Heidi Reichinnek (; born 19 April 1988) is a German politician and

Member of the Bundestag Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In G ...

for the left-wing party

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 ...

. Since 2024, she has been serving as the Leader of Die Linke 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 ...

, alongside

Sören Pellmann Sören Pellmann (born 11 February 1977 in Leipzig, East Germany, East-Germany) is a German politician who represents The Left (Germany), The Left. Pellmann has served as a member of the Bundestag from Leipzig II in the state of Saxony since 2017 ...

Biography

Reichinnek became interested in politics as a teenager, opposing the

Hartz reforms The Hartz concept (), also known as Hartz reforms or the Hartz plan, is a set of recommendations submitted by a committee on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the committee, Peter Hartz, these recommendations w ...

and supporting women's equality and social welfare. At university, she spent a semester abroad in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in the midst of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

and witnessed the Egyptian revolution, which furthered her interest in politics. Reichinnek joined

(The Left) in 2015 and was elected to the city council of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

the following year. She ran in the 2017 Lower Saxony state election, and placed seventh on the party list, but was not elected. In 2019, she became chairwoman of The Left's

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

branch. She contested the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Osnabrück City Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168,145 ...

in the 2021 federal election. She came in fifth place but was elected to the

on the state list. Within the party, she was considered a supporter of

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 ...

, and in 2019 signed an open letter thanking Wagenknecht for her political work. At the federal Left congress in June 2022, Reichinnek ran unsuccessfully for the party co-leadership, winning 199 votes (35.8%) to incumbent

Janine Wissler Janine Natalie Wißler (born 23 May 1981), known professionally as Janine Wissler, is a German politician who has been co-chairwoman of The Left and member of the Bundestag for Hesse since 2021. Prior to that, she served as member of the Lan ...

's 319 (57.5%). In February 2024, Reichinnek was elected co-leader of the Left's reorganised Bundestag group alongside

, defeating

Clara Bünger Clara Bünger (born 4 July 1986) is a German jurist and politician serving as member of the Bundestag from Die Linke since 2022. Early life and education Bünger was born in Oldenburg in 1986 and grew up in Freiberg. She studied Law at Leipz ...

14 votes to 13. She was nominated as one of two leading candidates for The Left in the

2025 German federal election The 2025 German federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the List of members of the 21st Bundestag, 21st Bundestag, down from 736 in 2021 due to reforms in seat distribution. The 2025 election took plac ...

, along with party co-leader Jan van Aken. In January, Reichinnek went viral for her speech in the Bundestag, when she condemned the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) for collaborating with the far-right

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

when they both tried to pass a bill pushing harsher restrictions on illegal immigrants; where she accused the CDU for what she called "paving the way for the resurgence of fascism". The video gained over thirty million views on TikTok, and is attributed for the boost of the left's support in the polls and among the leftist youth in early 2025, just prior to the upcoming election. Reichinnek's campaign appearances and speeches surged in attendance, with ''

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

'' referring to her as the party's "social media star". As leader, Reichinnek has prioritized addressing economic inequality in Germany, including nationalizing housing without compensation, legalizing hard drugs, doubling unemployment benefits, and imposing stricter rent limits. Reichinnek supports progressive social policies, such as being a supporter of artificial insemination, the recognition of all genders, easier access to gender-affirming care, and support of "queer trade unions"; she has also criticized fellow leftist

after Wagenknecht opposed legislation to support trans rights. Reichinnek also supports increased economic redistribution, accepting refugees seeking asylum in Germany, and the decriminalization of abortion.

Personal life and social media

Reichinnek has a

sleeve tattoo A sleeve tattoo or tattoo sleeve is a large tattoo or collection of smaller tattoos that covers most or all of a person's arm. The styles and themes of tattoo sleeves vary. Types The term "sleeve A sleeve (, a word allied to '' slip'', ...

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

historical icon

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

on her arm. Reichinnek is increasingly active on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, and has over 1 million followers across social media platforms. With her political, sometimes provocative, short videos, Reichinnek achieved one of the highest reaches of any politician on the video portal

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. Through a speech that Reichinnek delivered as a result of the debate about the Influx Limitation Act – often received as a "firewall speech" – she garnered millions of views on social media and increased her follower count on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

from 130,000 to 288,000 and on TikTok from 348,000 to 460,000. ''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

'' reported that her social media posts would provide the party a "needed boost" before the 2025 federal election. The rappers MC Smook and Fruity Luke released the song ''Heidi Reichinnek (Freestyle)'' in January 2025. The lyrics contain a mention of Reichinnek by name, stating: "Give it to the poor, give it to the middle, take it away from the rich - when I think, I want to think like Heidi Reichinnek - yes, I dismiss all the right-wing nonsense." Reichinnek and the two rappers also appeared in a joint TikTok video.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reichinnek, Heidi 1988 births Living people People from Merseburg Female members of the Bundestag German expatriates in Egypt Members of the Bundestag for Die Linke Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony University of Marburg alumni 20th-century German women 21st-century German women politicians Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029