René Wilke

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René Wilke, born 30 June 1984 in Frankfurt (Oder), is a German politician from the SPD who has served as Brandenburg’s Minister of the Interior since May 2025. He was a directly elected member of the Brandenburg state parliament (Landtag) for Frankfurt (Oder) from 2014 to 2018, and in March 2018 he was elected Lord Mayor of Frankfurt (Oder), taking office in May 2018 as the youngest mayor in the city’s history. Wilke grew up in Frankfurt (Oder), studied at Viadrina European University and the University of Hagen, and later earned qualifications as a mediator and as an office administrator. He joined the PDS in 2000, later became a Die Linke district leader, and rose to the party’s state caucus leadership before leaving Die Linke in 2024. He also worked for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and for MPs Helmut Scholz and Lothar Bisky. He won the 2018 mayoral race on a slate called Frankfurt geht Besser, defeating the incumbent in the runoff. In 2025, after Katrin Lange resigned, he was appointed Brandenburg’s Interior Minister by Minister President Dietmar Woidke. He joined the SPD in November 2025.