My Life, My City: Burkhard Jung, Mayor of Leipzig

What was your first job?

My first job ever was a holiday job to put glass fibre boards on trucks. In my first professional employment, I worked as a supply teacher.

Why did you become mayor?

In my [previous office] as Deputy Mayor for Youth and Education, I developed a deep sympathy for this responsible position.

What is your favourite part of the job?

The absolute best thing is to make people happy through our decisions.

What has been your biggest success?

Together with many actors from all levels and areas, we managed to successfully decrease the unemployment rate in Leipzig from 22 percent to six percent.

What has been your biggest setback?

The politically elected bodies of the city decided to sell 49 percent of the shares of our communal energy enterprise but it was stopped by public voting.

What surprises you most in this day and age?

I am astonished by the enormous speed of global exchange, and common worldwide trends, as well as the incredible polarisation.

What are you reading right now?

Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, a novel by the English Nobel and Booker Prize winner which was [named] by a team of literature experts in 2015 as one of the most important English novels ever.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

I am exactly both. And of course, as Mayor, you have to be in the office very early and sometimes stay more or less the whole night.

Who is your hero or inspiration?

I have had a lot of different inspiration during my life but no hero.

What was your last overseas trip as mayor?

During my last trip as Mayor I stayed with a delegation of representatives from Leipzig’s economic and cultural life in our sister city Herzliya, and I assisted in the official opening of the Bauhaus Center in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2019.

Who is the most interesting person you have met or worked with since becoming mayor?

I met so many very interesting people but I was most impressed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he stayed in Leipzig.

What’s one thing your colleagues wouldn’t ordinarily know about you?

I love to play guitar but I guess nobody knows what I am going to sing…

Favourite place in your city and why?

The best is to go for a walk or to cycle in our unique and famous floodplain forest which crosses the entire city and makes it wonderful, green and liveable. But I will not reveal my favourite place there, sorry – it could be too crowded in future.

What advice would you give to the first-time visitor to your city?

Please come and climb the tower of Leipzig’s New City Hall, the highest in Germany, or the platform at the City Skyscraper and take a wonderful view of the whole city, its historical and compact city centre, the different districts and the surroundings with a lot of lakes, rivers and canals for recreation and sport activities.

CITY OF BIRTH: Siegen, Germany

EDUCATION: University study at Wilhelms University Münster, Westphalia. Graduate degree: Teacher of German and Protestant Theology

DATE ELECTED MAYOR: 2006, 2013, 2020 — direct voting by citizens

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: Teacher, Headmaster, Deputy Mayor for Youth, Education and Sports

This interview was arranged in collaboration with Eurocities, ahead of its Reinventing cities – beyond the urban crises event (online, 4-5 November).