Heinrich Niemann was born in Reckwitz, Saxony, in 1944. After graduating from high school, he completed an apprenticeship as an engine builder, then began studying medicine at the Charité of the Humboldt University in Berlin. After completing his doctorate on international trends in medical training in 1970, he became a specialist in social hygiene. From 1986 to 1990, he was active in the DDR section of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), an international association of doctors campaigning for nuclear disarmament. He was an elected city councillor in Marzahn-Hellersdorf (Berlin) from 1992 to 2006, including 11 years in charge of public health. During this time, he initiated his district’s membership in the Healthy Cities Network, an international WHO project that calls for health-promoting policies.
He is a founding member of the association “Medizin und Gesellschaft” (Medicine and Society) (1991 — 2017), which reviewed the history and achievements of the DDR’s health care system, and of the Rapoport-Gesellschaft, which is dedicated to the memory and recognition of Inge and Mitja Rapoport’s work.
See also Dr. med. Niemann’s biography in the project “Kombinatsdirektoren”.
The interview was filmed on 2 June 2021.
Dr. Heinrich Niemann answers: “What could have been done better in the DDR’s health policy?”
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the political responsibility of the doctor
Dr. Heinrich Niemann discusses the DDR’s approach to vaccinations
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on health protection in the workplace in the DDR
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the central elements of the DDR’s health care system
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the composition of the student body
Dr. Heinrich Niemann recounts his post-war childhood
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the DDR’s health insurance system
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the emergence of the polyclinic in the DDR
Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the medical brain drain from the DDR