Marina Weisband (born 4 October 1987 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

politician. From May 2011 until April 2012 she was a member of the senior leadership of the

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...

. In 2018 she joined the

Green Party of Germany Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (fo ...

Life and career

Weisband was born and raised in

to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. In 1994, she and her family moved to

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

in Germany under a program permitting Jews leaving the former Soviet Union to apply for refugee status in Germany. She finished school in 2006 and studied psychology at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

. In 2013, she gained her diploma. Weisband joined the German Pirate Party in 2009. The Pirate Party won its first seats in a regional election in Berlin on 18 September 2011, gaining around 9% of the vote. In April 2012, with support from other senior Pirate Party figures, she called on members of her party to tackle antisemitism and right-wing extremism within their own ranks.

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

suggested that the Pirate Party needed to dispel a perception that it was a sympathetic environment for radical extremists. Shortly afterwards Weisband announced she would not be seeking re-election next month, citing the need to focus on studying for her degree in psychology. She did not rule out a return to politics after graduating."Marina Weisband, Student and Politician"

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

, 24 April 2012, retrieved 30 April 2012. Weisband was the Pirate Party's most recognised face, appealing particularly to younger voters with her "laid-back style". In 2013 she published a book advocating direct, "liquid" democracy. BPT112 Offenbach-63

She revealed in September 2016 that she had left the Pirate Party the previous year and was focussing on the Aula project, an initiative to facilitate children's participation in politics using software she had developed that was being tested in four German cities."Marina Weisband trat heimlich bei den Piraten aus"
("Marina Weisband secretly left the Pirate Party"),

online, 9 September 2016, retrieved 9 September 2016. She lamented that the party had become dominated by conservatives. In 2018 she became member of the party

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

. Weisband was a Pirate Party delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

in 2017.

Personal life

Weisband describes herself as a believing, but not as an orthodox Jew. In June 2013 she married Marcus Rosenfeld."Die schöne Piratin hat heimlich geheiratet"
(The beautiful pirate has secretly married), T Online, 25 June 2013, retrieved 12 September 2016.

References

Sources

''This article was abridged and translated from its equivalent in the German Wikipedia on 13 January 2012.'' * Hank Pelissier
"Pirate Party captures big victory in Berlin, Germany!"
interview with Marina Weisband, IEET, 29 September 2011, retrieved 13 January 2012. * Susanne Messmer
"Eine, die alle lieben"

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...

, 18 November 2011, retrieved 12 September 2016.

External links

*
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisband, Marina 1987 births 20th-century German Jews 21st-century German Jews Jewish German politicians Living people Pirate Party Germany politicians University of Münster alumni Ukrainian emigrants to Germany 20th-century Ukrainian Jews German people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent