Katja Kipping
| Katja Kipping | |
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Katja Kipping in 2014
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| Chairperson of The Left | |
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Assumed office 2 June 2012 Serving with Bernd Riexinger |
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| Preceded by | Gesine Lötzsch, Klaus Ernst |
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Member of the Bundestag for Saxony (list) |
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Assumed office 2005 |
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| Member of the Landtag of Saxony | |
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In office 1999–2004 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
18 January 1978 Dresden, East Germany |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party |
The Left (2007-present) PDS (1998-2007) |
| Alma mater | Dresden University of Technology |
Katja Kipping (born 18 January 1978) is a German politician who is chairperson of the Left Party and a member of the Bundestag (German Parliament).
Kipping was born in Dresden. After completing her Abitur in 1996 at Annen-Gymnasium, located in Dresden, Katja Kipping spent a voluntary social year in Gatchina, Russia. Following this, she completed a degree in Slavic studies with a minor in American studies and public law at the Dresden University of Technology, from which she obtained her Master of Arts degree in 2003.
Katja Kipping currently lives in Berlin and Dresden, is married, and has a daughter.
Kipping was heavily involved at the start of her studies at the Dresden University of Technology with the so-called Protestbüro (bureau of protest), and became a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the forerunner of today's Left Party, in 1998. From July 2003, she was Deputy Chairperson of the PDS, focusing on the party's "social agenda" and "contact with social movements". She was a principal proponent of a united pan-German Left political party, and on 16 June 2007, she was elected to be Deputy Chairperson of the Left Party. Five years later, delegates at the 3rd national party conference on 2 June 2012, overwhelmingly elected her to be national party chairperson, with 67% of the vote. Since then, she has represented the party along with Bernd Riexinger. On 10 May 2014 she was reelected, along with Bernd Riexinger, as chairperson of The Left by a national party conference.
Katja Kipping was a town councillor in Dresden from 1999 until 2003. From September 1999 to 2004, she was a delegate in the Saxony state parliament, in which she was spokeswoman for traffic and energy policy.
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