Niklas Schenker (born 1993 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) is a German political scientist and politician from

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 ...

. He has been a member of the

Berlin House of Representatives The of Berlin (House of Representatives) () is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993, the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkirchnerstraße ...

since

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Life

Niklas Schenker was born and grew up in

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf () is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in an administrative reform with effect from 1 January 2001, by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf. Overview Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf covers the ...

. He completed a bachelor's degree in social sciences at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and then completed a master's degree in political science at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. He worked as a research assistant for

Member of the German 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 ...

Caren Lay Caren Nicole Lay (born 11 December 1972) is a German politician (). She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009 and has been deputy chairperson of the parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2017. From 2012 to 2018, she was one of the d ...

Political career

Schenker joined

in 2013. In the district assembly of the

district, he served as parliamentary group leader of his party from October 2016 to October 2021. In the

2021 Berlin state election The 2021 Berlin state election, ruled invalid in 2022 and 2023 Berlin repeat state election, repeated in 2023, was held on 26 September 2021, on the same day as the 2021 German federal election, which also had to be repeated in parts of Berlin du ...

, he received a mandate via his party's state list. He was able to defend his seat in the House of Representatives in the repeat election in 2023. In the 2021-2026 legislative period, Schenker is the spokesman for rents, housing, public housing and housing subsidies, cycling and walking, and club culture for the Left Party as well as a member of the urban development, building and housing, mobility, culture and Europe committees and the subcommittee for participation management Investment controlling for construction investments. 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 ...

, he was the Die Linke candidate in

Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as consti ...

but was not elected.

Political positions

Schenker supports the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen and is committed to its rapid implementation following the successful referendum. In an interview with the magazine

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

, he described the Berlin rent movement as the “most important coalition partner” in the red-green-red coalition. He considers

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

to be a legitimate means of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

and calls for an end to the policy. Schenker calls for further development of

City West City West (formerly known as ''Neuer Westen'' ("New West") or ''Zooviertel'' ("Zoo Quarter")) is an area in the western part of central Berlin. It is one of Berlin's main commercial areas, and was the commercial centre of former West Berlin when ...

oriented towards the common good and speaks out against the construction of further

high-rise buildings A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...

References

External links

Niklas Schenkers Website

Niklas Schenker bei der Abgeordnetenhausfraktion Die Linke

Niklas Schenker bei der Linksfraktion Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

Niklas Schenker bei abgeordnetenwatch.de

Life

Political career

Political positions

References

External links

See also