Simone Oldenburg (born 22 March 1969) is a German politician of The Left who has been Deputy Minister-President of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

since 2021. She has been a member of the

Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the people's representative body or the state parliament of the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Thus it is also a constitutional body of the state. The Landtag convenes in Schwerin and curre ...

since 2011, and served as parliamentary leader of The Left since September 2016. Since June 2018, she has also been co-deputy leader of the federal party. Oldenburg was The Left's lead candidate for the 2021 state election.

Early life and education

Simone Oldenburg was born in 1969 in

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

. After graduating from high school there, she first completed a teaching degree in German and history at the Leipzig University of Education, then at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

in 1994. She then worked as a teacher at the regional school in

Klütz Klütz () is a town in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated near the Baltic Sea coast, 22 km northwest of Wismar, and 33 km northeast of Lübeck. It is famous for the manor house Bo ...

Political career

Oldenburg has been a member of the municipal council of

Gägelow Gägelow is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Geography Hamlets of Gägelow Jamel Jamel, one of the hamlets in Gägelow, has become infamous because it is ruled by neo-Nazis. Coat of arms ...

since 2004, and since 2009 of the

Nordwestmecklenburg Nordwestmecklenburg (''Northwestern Mecklenburg'') is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north-western part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the coast of the Baltic Sea and borders on Schleswig-Holstein to the west. Neighboring dis ...

district council. She was elected to the state Landtag in the 2011 state election, second on The Left party list. She also ran unsuccessfully in the direct mandate of ''Nordwestmecklenburg I''. After the constituent session of parliament, she became deputy leader of the party's parliamentary group. She was re-elected in the 2016 state election. After the election, she was elected leader of The Left's parliamentary group. She was elected deputy chair of the federal Left party at a conference in June 2018. In 2021, she was nominated as lead candidate for the upcoming state election. The Left won 9.9% of votes in the election, placing fourth. After the election, Oldenburg stated that the landslide victory 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 ...

called for a shift to the left in government. On 13 October, the SPD entered coalition talks with the Left. The parties successful agreed to a coalition government, and Oldenburg was sworn in as Deputy Minister-President and education minister on 15 November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldenburg, Simone 1969 births Living people People from Wismar The Left (Germany) politicians Members of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 21st-century German politicians 21st-century German women politicians