Birgit Klaubert (born 28 September 1954) is a German politician (

Die Linke Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...

) and former vice president of the Thuringian regional parliament (''"Landtag"''). From 2014 to 2017 Klaubert served as

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

's Minister for Education, Youth and Sport.

Life

Provenance and early years

Birgit Klaubert was born in Schöneck, a small town in the mountains to the east of

Plauen Plauen (; ; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany with a population of around 65,000. It is Saxony's 5th most populated city after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest cit ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, and close to the country's frontier with the westernmost extent of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. She attended school locally in

Klingenthal Klingenthal is a town in the Vogtland region, in Saxony, south-eastern Germany. Geography Klingenthal is situated directly on the border with the Czech Republic opposite the Czech town of Kraslice. Klingenthal is 29 km southeast of Plauen, ...

, where passing her school final exams (''"Abitur"'') opened the way to university level education. Between 1973 and 1977 she studied and qualified for a degree as a teacher of History and German at the Karl Marx University of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

(as it was known at that time). Between 1977 and 1980 she worked as a teacher at the secondary school (''"Polytechnische Oberschule"'') in

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

. After that, till 1983, she worked at Altenburg's teacher training institute. Between 1983 and 1986 she undertook a further period of study as an "Aspirantur" in the history department at the "Clara Zetkin" teacher training college in Leipzig. This led to a doctorate. Her dissertation was entitled "The struggle of Germany's free trades unions to organise women workers between 1896 and the outbreak of the First World War" (''"Das Ringen der freien Gewerkschaften Deutschlands um die Organisierung der Arbeiterinnen von 1896 bis zum Ausbruch des 1. Weltkrieges"''). After this she returned to teaching work at the teacher training institute in Altenburg, where she remained till 1994 when her political involvement translated into a full-time job and a seat in the Thuringian regional parliament (''"Landtag"'').

Politics

While growing she was, like almost all her contemporaries a member of the country's youth organisations, the Free German Youth (''"Freie Deutsche Jugend"'' / FDJ) and the Pioneers. Birgit Klaubert was a candidate for membership of

's ruling Socialist Unity Party (''"Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands"'' / SED) and the next year, which was the year of her twentieth birthday, she was accepted as a party member. Most sources are silent on her political involvement before

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

: a biographical note provided by the party of which she is now a member indicates that her political involvement included conducting classes and seminars for groups of children and trades unionists. The same source spells out that she never collaborated with the infamous Ministry for State Security (''"Stasi"''). Following

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...

she became more politically involved. The old SED which had ruled in East Germany relaunched itself as the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), and set about adapting itself for a democratic future. Following further political realignments the party merged into a new party, called simply The Left (''"Die Linke"'') in 2007. Throughout this period, initially at a municipal level and later on the regional stage, Birgit Klaubert remained active as a member of the party through its ups and downs. She was elected to the

town council in 1990. In 1994 she was elected to the Thuringian regional parliament (''"Landtag"''). Between 13 December 1995 and 12 September 1999, in succession to Ursula Fischer, she led the PDS group in the chamber. The focus of her own interests in the chamber was on "culture", as broadly defined. She was deeply interested in education and training matters. In 1999 she was elected one of the two vice-presidents of the Thuringian Landtag, regularly re-elected to the post till 2014. In 2013 the regional

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

executive proposed Klaubert as the party's lead candidate for

in the forthcoming

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. The nomination was supported by the local party committees, and on 2 March 2013 at meeting held at Friedrichroda party delegates voted on the matter. However, when the votes were counted Klaubert was found to have received only 59 of the 120 delegates' votes. Faced with this underwhelming endorsement she withdrew her candidacy. Commentators speculated that the unexpected outcome of the vote reflected general disenchantment with the local party executive rather than hitherto unidentified issues over Klaubert's own candidacy. After being appointed regional Minister for Education, Youth and Sport in the Ramelow Cabinet she took the opportunity - like Bodo Ramelow himself - to resign her seat 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 ...

. Klaubert announced her resignation due to illness on July 4, 2017. She was succeeded by Helmut Holter in August 2017.

Beyond politics

Birgit Klaubert is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Regional Centre for Political Education and a member of the REgional Memorials Council. She is also an honorary (unpaid) member of the Supervisory Board of the Altenburg-Gera theatre company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klaubert, Birgit 1954 births Living people People from Vogtlandkreis Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) politicians Die Linke politicians Ministers of the Thuringia State Government Members of the Landtag of Thuringia Women ministers of state governments in Germany 20th-century German educators 20th-century German women 21st-century German women politicians