Katja Kipping

Katja Kipping (born 18 January 1978) is a German politician of The Left party. She was a member of the Bundestag representing Saxony from 2005 to 2021, a federal co-leader of The Left from 2012 to 2021 alongside Bernd Riexinger, and the Senator for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs in the Berlin state government from December 2021 to April 2023. Early life and career Kipping was born on 18 January 1978 in Dresden, then part of East Germany (GDR). After completing her Abitur in 1996 at Annen-Gymnasium, Kipping spent a voluntary social year in Gatchina, Russia. Following this, she completed a degree in Slavic studies, with a minor in American studies and public law, at the Dresden University of Technology, from which she obtained her Master of Arts degree in 2003. In her final thesis, she examined the mutual relationship between literature and politics. During her studies, she shared an apartment with four other students. Kipping currently splits her time between Berlin and Dresden. She married political scientist Kolja Müller in 2011, and has a daughter. Political career At the start of her studies at the Dresden University of Technology, Kipping was heavily involved with the so-called Protestbüro (bureau of protest). She was speaker for the protest groups Red Tree and Green League. In 1998, she became a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). She was elected to the city council of Dresden, capital of Saxony, serving from 1999 to 2003. She was elected to the Landtag of Saxony for the PDS in the 1999 state election, and served until the 2004 election. During this time, she was the youngest member of parliament, elected at 21 years old. She became party spokesperson for traffic and energy policy. In July 2003, she became co-deputy leader of the PDS, focusing on the party's social agenda and contact with social movements.