Gregor Gysi

Vocation

German attorney and key politician of the socialist left-wing political party The Left (Die Linke). He was the last leader of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, and led the effort that transformed it into the post-Communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), forerunner of The Left. He is well known for his rhetoric talent and is considered one of the best German public speakers. His father, Klaus Gysi, was a high-ranking official in East Germany, and had been Minister of Culture from 1966 to 1973. His mother, Irene, was the sister of political activist Gottfried Lessing, who was married to the British writer Doris Lessing during his exile in Southern Rhodesia. Doris Lessing is Gysi's aunt. The surname "Gysi" is of Swiss-German origin. Both of his parents were of part Jewish ancestry; his paternal grandmother was Jewish, as was one of his maternal great-grandfathers. One of his maternal great-grandmothers was Russian. His sister, Gabriele, is an actress, who left East Germany in 1985. Today, she is chief dramaturge at the Volksbühne in Berlin. Gregor Gysi lives separated from his second wife. He has three children, one of them adopted. Link to Wikipedia biography