Hundt withdraws request for dismissal as State Secretary

Matthias Hundt, who moved from Dresden to the Berlin state government in mid-March, has caused the next surprise on the Spree: after announcing his resignation from his post as Berlin State Secretary for Digitization, he has withdrawn his request for dismissal. This was announced by his media lawyer Ralf Höcker on request. The "Tagesspiegel" reported earlier.

On Tuesday, Hundt had stated that he had asked the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) to relieve him of his duties. Hundt had been in office for just over two months. A Senate spokeswoman had said that Wegner would comply with the request.

When asked in the evening, the Berlin Senate Chancellery has not yet commented on the U-turn on the resignation request.

What does the lawyer say about the reasons?

Hundt's lawyer said in the evening: "My client is no longer asking for his dismissal for two reasons: Firstly, he was very annoyed by the rumor, which was obviously deliberately spread, that he had merely pre-empted his dismissal with his announced offer of resignation. The client expected that the media campaign against him would come to an end with his resignation offer. Unfortunately, this hope was dashed."

But above all, the allegations made against him are unfounded. "SDC Sachsen Digital Consulting GmbH is now being audited by the German Pension Insurance Association to clarify whether there are any outstanding contribution claims. The client bears no responsibility for the insolvency of Humboldt Capture Germany GmbH. He was never a shareholder there, only an external managing director, and only until the fall of 2024."

Prior to this, research by MDR and RBB revealed that the Dresden public prosecutor's office was investigating the insolvency of one of Hundt's companies. According to the Dresden public prosecutor's office, insolvency proceedings were opened on 25 November 2025 over the assets of Hundt's consulting firm SDC Sachsen Digital Consulting GmbH.

First started in Berlin in mid-March

Born in Dresden in 1969, Hundt was appointed Chief Digital Officer and State Secretary for Digitization and Administrative Modernization in the Berlin Senate Chancellery in mid-March. He succeeded Martina Klement, who moved to the Brandenburg state government as Minister of Economic Affairs.

Governing Mayor Wegner had to put up with criticism from the SPD and the Greens, among others, over Hundt's appointment. A successor has already been announced: Florian Hauer will take over the duties in addition to his previous activities as Berlin's representative to the federal government and State Secretary for Federal and European Affairs, according to a statement from the Senate Chancellery on Wednesday.