Benjamin Raschke (born 23 December 1982 in

Lübben (Spreewald) Lübben (Spreewald) (Lower Sorbian: ''Lubin (Błota)'' , Polish: ''Lubin'') is a town of 14,000 people, capital of the Dahme-Spreewald district in the Lower Lusatia region in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. Administrative structure Districts o ...

) is a German politician of who was a member of the

Landtag of Brandenburg The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the states of Germany, state of Brandenburg in Germany. Its 88 members of parliament are usually elected every 5 years. It is responsible for deciding on state laws, controlling the s ...

from

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

to 2024. He became the

parliamentary group leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are th ...

in December 2019.

Career

Raschke attended the Paul Gerhardt Gymnasium in Lübben and passed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

exams there in 2002. From 2002 to 2007 he studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Konstanz The University of Konstanz () is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its main campus was opened on the Gießberg in 1972 after being founded in 1966. The university is Germany's southernmost university and is ...

and the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, graduating with a master's degree in political science. From 2007 to 2008 he was a climate campaigner for the Federal Association of the

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

. Until 2010 he worked as a mobility consultant for the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations ().

Political career

Raschke has been a member of

since 2005. In 2006/2007 he was a member of the board of the

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

district association . From September 2008 to December 2019 Benjamin Raschke was a community representative in Schönwald (

Dahme-Spreewald Dahme-Spreewald (, ) is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of Oder-Spree, Spree-Neiße, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Elbe-Elster and Teltow-Fläming, and by the city of Berlin. History Th ...

district). In the

2009 German federal election The 2009 German federal election was held in Germany on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the 17th Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Uni ...

he stood as a candidate in the Dahme-Spreewald – Teltow-Fläming III and was number 2 on the Brandenburg

state list The State List or List-II is a list of 61 items. Initially there were 66 items in the list in Schedule Seven to the Constitution of India. The legislative section is divided into three lists: the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent Lis ...

of the Greens. On 14 November 2009 Benjamin Raschke was elected alongside

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician and diplomat of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. She served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Germany's minister for foreign affairs from 2021 to 2025. I ...

as one of two equal state chairmen of the Alliance 90/The Greens' Brandenburg state association. He was confirmed in this position in 2011 and 2013 and gave up the position of state chairman when he became a member of the State Parliament in 2014. From 2010 to 2012, Benjamin Raschke was a research assistant for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in 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 ...

, working for the environmental policy spokeswoman and the deputy parliamentary group leader

Bärbel Höhn Bärbel Höhn (born 4 May 1952) is a German politician for Alliance '90/The Greens. She was elected to the Bundestag in the 2005 national elections, after serving as State Minister of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1995 to 2005. Earl ...

. In the

2014 Brandenburg state election The 2014 Brandenburg state election was held on 14 September 2014 to elect the members of the 6th Landtag of Brandenburg. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left led by Minister-President Dietmar Wo ...

, he stood as a candidate in and on state list position 4, from which he entered the state parliament. His main areas of work are the environment, agriculture, animal welfare, rural areas and legal policy. In the 2019 Brandenburg state election, Raschke was the Green Party 's top candidate together with . He also ran in . He was elected to the state parliament via the state list. Since December 2019, Raschke has been parliamentary group leader and animal welfare and justice policy spokesman for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in the Brandenburg state parliament. In the 2024 Brandenburg state election, Raschke was the Green Party's top candidate together with

Antje Töpfer Antje Töpfer (born 22 May 1968 in Ludwigsfelde, East Germany) is a German politician from Alliance 90/The Greens. From December 2022 to September 2024 she was State Secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Integration and Consumer Prot ...

. They lead the party to defeat suffering an

electoral wipeout An electoral wipeout occurs when a major party wins no seats in an election - "wiped out" means no one left, from that party, in the body that has had an election. It is the opposite of a landslide victory; the two frequently go hand in hand. A u ...

losing all their seats.

Personal life

Raschke is the father of two children.

Bibliography

''Positionen und Machtverhältnisse in der deutschen Verbraucherpolitik''
Master's thesis at the

, Konstanz 2006.
''Trägt das Verbraucherverhalten zum Klimaschutz bei?''
Study commissioned by the Green parliamentary group, June 2011.

External links

Website of Benjamin Raschke

Biography
at the

Benjamin Raschke
on the website of the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in the Brandenburg state parliament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raschke, Benjamin 1982 births Living people People from Lübben (Spreewald) 21st-century German politicians Alliance 90/The Greens politicians Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg University of Konstanz alumni University of Warsaw alumni