A theologian and politician, Markus Meckel is a leading figure of the opposition in the German Democratic Republic and co-founded the Social Democratic Party in the GDR 1989. In 1990, after the free elections, he served as the Foreign Minister of the GDR. As a member of the German Bundestag (1990-2009), he focused on European politics, security issues, and German-Polish relations. He was the vice-spokesman of the SPD for foreign policy up to 2009, and spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group in two commissions dealing with the SED dictatorship and its consequences (1992–98).

Markus Meckel was the chairman of the German-Polish Parliamentary Group (1994-2009), and head of the German parliamentary delegation to NATO. He is the chairman of the Council of the Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship (a body he initiated) and a member of the advisory board of the Federal Authority for the Processing of GDR State Intelligence Files/BStU. He is the German co-chairman of the Council of the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.

Image Credit: Presidendi kantselei / Office of the President, Cropped & Scaled, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons