On 13 August, Lothar Bisky, former president of the European Left and of the parliamentary fraction of GUE/NGL, unexpectedly passed away. transform! europe sent the following letter of condolence to the party DIE LINKE, whose president Lothar Bisky had been until 2010.
Dear Comrades,
With deep sadness we have learned about the sudden and unexpected death of your and our comrade Lothar Bisky. Lothar was one of the most exceptional and outstanding personalities of the socialist movement in Germany. As the president of the PDS and the party DIE LINKE he had a decisive share in the foundation and the successes of the party. He was the co-founder and president of the Party of the European Left, whose first joint election programme goes back to his initiative, and he also was the president of GUE/NGL, the left fraction in the European Parliament, and as such was much-respected even by his opponents. Lothar had been closely connected with transform! europe since the network had been recognized as the political foundation of the EL.
Lothar had not only been our comrade and colleague but also our friend and advisor. We will miss his well-considered remarks and his encouragement.
In that way we want to express our sympathy with the bereaved and with all of you.
With solidarity,
Elisabeth Gauthier, Haris Golemis and Walter Baier
(on behalf of the managing board of transform! europe)
See also: http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/830115.lothar-bisky-gestorben.html DIE LINKE has opened an online book of condolences:
If you want to, you can leave a message there. Unfortunately the instructions for using the page are only in German. But it should be easy for you to use. You just have to fill in the following boxes:
Vorname: [First name]
Nachname: [Family name]
E-Mail:
Web:
Ort: [Country or place of origin]
Text: [Text with a personal message]