Sarah Janina Ryglewski (born 31 January 1983) 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 served as 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 ...

from the state of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

from 2015 to 2025. In addition to her parliamentary work, Ryglewski served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

(2019–2021) and as Minister of State for Federal-State Relations in the

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

(2021–2025).

Early life and education

Born in

Köln Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

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 ...

, Ryglewski studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Bremen The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...

from 2002 until 2009.

Political career

Career in state politics

Since 2010, Ryglewski has been the deputy chair of the SPD in Bremen. From 2011 to 2015, Ryglewski served as a member of the State Parliament of Bremen. She was her parliamentary group’s spokesperson on consumer protection issues.

Member of the German Parliament, 2015–2025

After

Carsten Sieling Carsten Günter Erich Sieling (born 13 January 1959) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 2015 to 2019. His successor is Andreas Bovenschulte. Political ...

was elected mayor of Bremen in July 2015, Ryglewski took his seat as a member of the Bundestag, representing the

Bremen I Bremen I is an electoral constituency (German language, 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 constituency 54. ...

district. In parliament, she served on the Finance Committee (2015-2019), the Committee on Petitions (2015-2017), the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection (2018-2019) and the Budget Committee's Subcommittee on European Affairs (2018-2019). Within the SPD parliamentary group, she belongs to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement. In the negotiations to form a fourth

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

under Merkel's leadership following the 2017 federal elections, Ryglewski was part of the working group on internal and legal affairs, led by

Thomas de Maizière Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière (; born 21 January 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence f ...

, Stephan Mayer and

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyerMarcus Jung (15 December 2022)�''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. and former politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Mini ...

. From 2018 until 2019, she was her parliamentary group's spokesperson for consumer protections issues. In 2019, Ryglewski succeeded

Christine Lambrecht Christine Lambrecht (born 19 June 1965) is a German senior politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the German Federal Minister of Defence in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, from 2021 to 2023. In Chancellor Angel ...

as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, under the leadership of minister

. 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 Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Ryglewski was part of her party's delegation in the working group on financial regulation and the

national budget A government budget is a projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly include ...

, co-chaired by

Doris Ahnen Doris Maria Ahnen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2014. Prior to that she served as the Minister for Education, Rese ...

Lisa Paus Elisabeth "Lisa" Paus (born 19 September 1968) is a German politician who served as the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 2022 to 2025. A member of Alliance 90/The Greens and an economist by training, she ...

and

Christian Dürr Christian Dürr (born 18 April 1977) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2025. From December 2021, he was the leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Ea ...

. In July 2024, Ryglewski announced that she would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2020) *

Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship The Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship (, alternatively translated as "(Federal) Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany") is a government-funded organisation established in 1998 by the German ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2019) * ''spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft'', Member of the Editorial BoardEditorial board
''spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft’'. * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryglewski, Sarah 1983 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Bremen (state) Female members of the Bundestag 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Politicians from Cologne Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany Parliamentary state secretaries of Germany Women federal government ministers of Germany