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Sahra Wagenknecht | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Wagenknecht in 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 8 January 2024 Serving with Amira Mohamed Ali | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General Secretary | Christian Leye | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Shervin Haghsheno | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance in the Bundestag | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 11 December 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whip | Jessica Tatti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Klaus Ernst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 12 October 2015 – 24 October 2017 Serving with Dietmar Bartsch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Gregor Gysi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of The Left in the Bundestag | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 12 October 2015 – 12 November 2019 Serving with Dietmar Bartsch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whip | Jan Korte | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Sevim Dağdelen Caren Lay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Gregor Gysi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Amira Mohamed Ali | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Sarah Wagenknecht 16 July 1969 Jena, Bezirk Gera, East Germany (now Thuringia, Germany) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | BSW (2023–present) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Residence | Merzig-Silwingen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Groningen (MA) TU Chemnitz (PhD) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | sahra-wagenknecht | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sahra Wagenknecht (born Sarah Wagenknecht; German: [ˌzaːʁa ˈvaːɡŋ̍ˌknɛçt]; 16 July 1969) is a German politician, economist, author, and publicist.[1] She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009, where she represented The Left until 2023. From 2015 to 2019, she served as that party's parliamentary co-chair. With a small team of allies, Wagenknecht left the party on 23 October 2023 to found her own party in 2024, Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, to contest elections onwards.[2]
Wagenknecht became a prominent member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) from the early 1990s. After the foundation of The Left in 2007, she was a leading member of one of the party's most left-wing factions as leader of the Communist Platform. Her economic views shifted since then; she laid them out in her book Freedom instead of Capitalism, in which she analyses Germany’s economic policy at the time of the euro crisis and criticises it on the basis of ordoliberalism.
She has been a controversial figure throughout her career due to her hardline and populist stances, statements about East Germany, immigration and refugees, and her political movement Aufstehen.[3][4][5] From 2020 onward Wagenknecht was less active in parliament, but often interviewed by German media. She is not a member of any parliamentary committee.[6]
Since 2021 she had openly considered forming her own party, due to growing and enduring conflicts within the Left Party and at the end of September 2023 Wagenknecht formed the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance political party, better known as BSW (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht), at the start of 2024. She is running as the Chancellor candidate of the BSW in the 2025 German federal election.
- ^ "Sahra Wagenknecht: 750.000 Euro Nebeneinkünfte 2022 durch Buchhonorar und Vorträge". RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (in German). 21 March 2023. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ Henley, Jon (23 October 2023). "German firebrand politician quits far-left Die Linke to set up her own party". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "German Left's Wagenknecht to stand down". Deutsche Welle. 11 March 2019. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ "Germany's political outliers who embarrass their parties". Deutsche Welle. 6 July 2021. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ "Sahra Wagenknecht: the uncompromising face of the Left party". Deutsche Welle. 25 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ Dankbar, Christine (19 October 2023). "Folgen einer Wagenknecht-Partei für die Linksfraktion im Bundestag: Aus eins wird drei?". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.