Sawsan Mohammed Chebli (born 26 July 1978 in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

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 ...

, 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 Form ...

(SPD).

Early life and education

Chebli was born to

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

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 boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

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 (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the Otto Suhr Institute (OSI) of 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 ...

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 Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a popul ...

. 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 () of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent states of Germany (), the office is the equivalent of the ministers president of ...

Klaus Wowereit Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29 ...

. From January 2014, she served as deputy spokesperson of the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

under Foreign Minister

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician who has served as President of Germany since 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), federal minister for foreign affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again f ...

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 ...

; 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, or Oświęcim, 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 consisted of Auschw ...

survivor

Esther Béjarano Esther Béjarano ( Löwy; 15 December 1924 – 10 July 2021) was one of the last survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. She survived because she was a player in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. She was active in various ways, includ ...

, musician

Marius Müller-Westernhagen Marius Hubertus Hans Müller-Westernhagen (born 6 December 1948) is a German musician and actor. He has been a feature in German rock music since the mid-1970s. Müller-Westernhagen is known for his energetic public concerts, and his fans know h ...

, art collector Julia Stoschek and actors

Sebastian Koch Sebastian Koch 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 the Showtime s ...

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, Member of the European Board (since 2021) *

German Council on Foreign Relations The German Council on Foreign Relations (, DGAP) is a prominent Germany foreign policy research institute. It is an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit organisation, and actively takes part in policy formation and promoting the und ...

(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 The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'' in 2016, Chebli addressed the role of

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

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

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

and

alms Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving. Etymology The word ''alms'' come ...

. 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 Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...

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 The Central Council of Jews in Germany (German: ''Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland'') is a federation of German Jews. It was founded on 19 July 1950, as a response to the increasing isolation of German Jews by the international Jewish commu ...

and the

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

Controversy

In January 2022, the Berlin Regional Court ruled that the publicist

Roland Tichy Roland Tichy (born 11 November 1955 in Bad Reichenhall) is a German author, economist and journalist. His positions include the climate skeptic, relativization of man-made climate change and Criticism of socialism, criticism about left-wing netw ...

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 German women political scientists Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians 21st-century German women politicians Free University of Berlin alumni