Jessica Rosenthal (born 28 October 1992) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) who has been 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 ...

since 2021, representing the

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

district.

Early life

Rosenthal was born 1992 in

Hameln Hameln ( ; ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hameln-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. History Hameln st ...

. From 2011 to 2012 she served as a volunteer at Care Deutschland-Luxemburg in Bonn. She studied teaching.

Political career

Rosenthal joined the SPD, and therefore was automatically enrolled in the

Young Socialists in the SPD ''Working Group of'' Young Socialists ''in the SPD'' (, Jusos) is a volunteer youth organisation, youth organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As of 2025, there are over 50,000 official Juso members. Membership Every ...

(Jusos), in 2013. In January 2021, she was elected chairwoman of Jusos. Rosenthal was elected to the Bundestag in 2021. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

of the SPD, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and the Free Democrats (FDP) following elections, she was part of her party's delegation in the working group on education policy, co-chaired by

Andreas Stoch Andreas Stoch (born 10 October 1969) is a German politician and member of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party and leader of its Baden-Württemberg state branch since November 2018. He previously served ...

Felix Banaszak Felix Banaszak (born 24 October 1989) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2021 German federal election. Since 2024, Banaszak has also been serving as co-leader of Allia ...

and

Jens Brandenburg Jens Brandenburg (born 8 March 1986) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg from 2017 to 2025. In addition to his parliamentary work, Brandenburg s ...

. In parliament, Rosenthal has since been serving on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. Within her own parliamentary group, she is part of a working group on migration and integration. Since January 2023, Rosenthal has been serving on an internal SPD commission on tax reform, co-chaired by

Saskia Esken Saskia Christina Esken (' Hofer; born 28 August 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as co-leader of the party since being 2019 Social Democratic Party of Ger ...

and

Lars Klingbeil Lars Klingbeil (; born 23 February 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) serving as the Vice Chancellor of Germany and Federal Minister of Finance since 6 May 2025. He has served as the SPD's Co-Leader since 2021, to ...

. In 2023, Rosenthal announced that she would not run again as chairwoman of the Jusos and instead focus on her pregnancy.

Other activities

* Bonn International Award for Democracy, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Thomas Krüger has served as president of t ...

, Alternate Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Haus der Geschichte Haus der Geschichte (officially ''Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'', i.e. "House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a museum of contemporary history in Bonn, Germany. With around one million visitors ever ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * Education and Science Workers' Union (GEW), Member

Political positions

Amid the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Rosenthal opposed the Scholz government's effort to change Germany’s constitution to allow for a credit-based special defense fund of 100 billion euros ($107.35 billion).Sabine Siebold and Sarah Marsh (25 May 2022)
Tanks, but no ammo – Germany's Ukraine pledges show military muddle
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

Living people 1992 births Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 21st-century German women politicians Female members of the Bundestag {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub