The Party of Democratic Socialism was a democratic socialist political party in Germany active between 1989 and 2007. It was the legal successor to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED),which ruled the German Democratic Republic as a state party until 1990. From 1990 through to 2005,the PDS had been seen as the left-wing "party of the East". While it achieved minimal support in western Germany,it regularly won 15% to 25% of the vote in the eastern new states of Germany,entering coalition governments in the federal states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin.
Gregor Florian Gysi is a German attorney,former president of the Party of the European Left and a prominent politician of The Left political party.
Lothar Bisky was a German politician. He was the chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS),the successor of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED). In June 2007 he became co-chairman of The Left party,formed by a merger of the PDS and the much smaller Labour and Social Justice –The Electoral Alternative. From 2007 until 2010 he was the President of the Party of the European Left. Also,he was the Publisher of the socialist newspaper Neues Deutschland.
Wolfgang Thierse is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11th President of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005.
Dietmar Gerhard Bartsch is a German politician who has served as co-chair of The Left parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2015. Prior,he served as federal treasurer of The Left from 2006 to 2009 and federal managing officer from 2005 to 2010. He was a prominent member of The Left's predecessor party,the PDS,of which he served as treasurer from 1991 to 1997 and federal managing officer from 1997 to 2002.
Martin Burkert is a German politician and member of the SPD.
The Left,commonly referred to as the Left Party,is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice –The Electoral Alternative. Through the PDS,the party is the direct descendant of the Marxist–Leninist ruling party of the former East Germany,the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. Since 2022,The Left's co-chairpersons have been Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan. The party holds 39 seats out of 736 in the Bundestag,the federal legislature of Germany,having won 4.9% of votes cast in the 2021 German federal election. Its parliamentary group is the smallest of six in the Bundestag,and is headed by parliamentary co-leaders Amira Mohamed Ali and Dietmar Bartsch.
Marianne Birthler is a German human rights advocate and politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. From 2000 to 2011,she served as the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records,responsible for investigating the past crimes of the Stasi,the former communist secret police of East Germany. In 2016 she was offered the nomination of the CDU/CSU and her own party for President of Germany,but after some time decided not to run;the parties would have had a majority in the Federal Convention,securing her the election.
Rainer Michael Müller is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as Governing Mayor of Berlin from 2014 to 2021 as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections,representing the Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district.
Klaus Lederer is a German politician of The Left who served as Deputy Mayor and Senator for Culture and Europe in the Berlin state government between December 2016 to April 2023. He is also a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin since 2001. He previously served as chairman of the Berlin branch of The Left from 2006 to 2016. He was the lead candidate for his party in the 2016,2021 and 2023 state elections.
Axel Troost was a German economist and politician. He was a member of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2017 and a brief period in 2021.
Angelika Barbe is a German biologist who became a politician.
Dagmar Enkelmann is a German politician of Die Linke party.
The Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr) is a committee of the German Bundestag responsible for oversight of the intelligence agencies of Germany. The PKGr monitors the Federal Intelligence Service,the Military Counterintelligence Service,and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Under the Control Body Act,the federal government is obliged to inform the PKGr comprehensively about the general activities of the federal intelligence services and about events of particular importance.
Heidi Knake-Werner is a German politician. She served as a member of the German parliament ("Bundestag") between 1994 and 2002. Between 2002 and 2009 she was one of Berlin's more high-profile senators.
Caren Nicole Lay is a German politician. She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009 and has been deputy chairperson of the Die Linke parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2017. From 2012 to 2018,she was one of the deputy chairpersons of her party. In November 2019,Lay unsuccessfully applied to succeed Sahra Wagenknecht as co-chairperson of the Die Linke parliamentary group in the Bundestag. She was defeated by Amira Mohamed Ali in a competitive vote.
Stefan Liebich is a German politician,who served as a member of the Bundestag for the Democratic Socialist party The Left between 2009 and 2021.
AndréHahn is a German politician. Born in Berlin-Friedrichshain,he represents The Left. AndréHahn has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saxony since 2013.
Helin Evrim Sommer is a Kurdish-German politician,a former member of the Berlin House of Representatives and of the German Bundestag for the state of Berlin. She was a member of The Left party until May 2022.
Halina Wawzyniak is a German politician of The Left who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2017. She was federal co-deputy leader of The Left from 2008 to 2012.
