Albrecht Schröter (born 7 April 1955) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who served as mayor (Oberbürgermeister) of Jena from 2006 to 2018. Early life and career Schröter attended the Polytechnic Secondary School from 1962 to 1972, but was denied an Abitur for political reasons. After leaving school, he completed a two and a half years of training as a nurse (Krankenpfleger) in Eberswalde and in Bad Freienwalde. He then studied and received a degree in Protestant theology at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. After graduating in 1980, he worked as a research assistant at the theology section and as vicar of evangelical youth work until 1984, when we took over a parish in Jena (first at the Friedenskirche and from 1986-1997 in the Luthersprengel). In 1985 he founded the "Jena Judaism Working Group" to document the history of the Jews of Jena and maintain the memory of the Holocaust. In 1996 he took his doctorate in theology in Halle-Wittenberg (summa cum laude). From 1997 he worked as a representative of the Free State of Thuringia for new religious movements and special communities and as a subject specialist at the Thuringian Institute for Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media (ThILLM) in Bad Berka. Political career During the time of the GDR, Schröter involvement was concentrated on church youth work. On 1 October 1989 he co-founded the Democratic Awakening (DA) in Berlin and was their spokesman in Jena. However he left the party in March 1990 as a consequence of the results of the parliamentary elections and the merger of the DA, DSU and CDU. Until his resignation in March 1990, Schröter was the personal in charge of the "round table" in Jena for planning health care reform. In October 1990, Schröter joined the SDP, later the SPD. From 1990 to 1994 he was a member of the Jena city council and deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. From 1998 to 2004 he was chairman of the Jena SPD. From 2004 to 2018 he was a member of the Regional Executive of the SPD in Thuringia. In May 2000, he was defeated in the run-off elections for mayor by the incumbent Peter Röhlinger with 47.2%. From September 2000 to June 2006 he was head of the Department for Social Affairs and Culture of the City of Jena. In 2001 he founded the Cultural