Thilo Sarrazin (born 12 February 1945) is a former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank (until 30 September 2010) and a German politician (SPD). Sarrazin previously served as senator of finance for the State of Berlin from January 2002 until April 2009, when he was appointed to his position at Bundesbank. He has been subject to controversy for statements about German immigration policy and for claiming the Jewish people's positive contributions to society are partly due to genetics. All this happened in relation to the publication of his book Deutschland schafft sich ab ("Germany Does Away With Itself" or "Germany Abolishes Itself").