Michael Ludwig

Michael Ludwig (born 3 April 1961) is an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ). Since May 2018, he has been Mayor and Governor of Vienna, the capital and largest city of Austria. Since January 2018, he has also served as chairman of SPÖ Vienna. Prior, he was City Councillor for Housing, Construction, and Urban Renewal from January 2007 until his election as mayor. He was also Second Deputy Mayor and Governor of Vienna from March 2009 to October 2010. Personal life Ludwig grew up in Vienna's 21st district, Floridsdorf, living in a Gemeindebau (municipal housing estate). He grew up under the governments of SPÖ Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who he cites as his political idol. After finishing primary school, Michael Ludwig attended the lower level of a general high school in Vienna from 1971. He then attended the commercial academy all the way 1975 to 1980 and graduated from it with the Matura. After serving military service from 1981 to 1982, he studied political science and history at the University of Vienna and was awarded a doctorate in 1992 with a dissertation on the SED, the then-ruling party of East Germany. In 1984–1986 he was course and project leader in adult education, and from 1986 to 1991 an educational assistant at a Viennese adult education centre. In 1991 he became regional office manager of the Dr. Karl Renner Institute Vienna and education secretary of the SPÖ Vienna. From 1995 he was chairman of the Association of Viennese Adult Education and Vice President of the Austrian Adult Education Centres, and since 2008 he has been honorary chairman of the supervisory board of Wiener Volkshochschulen GmbH. Ludwig is also chairman of the Bruno Kreisky Archive. In August 2018, Ludwig married his longtime partner Irmtraud Rossgatterer.