Biography of Norbert Kartmann

Norbert Kartmann (born 16 January 1949 in Nieder-Weisel; died 23 May 2026 in Lich) was a German teacher and CDU politician. He served in the Hessian Landtag for decades and was president of the parliament from 2003 to 2019, for almost 16 years. His public work centred on the Wetterau region, the Hessian Landtag, parliamentary order and voluntary civic service.

Wetterau and teaching

Kartmann was born in Nieder-Weisel, a district of Butzbach in the Wetterau. After school, military service and teacher training at the University of Giessen, he passed his first state examination in 1973 and his second in 1975. His subjects were Protestant theology and physics. From 1975 to 1982 he worked as a teacher at the Otto-Hahn-Schule in Hanau. These beginnings help explain why school, church, associations and local public work repeatedly came together in his career.

Local politics and the Landtag

Kartmann joined the CDU in 1970. In Butzbach and the Wetterau he took on local responsibilities early, including in the city council, the municipal executive and as local head in Nieder-Weisel. On 1 December 1982 he first entered the Hessian Landtag; after a short interruption he belonged to the parliament continuously from April 1987 until the end of 2022. He became one of the defining CDU voices from central Hesse. From 1999 to 2003 he chaired the CDU parliamentary group in the Landtag.

President of the Hessian Landtag

On 5 April 2003 Kartmann became president of the Hessian Landtag. He held the office until 17 January 2019, with a constitutionally unusual interim phase after the 2008 state election. He served longer as Landtag president than any of his predecessors. His term included the construction of the new plenary chamber, which opened in 2008. For the parliament, these years were also marked by narrow majorities, intense debates and changing political situations. Kartmann's task was to allow political conflict while preserving the form of the house.

Transylvania, Europe and civic work

Kartmann's family had roots in Transylvania. From this grew a lasting interest in German-Romanian relations, the culture of the Transylvanian Saxons and questions of flight, expulsion and European understanding. In 2024, when the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu awarded him an honorary doctorate in the Hessian Landtag, the parliament explicitly named this commitment. Kartmann was also active in associations, church and sport; from 2004 he belonged to the synod of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau.

Honours and withdrawal

For his political and voluntary work Kartmann received several honours, including the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2012, the Hessian Order of Merit in 2019 and the Wilhelm Leuschner Medal in 2020. After health problems he resigned his Landtag mandate effective 31 December 2022. His departure from active politics was seen in Hesse as the end of a long parliamentary career that led from the constituency to the head of the Landtag.

Farewell

Norbert Kartmann died on 23 May 2026 after a severe illness in a hospital in Lich. He was 77 years old. In early June 2026 the Hessian Landtag commemorated him with a funeral service at the Protestant parish church in Nieder-Weisel. His biography leads from the Wetterau to the head of the Landtag and back to a home community where politics, church, associations and voluntary service stood close together.