Josefine Paul (born 2 March 1982) is a German politician who is a member of

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 ...

. She has been a member of the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Düsseldorf-Hafen, Hafen ...

since 2010 and has been serving as

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

State Minister for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Asylum and Integration in the

Second Wüst cabinet The second Wüst cabinet is the current state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, sworn in on 29 June 2022 after Hendrik Wüst was elected as List of Minister-Presidents of North Rhine-Westphalia, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia by ...

since 2022.

Early life and education

Paul comes from the

Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...

district of Barmke. In 2001 she passed her Abitur exams at the Gymnasium Julianum and then studied history, political science and sociology until 2008, first at the

Technical University of Braunschweig TU Braunschweig (, unofficially ''University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology'') is the oldest ' (comparable to an institute of technology in the American system) in Germany. It was founded in 1745 as Collegium Carolinum and is a membe ...

, then from 2005 at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. Paul wrote her master's thesis on "The beginnings of soccer in Germany as a school game. A study using the example of the city of Braunschweig."

Political career

Joining the Alliance 90/The Greens

Paul joined the Alliance 90/The Greens in 1999. During her studies in Münster, she was the coordinator of the specialist forum "LesBiSchwul" of the Green Youth.

Member of the Landtag

In the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

state elections, Paul was elected to

via her party's state list. From 2010 to 2012 and from 2015 to 2020, she was deputy parliamentary group leader, from 2017 to 2020 at the same time parliamentary group secretary. On 26 October 2020, she was elected together with Verena Schäffer as the new group leader. In the 17th electoral term of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament (2017 to 2022) she was also spokeswoman for her parliamentary group for children, youth and family, spokeswoman for women's and queer politics and spokeswoman for sports politics. In December 2018, Paul attracted media attention with statements about

Knecht Ruprecht Knecht Ruprecht (; English: ''Farmhand Rupert'', ''Servant Rupert'' or ''Farmhand Robert'', ''Servant Robert'') is a companion of Saint Nicholas as described in the folklore of Germany. He is the most popular gift-bringing character in Germany ...

. She stated that "Ruprecht no longer fits into today's image of non-violent upbringing, so he can still help carry the sweets".

Minister for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration

On 29 June 2022, Paul was appointed Minister for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Flight and Integration in the

(black-green coalition) at the suggestion of Alliance 90/The Greens. She was sworn in before the state parliament on the same day.

Personal life

Paul is openly lesbian and is in a relationship with Saxon Minister of Justice Katja Meier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Josefine 1982 births Living people People from Helmstedt German lesbian politicians Alliance 90/The Greens politicians Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia Women ministers of state governments in Germany LGBTQ legislators in Germany 20th-century German LGBTQ people 21st-century German LGBTQ people