Bärbel Beuermann (born 16 September 1955) is a German politician ( The Left, now

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

), and was a member of the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Düsseldorf-Hafen, Hafen ...

as a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than a geographic electoral district. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in ...

since the state election held on 9 May 2010. She is the joint leader of the party in the Landtag, and is also a member of The Left's national party executive. After the election of 2012 in North Rhine-Westphalia she retired from the

Biography

Beuermann was born in Herne-Holthausen,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 16 September 1955. She completed

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in 1972, then from 1973 until 1976 attended a technical college in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

from 1973 until 1976, graduating in nutrition science. She then taught in a vocational school in

Wattenscheid Wattenscheid () is a of the city of Bochum. Until 1975, it was a separate town in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia. Wattenscheid has a population of about 80,000 citizens. Some notable firms have their headquarters in there, such as St ...

. Her students were in many cases young people still of school age but registered as unemployed and with no prior training. In 1986, she became a teacher at a comprehensive school in Herne-Wanne, while also working at an external technical school. In 1994, she moved to the special school for the mentally and physically disabled in

Wanne-Eickel Herne () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area directly between the cities of Bochum, and Gelsenkirchen. History Herne (ancient Haranni) was a tiny village until the 19th century. When the mining of coal ...

, initially working as a subject teacher but then also focusing on a composite program for emotional and social development. She was elected as a representative by the staff in 2000, and is a member of the Education and Science Workers’ Union

Politics

Since the mid-1980s, Beuermann engaged in the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

, and in 1999 she actively opposed the

war in Kosovo The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

, and through this, joined the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). On 12 September 1999, she was elected to the Herne city council, and from 2000 until 2003 was the party's spokeswoman. From 2004 until 2009 she represented Herne in the regional parliament of

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; ) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Ho ...

. In 2004, she was elected to the party's executive, specialising in education, and in 2007, she was part of the steering committee managing the merger of the PDS and the WASG to form The Left Party (Die Linke). On 21 November 2009, a national meeting of representatives in

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home ...

elected Beuermann (with 84% of the 203 delegates' votes) as their top list candidate for the upcoming state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. She also nominated as the constituency candidate for electoral district 110 (Herne I). At the election, she obtained 8.52% of the vote in Herne I — third overall, and an improvement of 3.34% on the combined PDS-WASG vote in the 2005 election. The good showing of The Left under Beuermann's leadership throughout the state resulted in the party winning 11 list seats in the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

. The elected MPs subsequently elected Beuermann and Wolfgang Zimmermann to leadership roles.

References

External links

Photo gallery
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Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

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Interview
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General-Anzeiger The ''General-Anzeiger'' is a regional daily newspaper based in the city of Bonn, the former West German capital in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The paper was first published in April 1888. In addition to the city and i ...

'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Beuermann, Baerbel 1955 births Living people People from Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) politicians Die Linke politicians Women members of state parliaments in Germany Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 21st-century German women politicians