Departures of note

Uwe‑Karsten Heye was born on 31 October 1940 in Reichenberg, then part of the Sudetenland. He grew up in post‑war Germany, studied journalism and began his career at the Süddeutsche Zeitung, where he worked as a correspondent in Bonn from 1968 to 1973. He later became press secretary and speechwriter for former Chancellor Willy Brandt and continued to work as a freelance journalist before entering politics.

In 1990 Heye joined the SPD and was appointed spokesperson for the Lower Saxony state government under Gerhard Schröder. After the SPD won the federal election in 1998, he became the first spokesperson of the red‑green federal government, a post he held for four years, becoming a familiar face in national media. He later served as German Consul General in New York from 2002 to 2004 and as editor‑in‑chief of the SPD newspaper Vorwärts from 2006 to 2010.

Beyond his political and journalistic work, Heye authored several books, including a family memoir that was adapted for television, and co‑founded the anti‑antisemitism and anti‑right‑wing‑extremism association "Gesicht zeigen!" He remained active in public discourse until his death on 30 July 2026 at the age of 85.