Sawsan Mohammed Chebli (born 26 July 1978 in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, West Germany) 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 For ...

(SPD).

Early life and education

Chebli was born to Palestinian asylum seekers in Germany and grew up with her parents and twelve siblings in Berlin's

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood i ...

district. She was stateless until the age of 15, and her father was expelled from Germany three times and returned illegally each time. Chebli only started to learn German when she entered school. After completing her

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

at Lessing-Gymnasium in Wedding, Berlin in 1999, she studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

Otto Suhr Institute The Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft (''Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science'', also ''OSI'') is a prestigious research institute of the Free University of Berlin. It is the leading political science institution in Germany and one ...

(OSI) of the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

Political career

Chebli joined the

in 2001. During her time at university, she worked as student research assistant to

Gert Weisskirchen Gert Weisskirchen (or Weißkirchen; born 16 May 1944 in Heidelberg) is a German politician ( Social Democratic Party of Germany PD. Life and career Weisskirchen graduated from the Gymnasium Wiesloch in 1960 and then went to the Higher Commercial ...

. From 2004, she served as chief of staff to Johannes Jung. Between 2010 and 2014, Chebli was the first spokesperson for intercultural affairs of the Berlin's State Minister of the Interior and Sport, Ehrhart Körting, in the state government of the

Governing Mayor of Berlin The Governing Mayor (german: Regierender Bürgermeister) of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Senate of Berlin, Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent States of Germany (''Bundesländer ...

Klaus Wowereit. From January 2014, she served as deputy spokesperson of the Federal Foreign Office under Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel; she was the first Muslim to hold that post. From December 2016 until December 2021, Chebli served as State Secretary for Federal Affairs in the state government of the

Michael Müller. As one of Berlin's representatives in the Bundesrat, she was a member Permanent Advisory Council, which is composed of the sixteen envoys of the federal states. In August 2020, Chebli announced that she would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2021 national elections. For her candidacy, she won many well-known supporters, including

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

survivor Esther Béjarano, musician Marius Müller-Westernhagen, art collector Julia Stoschek and actors

Sebastian Koch Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ''The Lives of Others'', in Steven Spielberg's '' Bridge of Spies'', and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of ...

and

Clemens Schick Clemens Schick (born 15 February 1972) is a German actor, model, political activist and human rights advocate. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1998, including leading roles in both German and international productions. He has ap ...

. In an internal vote, however, she lost out against Michael Müller.

Other activities

Global Citizen Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives ...

, Member of the European Board (since 2021) *

German Council on Foreign Relations The German Council on Foreign Relations (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit org ...

(DGAP), Member of the Presidium (since 2019) * Apolitical Foundation, Member of the Global Advisor Network * Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP), Member of the Advisory Board * Checkpoint Charlie Foundation, Member of the Supervisory Board * Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future“ (EVZ), Member of the Board of Trustees * German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG), Co-Founder and Member of the Advisory Board

Political positions

In an interview with German newspaper '' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' in 2016, Chebli addressed the role of

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

, saying, "it primarily deals with the personal relationship between God and humans. It addresses things like prayer,

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

and

alms Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...

. That presents no problems for me as a democrat; it is absolutely compatible ith democracy just as it is for Christians, Jews and anyone else." The statement caused controversy after her appointment to a governing position in Berlin. Chebli has also denounced anti-Islam right wing German populists, telling ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'': "My father is a pious Muslim, hardly speaks German, can neither read nor write, but he is more integrated than many functionaries of the AfD who question our constitution." Alarmed by displays of anti-Semitism among new immigrants to Germany in 2018, Chebli proposed required visits to Nazi concentration camp memorials, an idea which soon received support from the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...

Controversy

In January 2022, the Berlin Regional Court ruled that the publicist Roland Tichy must pay Chebli damages of 10,000 euros for sexist remarks about her in his publication ''Tichys Einblick''.

Personal life

Chebli has been married since 2006. In 2020, she gave birth to a son.

Publications

* ''Ich träume davon, dass wir Muslime ein anderes Bild des Islams zeigen'' ("I dream that we Muslims show a different image of Islam") Die Zeit, 29. March 2012 * ''Muslimischsein – Deutschsein – Frausein'' ("Muslimness - Germanness - womanhood") spd-fem.net, Nov. 26, 2012 * ''Multi-Kulti oder Parallelgesellschaft?'' "Multi-culti" or "parallel society"? The debate on Muslim integration Diplomatic Magazine 5, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chebli, Sawsan 1978 births German people of Palestinian descent German political scientists Living people Women political scientists Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians