Leader of Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht in the Bundestag
Incumbent
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
Succeeded by
Alexander Gauland Alice Weidel
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
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 October 2009
Preceded by
multi-member district
Constituency
The Left List
Member of the European Parliament for Germany
In office 20 July 2004 – 14 July 2009
Preceded by
multi-member district
Succeeded by
multi-member district
Constituency
Party of Democratic Socialism List
Personal details
Born
Sarah Wagenknecht
(1969-07-16) 16 July 1969 (age 54) Jena, Bezirk Gera, East Germany (now Thuringia, Germany)
Political party
Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (2023–)
Other political affiliations
The Left (2007–2023) Party of Democratic Socialism (1989–2007) Socialist Unity Party (1989)
Spouses
Ralph-Thomas Niemeyer
(m. 1997; div. 2013)
Oskar Lafontaine
(m. 2014)
Residence
Merzig-Silwingen
Education
University of Groningen TU Chemnitz
Occupation
Politician
publicist
author
Website
sahra-wagenknecht.de
Sahra Wagenknecht (born Sarah Wagenknecht; German:[ˌzaːʁaˈvaːɡŋ̍ˌknɛçt]; 16 July 1969) is a German politician, economist, author, and publicist.[1] Since 2009 she has been a member of the Bundestag, where until 2023 she represented The Left. From 2015 to 2019, she served as that party's parliamentary co-chair. With a small team of allies, she 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, she became a leading member of one of the party's most left-wing factions as leader of the Communist Platform. She has been a controversial figure throughout her career due to her hardline and populist stances, statements about East Germany, immigration and refugees (which moved away from traditional antiracism), 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 she formed BSW – Reason and Justice political party in 2024.
^Deutschland, RedaktionsNetzwerk (21 March 2023). "Sahra Wagenknecht: 750.000 Euro Nebeneinkünfte 2022 durch Buchhonorar und Vorträge". www.rnd.de (in German). 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.
^"Linksfraktion im Bundestag: Aus eins wird drei?". www.fr.de (in German). 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
SahraWagenknecht (born Sarah Wagenknecht; German: [ˌzaːʁa ˈvaːɡŋ̍ˌknɛçt]; 16 July 1969) is a German politician, economist, author, and publicist. Since...
Wagenknecht (1900–2004), American literary critic Lukáš Wagenknecht (born 1978), Czech economist Max Wagenknecht (1857–1922), German composer Sahra Wagenknecht...
alongside others like SahraWagenknecht to found a new party. Amira is the chairwoman of the board of the Bündnis SahraWagenknecht-Association which was...
Germany. Results of such polls are displayed in this list. Bündnis SahraWagenknecht Boris Palmer list Friedrich Merz as CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Boris...
Stand up) is a left-wing collective movement founded by politician SahraWagenknecht in 2018. Its co-founders and participants included leading members...
represents Wagenknecht-party and serves as its Group Chief Whip in the German Bundestag. She switched party from The Left in October 2023 to "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht"...
Christian Lindner 91 AfD Alice Weidel Tino Chrupalla 78 Left Janine Wissler Martin Schirdewan 28 BSW SahraWagenknecht Amira Mohamed Ali 10 Ungrouped N/A 6...
United Left–Nordic Green Left. He joined populist party "Bündnis SahraWagenknecht", BSW on 8 January 2024. In the 2014 European elections, De Masi became...
d921098c7fef8df178d603edb.pdf Marcel Fürstenau (7 January 2024). "SahraWagenknecht: Neue Partei mit altbekannten Gesichtern". dw.com. Retrieved 18 February...
2023, as did SahraWagenknecht, Amira Mohamed Ali, and eight others who joined Wagenknecht's namesake faction Bündnis SahraWagenknecht (BSW) while staying...
dem Kapitalismus retten) is a 2016 book by the German politician SahraWagenknecht. It criticises capitalism for stifling innovation and not rewarding...
innovation, and justice') is a 2011 book by the German politician SahraWagenknecht. SahraWagenknecht criticises capitalism and promotes economic interventionism...
Geisel (born 26 October 1963) is a German politician from the Bündnis SahraWagenknecht party and formerly a member of the Social Democratic Party. Together...
new party of SahraWagenknecht BSW. On the a press-conference on 23 October 2023 he will leave The Left and join Bündnis SahraWagenknecht. "Deutscher...
BSW (basketball club), a Dutch professional basketball team Bündnis SahraWagenknecht, a German political party Byelorussian Steel Works This disambiguation...
v t e LINKE Speaker: Gregor Gysi, Dietmar Bartsch, SahraWagenknecht Members: Aken Alpers Bartsch Behrens Binder Birkwald Bluhm Buchholz Bulling-Schröter...
his party in the Saarland due to alleged fraud, and popular figure SahraWagenknecht, who some in the party wanted to expel for her book "Die Selbstgerechten"...
v t e LINKE Speaker: Gregor Gysi, Dietmar Bartsch, SahraWagenknecht Members: Aken Alpers Bartsch Behrens Binder Birkwald Bluhm Buchholz Bulling-Schröter...
example, at a Berlin peace rally on February 24, 2023, called by SahraWagenknecht, leading figure of Germany's socialist Left Party, and feminist Alice...
impossible. "Erster Bundesparteitag der Wagenknecht-Partei BSW begonnen" [First federal party conference of the Wagenknecht party BSW begins]. Deutschlandfunk...
singer-songwriter, music producer and politician (PDS, Left Party, Bündnis SahraWagenknecht) 18 of the 72 players (every fourth player) who played at least once...
v t e LINKE Speaker: Gregor Gysi, Dietmar Bartsch, SahraWagenknecht Members: Aken Alpers Bartsch Behrens Binder Birkwald Bluhm Buchholz Bulling-Schröter...