Frieder Wolf-Buchert, our colleague at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung for many years, has passed away at the age of 66, following serious illness. He built up and led our European Union office, which opened in January 1997.
21/10/1955 – 30/11/2021
Between 1984 and 1989, Frieder Wolf-Buchert was part of the scientific advisors team in Petra Kelly’s office at the Bundestag and then held senior positions at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Leipzig, Cologne and Brussels up to 2001. Frieder built up and led the European Union office of our Foundation, which opened in January 1997.
Later on, and until his retirement in 2020, he was Head of the International Affairs Office of the City of Cologne. His political passion always centred on the state and future of Europe, human rights and the relationship between Germany and Israel. We grieve for a colleague and friend who was always cheerful and serene, outstandingly kind and friendly to everybody and always willing to lend an sympathetic ear to everyone.
We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Tributes to Frieder Wolf-Buchert
“Frieder was one of those people who was absolutely tireless when it came to give a voice to people living behind walls and barbed wire, when it came to looking for ways out of seemingly hopeless conflicts, but also when it came to translating the vision of Europe into reality. We respected him as a highly intelligent colleague, an excellent listener and somebody who got things done. He founded the Foundation’s office in Brussels and much of his spirit of internationality, from moving between worlds – from East to West, from Palestine to Israel and from Berlin to Brussels – is still very much in evidence at our Foundation today”.
- Dr. Ellen Ueberschär, President, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
“I didn’t meet him until after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but he was one of the very few people I immediately clicked with and felt like we were on the same wavelength. He was a likeable and deeply sincere person. He remains a treasured friend in my memory”.
- Werner Schulz, former Green member of the Bundestag and of the European Parliament
“When we got to know each other in the 1980s, Frieder was one of the proponents of the DDR civil rights movement. In grateful memory of a kind and deeply committed man who has gone too soon”.
- Gerd Poppe, former Human Rights Commissioner of the German Federal Government
“It was always lovely to talk to him – he was interested in so many things and always open and warm-hearted”.
- Ulrike Poppe, former Commissioner of the German State of Brandenburg for the Study of the Repercussions of the Communist Dictatorship
This obituary was first published in German on boell.de.