Personnel in the administration can not only be exciting, but downright historic and also have a full impact on the lives of Munich residents. The faction of the Greens provided evidence of this on Monday lunchtime: They will propose Hanna Sammüller-Gradl as the future head of the district administration department. The first woman to hold this central post and the first Green.
Public safety, a pluralistic society, curfew regulations: There is hardly a place in the administration where you can shape the lifestyle of Munich residents more. The Greens are very sure that they are presenting the right candidate. She was the “ideal cast”, enthused parliamentary group leader Florian Roth, “an experienced and specialized lawyer who is scientifically and practically comprehensively familiar with administrative law and who also knows the Munich city administration from the inside out.”
Ever since the coalition agreement was published, it has been clear that the Greens, as the strongest faction in Munich City Hall, also want to change their staff. There it is determined which speakers the Greens and the SPD can propose, which the other partner then votes. In the negotiations, the Greens not only secured the departments for environmental protection and traffic, but also the district administration department.
“I still can’t believe it,” says the 38-year-old happily
That the 38-year-old lawyer Sammüller-Gradl was the undisputed favorite with her résumé could be heard behind the scenes for a long time. Now it’s official, and when you hear the first official words from the designated KVR boss, you can tell that her future job is also her absolute favorite in career planning. “I still can’t believe it. A dream that I’ve had for a long time would come true,” said Sammüller-Gradl.
She is happy and proud that the Greens will propose her as a candidate for election at the beginning of next year, said the lawyer, who is currently working for the city of Freising. “That has to be decided by the city council,” she emphasized. But Sammüller-Gradl knows, of course, that the decisive step for them has already been taken. Not least because she is not only a trained lawyer, but also politically experienced.
As spokeswoman for the Green Youth in Landsberg am Lech, when she was 15 she first experienced how the decisions of local politics and the local authorities affect people’s lives, said Sammüller-Gradl. These two areas have shaped her political and professional life, and they could now come together in their new job.
Unlike her former flat-share colleague, she didn’t want to go into pure politics
After graduating from high school in Landsberg, the designated KVR head studied law in Munich, Paris and Prague and then did her doctorate in environmental criminal law. At the German University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer, she also followed up with a supplementary course. From 2015 to 2019 she worked in the Munich municipal department before moving to Freising as head of the department for citizen services and legal affairs.
During her time in Munich, she started a promising career with the Greens. From 2007 to 2010 she was a member of the Munich party executive committee, most recently as chairwoman. At that time she lived with Katharina Schulze, both of whom were considered to be the politically most talented flat share, at least for the Greens in Munich. Schulze made her way straight to the top of the parliamentary group. Now Sammüller-Gradl is to play a prominent role again on the big stage.
The politically most talented flat share of the Greens: Hanna Sammüller and Katharina Schulze in 2010.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
Will we come full circle? Somehow yes, said Sammüller-Gradl, she had “taken a different bend” in between times. Simply because she found that, unlike Schulze, she probably lacks “this pure politician gene”, the ability to cope well with hostility or tough controversies. But she has remained a political person, the people of Munich could experience that quickly after the election.
Much at the top of the KVR is very attractive, she said, but also especially about promoting socio-political issues. How much a KVR boss can shape the mood in the city was shown in particular by the two former CSU speakers Peter Gauweiler and Hans-Peter Uhl.
One cannot imagine much more alternative to their hard, conservative line than a woman who headed the feminism working group for the Munich Greens to the end. “Munich will benefit greatly from her approach of a citizen-oriented regulatory and security policy, which she has already been able to implement in Freising in many areas. Particularly in the areas of intercultural openness, closeness to the citizen, anti-racism. said group leader Roth. Could be exciting times for the KVR and the city.