Ibrahim Böhme

Who was Ibrahim Böhme?

Ibrahim Böhme was a politician for a short period of time after the collapse of the communist regime in the German Democratic Republic, also known as East Germany. Before becoming involved in politics, Böhme had worked numerous different jobs, including as a cook, waiter, bricklayer, teacher, and historian. In the late 1980s he is also known to have been a human rights advocate associated with the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights.

As a joint founder, Ibrahim Böhme served as chairman of the Social Democratic Party in East Germany from its inception in October 1989 to March 1990. However, due to allegations that had surfaced early in 1990 in the weekly magazine Der Spiegel that Ibrahim Böhme had been a collaborator of the Stasi prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall for decades, he was forced to resign and relinquish his position to the next and last East German SPD chairman, Markus Meckel. Ibrahim Böhme was one of many East German citizens to have been discovered to be informants under the communist regime, sometimes ruining personal relationships as well as careers.