“It’s people who are committed to things close to their hearts who keep our society going.”
Since the local elections in 2021, things in Papenburg are changing. Vanessa Gattung is not only the town’s first Social Democrat mayor since the end of the Second World War. but also the first woman to hold this office since 1810 – and does some things differently to her predecessors.
“Until just a few years ago, I would never have thought that I’d become the mayor”, admits Vanessa Gattung. Nor would the people close to her either: born in Offenbach near Frankfurt, as a child she was very shy and didn’t like being in the limelight. In the mid 1990s, she and her family moved from the big city in central Germany to the tranquil Emsland in the North. Her parents had taken over the well-known Café Stövchen from the grandparents. Aged eight when they moved, she then grew up in Papenburg’s Obenende district. Despite being rather reserved, she loved being class representative during her time at school. “I realised that I enjoy standing up for other people”, she recalls.
But despite all the commitment she showed, she didn’t think about going into politics back then. She attended the college for healthcare and social services, did internships in a kindergarten and a retirement home – looking back, she sees this as an enriching period in her life. She particularly enjoyed working with elderly people, something that started to shape her future career. But when she finished school, all Vanessa Gattung wanted to do was to get out of her comfort zone and try something completely new – as an au pair in the USA. She lived with a family in Minnesota for two years and looked after their twins. “My time with the two boys was a real challenge and changed me completely. I was a totally different person when I came home”, she says and adds with a laugh: “All of a sudden I was full of self-confidence!”
Step-by-step into politics
Back in Germany, she enrolled at the University of Vechta to do a degree in gerontology, working at the same time as a student trainee in the department for family affairs and senior citizens at the Hesse Ministry of Social Affairs. Her career seemed to be all mapped out. She was also constantly involved in university politics, a sphere that she found increasingly interesting. Eventually, she joined the SPD in 2015, a novelty in the previously rather apolitical family.
Following a semester abroad in Ecuador with a focus on psychology, Vanessa Gattung completed her Master’s degree in 2017 and started work initially in Osnabrück, among others as transfer manager for health and digital affairs at Osnabrück University and the University of Applied Sciences. “That was an exciting job at the interface between science and society, business and politics”, she says to describe her task. Politics in particular started to play an ever greater role in her life. In 2019, she stood for election to the office of chief district administrator to gain further experience, thus igniting her passion for local politics. “I found it increasingly appealing to move things here on the spot and to experience exactly what the impacts are.”
The people of Papenburg actually welcomed the fact that the young woman wasn’t elected chief district administrator. “We’d far rather have you as our mayor!”, she heard on all sides. By this time, it no longer seemed so far-fetched for the young politician to aim for the top job in the town hall, and she actually threw her hat into the ring for the mayoral election in 2021. Her election victory was a novelty in many respects. After all, 21 men had been her predecessors, with the town hall firmly in Christian Democrat hands for decades.
Great plans for her first term of office
When she assumed office in November 2021, the breath of fresh air that blew through the corridors of the council building was unaccustomed for both sides. “All of a sudden I was responsible for 350 employees. Of course I handle some things differently to my predecessors. This is also partly because I didn’t come up through the traditional administrative career structure, but came as what you could call a lateral entrant”, says the young mayor. This made it all the more important for her to get everyone in the same boat right from the start. She took the senior executives to a monastery on retreat for a few days in order to lay the cornerstones for working together as equals. “After all, no matter how good my ideas are, if my team aren’t convinced that I’m the right person with the right skills to do the job, then I won’t get anything done.”
Climate neutrality was already high on her agenda during the election campaign. She wants to push ahead in making Papenburg self-sufficient in terms of its energy supply, with energy cooperatives to get the citizens directly involved in the process. Another priority for her as mayor is to make Papenburg child-friendly: there must be a far greater focus on the youngest members of the population if the town is to be fit for the future.
Despite all the plans she brought with her from her election campaign, she faced a number of additional challenges during her first year in the town hall. Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, inflation: given the prominence of all these major issues, it isn’t always easy to concentrate on what needs to be done on the small scale. Even so, her initial verdict is quite positive: “Best job in the world!“, says Gattung with a laugh. “No, but seriously: I never thought the work would be so enthralling. What matters most is that I can really make things happen. That makes my job worth doing every single day.”
Success as a joint effort
Most people associate Papenburg with one thing in particular: cruise liners. In recent decades, the Meyer Werft shipyard founded in 1795 has become one of the world’s leading shipbuilding companies. With a workforce of more than 3,500 employees, it is the strongest employer in the region. “A super hallmark for the town, and one that has made our name known throughout the world. The go-getting mentality that made this company great is typical for the region and something that fills us with pride right up to today”, says the mayor. With all the praise that the town has garnered for the Meyer Werft, Papenburg also has small and medium sized companies that should not be forgotten. “They too are part of the economic motor that keeps everything going here. It’s not a case of either/or but of working together.” Helping to give small firms a bigger voice is one of her objectives for her five years in office as mayor.
To prepare for her work, Vanessa Gattung attended a number of seminars, on body language, for example, or how to write speeches. She describes a seminar for women in male-dominated working environments as particularly insightful. “There are times when where we women certainly need more self-confidence than men. Not thinking things through to the very last detail but simply doing them.” She already sets a good example in this respect, feeling totally at home in her role and getting things done. Of course it would be good to see more women in politics, but in the end everyone needs to decide for themselves if they want to get involved or not – whether on the political level or in social life in the community. “It’s people who are committed to things close to their hearts that keep our society going. That doesn’t have to be assuming political office. Volunteering in a local club or association, far removed from the big agenda, can also be beneficial to everyone.”
A strong local network
Papenburg is doing very well in this respect thanks to numerous committed citizens, says the mayor. She gives a special mention to the local churches and many voluntary associations that are always ready to help out when the need arises. “For example, the people of Papenburg quickly set up aid networks when the many refugees from Ukraine started arriving”, says Gattung with pride. “I was extremely impressed by this solidarity and the matter-of-fact way they provided help and assistance.” Here in the region, people are there for each other. That’s just one of the reasons why getting involved on behalf of the people here matters so much to Vanessa Gattung.
Gradually she’s got used to her public role. Her work in the town hall and the many different external events she attends have opened her eyes to issues that yet again reveal Papenburg’s diversity. But all these professional challenges do not leave her much time for leisure pursuits. “It’s absolutely not a problem”, she says quite clearly. “After all, I want to get as much out of it as I can. Every event I attend as mayor helps me get to know my town even better, immersing me in so many different topics.” For now, she recharges her batteries in the large garden behind her house, sitting at the pond with her three dogs, watching the runner ducks and simply enjoying a bit of peace and quiet.
Vanessa Gattung has no idea at the moment where she’ll be in twenty or thirty years’ time. But she’s already sure she’d like a second term as mayor. And she knows she’s got what it takes, now that she’s so confident about her abilities. Thanks, among others, to the twins in Minnesota.
