Żaklin Nastić (born Żaklin Jadwiga Sarah Grinholc; born 29 January 1980) is a German politician who was elected for The Left. In October 2023 she switched to

BSW BSW may refer to: *Bachelor of Social Work, an academic qualification at some institutions *Bally Sports West, American regional sports network owned and operated by Bally Sports * Batesville Southwestern Railroad, Mississippi, United States *Beth ...

. She has served as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from the state of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

since 2017.

Life

Żaklin Nastić came to Hamburg in 1990 and lived for a time in refugee shelters in the

Port of Hamburg The Port of Hamburg (, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (), it is the country's largest seaport by volume. In terms of TEU throughput, Hambur ...

. In 2000, she passed her A levels in Hamburg at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule and later studied

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

. She became member of the Bundestag after the

2017 German federal election The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...

. While in school, she worked various jobs to support her and her mother who worked as a

cleaner A cleaner, cleanser or cleaning operative is a type of industrial or domestic worker who is tasked with cleaning a space. A janitor (Scotland, United States and Canada), also known as a custodian, Facility Operator, porter or caretaker, is a pe ...

. In 1998, Nastić voted for the first time. She has stated her interest for politics started when she studied the civil and secession wars in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. According to her statements, her family has Polish, German, Kashubian and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

roots. Nastić still has Polish citizenship in addition to German citizenship. She lives in Hamburg and, according to her own statements, has been divorced since 2022 and has two children. On 21 March 2023, she published her book "Aus die Maus. Der Blick von unten auf die da oben" in which she critically discusses contemporary politics. She rejects military support for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and spoke at a "No more weapons to Ukraine" rally in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on 27 January 2023.

Politics and party

Żaklin Nastić with Gabriele Krone-Schmalz and

Sahra Wagenknecht Sahra Wagenknecht (; 16 July 1969) is a German politician. She was a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2025, where she represented The Left until 2023. From 2015 to 2019, she served as that party's parliamentary co-chair. With a small team ...

(Berlin, 2023) Nastić joined the Left Party in 2008. In 2011, she won a mandate in the

Eimsbüttel Eimsbüttel () is one of the seven boroughs (Bezirke) of Hamburg, Germany. In 2020, the borough had a population of 269,118. History On March 1, 2008 Eimsbüttel lost part of its area to the borough Altona where it formed the Sternschanze quar ...

district assembly and was a member until 2017. From 2016 to September 2022, she was her party's state spokesperson (equivalent to the state chair) in

. In 2017, she succeeded Inge Hannemann, who resigned for health reasons, in the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry” or, more poetically, “Hamburgish Burgess (title), Burgessry”) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. ...

. In the

2017 german federal election The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...

, she received 10.4% of the vote as a direct candidate in the Hamburg-Eimsbüttel constituency. Since she won a mandate in the federal election via the state list, she resigned her mandate in the Hamburg Parliament. Nastić has been a member of the national executive of the Left Party since 2018 and was re-elected as the state spokesperson for the Left Party in Hamburg in October 2020. In the 19th German Bundestag, Nastić was a full

Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid The Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid has been a permanent Bundestag committee since its establishment in 1998. Tasks The Bundestag Committee is dedicated to human dignity and human rights. Its agenda includes correcting domestic vio ...

member and the human rights spokesperson for the Left Party faction. She is a deputy member of the Committee on Internal Affairs and Community, as well as the Subcommittee on the United Nations, International Organisations and Globalisation. She is deputy chair of the German-Polish and German-Southeastern European parliamentary groups. In the 20th German Bundestag, the Left Party faction again appointed her as spokesperson for human rights; she is also an authorised representative on the Defence Committee. In June 2023, Nastić accused her party members Christoph Timann, his deputy and another person of entering her office without permission and also mentioned the possibility of her documents having been searched. She stated she was pressing charges, which was not confirmed by police. The Left Party in Hamburg then pressed criminal charges against her for

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and libel. In October 2023, when the Association BSW – Für Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit (BSW – For Reason and Justice) was founded, Nastić resigned from the Left Party along with nine other members of the Bundestag. In January 2024, she became a member of the newly founded BSW party, which emerged from the association. Nastić is building the Wagenknecht party in Hamburg. In October 2024, '' Correctiv'' reported on the employment of Andreja Lovic as Nastić's employee. The latter, a ‘

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

-German

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

’, had, among other things, attended a conference by

Alexander Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin (; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian far-right political philosopher. He is the leading theorist of Russian neo-Eurasianism. Born into a military intelligence family, Dugin was an anti-communist dissident during the ...

. Nastić had deleted the name of her employee from her website after a request from ''Correctiv'' and stated that his employment would end at the end of October 2024. However, she did not comment on the background when asked. In January 2025, BSW announced that Nastić would be taking a break and was not running as lead candidate for the 2025 election. On 23 February, she was announced as the lead candidate of the BSW campaign, citing miscommunication regarding the January statements.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nastic, Zaklin 1980 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Hamburg Female members of the Bundestag 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 People from Gdynia Politicians from Gdynia Polish emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany Members of the Bundestag for Die Linke Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht politicians