upon the German Peace Union while it still existed, and heavily funded it during the van Ooyen years and earlier. Van Ooyen defended his status as a beneficiary of communist funds in the 1970s–1980s by saying he was "naive". He was again the Linke party's candidate for minister-president in the 2009 Landtag election in Hesse, where his party again won six seats. References 1947 births Living people People from Kleve (district) German Peace Union politicians The Left (Germany) politicians