Kirsten Lühmann (born 1964) 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), deputy federal chairwoman of the

German Civil Service Federation The German Civil Service Association (dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion) is a national trade union center in Germany. It has a membership of 1,250,000, and is affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions The European C ...

and, since the German federal elections of 2009, a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the SPD.

Early life and education

Lühmann was born on 28 April 1964 in

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

in North Germany. She lives in

Hermannsburg Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the river ...

in the district of

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

. In 1983 she completed her A levels (''Abitur'') and became the first policewoman to join the Lower Saxony Police, rising to the rank of senior police commissioner (''Polizeioberkommissarin'').

Political career

Lühmann is the deputy chairman of the SPD sub-district of

, chairman of the SPD party on Celle District Council and a member of the parish council of Hermannsburg. In the federal elections of 2009, she ran for the constituency of

Celle – Uelzen Celle – Uelzen is an electoral constituency ( German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 44. It is l ...

as the successor to Peter Struck who, after 29 years in 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 ...

, no longer wished to seek re-election. With 32.3% of the vote, she was unable to secure the direct mandate and the constituency went to

Henning Otte Henning Otte (born 1968) is a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Life and career Otte was born on 27 October 1968 in Celle, Lower Saxony. After taking his A levels (''Abitur'') in the Christian Gym ...

of the CDU. However, Lühmann entered the Bundestag by getting onto the state list. Since joining the Bundestag, Lühmann's focus has been on employment and social politics and an energy policy firmly committed to ending nuclear power. She has been a member of the Committee on Transport since 2009. She is also an alternate member of the Committee on Home Affairs; most notably, she refuses to support the deployment of the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

at home. In 2014, she became the SPD parliamentary group's spokeswoman for transport and digital infrastructure. In addition to her committee assignments, she has been a member of the German delegation to the

Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly The Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly (french: Assemblée parlementaire franco-allemande; german: Deutsch-Französische Parlamentarische Versammlung, ''DFPV'') is a joint body of the German Bundestag and the French National Assembly formed to ...

since 2019. Since 2014, Lühmann has been part of the parliamentary group’s leadership under chairman

Thomas Oppermann Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann (27 April 195425 October 2020) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he serv ...

. Within the parliamentary group, she was a member of the working group on gender equality and the Afghanistan/Pakistan task force from 2009 to 2013. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

following the 2017 federal elections, Lührmann was part of the working group on transport and infrastructure, led by

Michael Kretschmer Michael Kretschmer (born 7 May 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister President of Saxony since 13 December 2017. Since 2022, he has been one of four deputy chairs of the CDU, under ...

Alexander Dobrindt Alexander Dobrindt (born 7 June 1970) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Between 2013 and 2017, he served as Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the government of Chancellor Angela Mer ...

and

Sören Bartol Sören Bartol (born 4 September 1974) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building in the coalition governmen ...

. In addition to her parliamentary work, Lühmann is the deputy federal chairwoman of the

(''DBB Beamtenbund und Tarifunion''), since 1998 a member of the executive board of the women's delegation (''Bundesfrauenvertretung'') to the Federation and a member of the federal executive board of the Commission for Staff and Worker Participation (''Bundeshauptvorstandskommission Personalvertretung und Mitbestimmung''), as well as a member of the Experts' Commission for

Internal Security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility fo ...

. Furthermore, she is the deputy chairman of the German Police Union in Lower Saxony. At the same time she belongs to the

European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (''CESI''; French ''Confédération Européenne des Syndicats Indépendants'', German ''Europäische Union der unabhängigen Gewerkschaften'', Italian ''Confederazione Europea Sindacati Ind ...

, where since 2005 she has been chairman of the Special Commission for Women's Rights and Sexual Equality (FEMM). She is also a member of the Special Commission for Employment and Social Affairs (SOC). She represents the dbb on the executive board of the network, the European Movement in Germany. In 2019, Lührmann announced her candidacy for the position as chair of the German Police Trade Union. In August 2020, she also announced that she would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities (selection)

Regulatory agencies

* Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Railway (BNetzA), Alternate Member of the Rail Infrastructure Advisory Council (since 2014)

Corporate boards

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2015) *

Deutsche Flugsicherung Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) is the company in charge of air traffic control for Germany. It is a company organized under private law and 100% owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. Since January 1993, DFS has been controlling air traffic in Ge ...

(DFS), Member of the Advisory Board * Nürnberger Beamten Lebensversicherung AG, Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018) * European Network of Policewomen (ENP), Member * German Military Reserve Association, Member *

German War Graves Commission The German War Graves Commission ( in German) is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of German war graves in Europe and North Africa. Its objectives are acquisition, maintenance and care of German war graves; tending to next of kin; youth ...

(VDK), Member *

International Association of Women Police The International Association of Women Police (IAWP) is a global organization for women in criminal justice professions. Its mission is to "strengthen, unite and raise the profile of women in criminal justice internationally." Mission and Visio ...

(IAWP), Member

Personal life

Lühmann has been married since 1988 and has three daughters.''Vom Streifendienst in die große Politik.''
In: Nordwest-Zeitung, 5 January 2010 (accessed on 31 January 2010)

References

External links

Official website

Website at the German Civil Service Federation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luhmann, Kirsten Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony German trade unionists 1964 births Living people People from Oldenburg (city) 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany