Dagmar Schmidt (born 13 March 1973) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD) who has been serving as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

, the German parliament, since 2013.

Early life and education

Schmidt was born in

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

to politically active parents, who were SPD members. After her

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

, she studied

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

at the

University of Gießen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

Early career

While she was preparing a PhD thesis about the history of the SPD, Schmidt was offered a job in the office of

Landtag of Hesse The Landtag of Hesse (german: link=no, Hessischer Landtag) is the unicameral parliament of the State of Hesse in the Federal Republic of Germany. It convenes in the Stadtschloss in Wiesbaden. As a legislature it is responsible for passing l ...

member

Andrea Ypsilanti Andrea Ypsilanti (' Dill; born 8 April 1957) is a German politician. Political career Ypsilanti was a member of the Hesse, Hessian ''Landtag'' (parliament) and served as chairperson of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic ...

. She continued as Ypsilanti's assistant when Ypsilanti became state SPD leader, and later became an assistant to her successor,

Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel (' Schäfer; born 1 October 1969) is a former German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as member of the management board of Deutsche Gesellschaft fü ...

Political career

Schmidt became a SPD member when she was 16. As a Juso member, she acted as an observer in the

1995–96 South African municipal elections Municipal elections were held in South Africa in 1995 and 1996. Over 11 000 seats were contested of which the African National Congress won 6 032, the National Party (South Africa), National Party 1 814, the Inkhata Freedom Party 754 and the Demo ...

. In the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

federal elections, Schmidt was the SPD candidate for the electoral district, losing out to the CDU candidate each time. However, in 2013, placed sixth on the SPD party list for Hesse, she was elected to the Bundestag. She also became a member of the SPD executive committee. In 2017, she was re-elected, placed fourth on the SPD list for Hesse. She has since been serving on the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs. Within the SPD parliamentary group, Schmidt is a leading member of the left-wing group . In addition to her committee assignments, Schmidt has been serving as the chair of the German-Chinese Parliamentary Friendship Group since 2014. In this capacity, she has met with senior Chinese political advisors like

CPPCC The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

vice chair Gao Yunlong. Since 2021, Schmidt has been serving as one her parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of chairman

Rolf Mützenich Rolf Heinrich Mützenich (born 25 June 1959) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag since June 2019. Early life and education Mütz ...

Political positions

Schmidt’s political positions include support for , combining and extending existing benefits and subsidies to guarantee a child's right to have a certain minimum standard of living.

Personal life

Dagmar Schmidt has a son, who was born in May 2013 with

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

and an associated heart defect, which required several corrective surgeries. The child was not diagnosed until shortly after his birth; Schmidt had declined

prenatal testing Prenatal testing consists of prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, which are aspects of prenatal care that focus on detecting problems with the pregnancy as early as possible. These may be anatomic and physiologic problems with the health of ...

, stating that knowing about the condition would not change anything. After the German federal election in September 2013, Schmidt became the first single mother of a child with Down syndrome to become a member of the

. In a speech in a Bundestag debate about prenatal diagnostics she supported a " for all children". In relation to prenatal testing, she has also argued for a "right not to know" and has said that parents of children with trisomy 21 should not have to justify the right for their child to be born.

Other activities

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2020)Bernd Westphal und Anke Rehlinger koordinieren neu konstituierten Politischen Beirat des SPD-Wirtschaftsforums
Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, press release of July 1, 2020. *

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ger ...

, Member * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member *

Pro Asyl PRO ASYL is Germany's largest pro immigration advocacy organization. Founded in 1986 by protestant pastor , Catholic priest Herbert Leuninger and others, the organization has over 18.000 members and an annual budget of more than (as of 2014). It ...

, Member

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Dagmar Living people 1973 births Members of the Bundestag for Hesse People from Giessen University of Giessen alumni Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany