerin focusing on the construction industry (residential). She rejected a career in the construction industry, however. Between 1981 and 1986 she attended university at the other end of the country, in Leipzig, emerging with an economics degree and a teaching qualification. In 1978 she had joined East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands / SED). In 1981 Gramkow began to work as a member of the Schwerin regional leadership team ("Kreisleitung") of the Free German Youth (" Freie Deutsche Jugend" / FDJ), the ruling party's youth wing, and traditionally a route to positions of political power and influence. After obtaining her degree she taught at the Schwerin campus of the Gotha Academy for Economics and Finance. She then moved on to the Vocational Academy for Economics and Management, also in Schwerin. where she continued in post till January 1992.