Birgit Bessin

Birgit Bessin
MdB
Bessin in 2016
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 March 2025
Preceded byHannes Walter
Member of the Landtag of Brandenburg
In office
8 October 2014 – 9 April 2025
Preceded byMulti-member district
Succeeded byMarlon Deter
ConstituencyState list (2014–2024)
Oberspreewald-Lausitz I
(2024–2025)
Personal details
Born (1978-03-26) 26 March 1978 (age 48)
Worms, West Germany
PartyAlternative for Germany
(since 2013)
Children1
EducationFree University of Berlin
Websitebirgit-bessin.com

Birgit Irene Bessin (born 26 March 1978) is a German politician serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2025 federal election. She previously served as a member of the Landtag of Brandenburg from 2014 to 2025.

Career

After receiving her Abitur, Bessin studied jurisprudence at the Free University of Berlin from 1997 to 2007. In 2013 she graduated from the Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg [de] with a Bachelor of Laws.

She joined Alternative for Germany (AfD) in 2013. In 2015, she signed the Erfurt Resolution, the founding document of AfD's Der Flügel faction. She was elected the AfD Brandenburg chairwoman in 2022 following Andreas Kalbitz's expulsion. She announced in 2024 that she would resign and not run for re-election, as she wanted to "put the party first" and avoid a "power struggle" between her and René Springer, who at the time was serving as deputy chairman. Springer replaced her as chairman.

In the 2024 Brandenburg state election, she received 44.3% of the vote in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz I constituency. She was elected to the Bundestag in the 2025 German federal election, representing the Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz constituency after gaining 40.9% of the vote. Since June 2025, she has been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as part of the European Conservatives, Patriots & Affiliates political group.

On 11 September 2025, she and a group of constituents visited the Russian embassy in Berlin, paid for by funds from the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government [de]. Members of the Bundestag are allowed to invite up to three groups of visitors with a maximum of 50 constituents. As the visit came a day after the 2025 Russian drone incursion into Poland, MdB Knut Abraham of the Christian Democratic Union stated that the visit was "nothing short of intentional support of the war."

Views

She expressed her support for the far-right movement Pegida at a 2019 AfD convention in Brandenburg.

Personal life

As of 2025, she lives in Rangsdorf.

References

  1. ↑ "Birgit Bessin (AfD) gewinnt Wahlkreis 65 - das ist ihr Vorsprung". Lausitzer Rundschau (in German). 23 February 2025.
  2. ↑ "Birgit Bessin" (in German). Landtag of Brandenburg.
  3. 1 2 "Bessin, Birgit" (in German). Landtag of Brandenburg. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  4. ↑ "Birgit Bessin: bewegungsnah und rechtsextrem". Aktionsbündnis Brandenburg (in German). 14 February 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  5. ↑ Hensen, Lea (25 March 2025). "AfD-Fraktion: So umstritten sind die neuen Abgeordneten". Vorwärts (in German). Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  6. ↑ Lassiwe, Benjamin (9 April 2022). "Nachfolge von Andreas Kalbitz: Birgit Bessin ist neue AfD-Landesvorsitzende in Brandenburg". Tagesspiegel (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  7. ↑ "AfD Brandenburg wählt Bessin zur Nachfolgerin von Kalbitz". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 9 April 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  8. ↑ "AfD-Parteitag wählt neue Spitze: Birgit Bessin tritt nicht mehr an". Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 16 March 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  9. ↑ "Parteien: AfD-Landeschefin lässt erneute Kandidatur offen". Die Zeit (in German). 16 March 2024. ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  10. ↑ "Wahlkreis 38 - Oberspreewald-Lausitz I". rbb24.de (in German). 23 September 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  11. ↑ "Oberspreewald-Lausitz I (38)". tagesschau (in German). Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  12. ↑ "Bundestagswahl Deutschland 2025 im Wahlkreis Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 22 February 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  13. ↑ "Ms Birgit BESSIN (Germany, ECPA)". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Wienand, Lars (20 September 2025). "Deutschland zahlt, Russland empfängt: AfD-Politikerin lädt Bürger in Botschaft". t-online (in German). Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  15. ↑ "AfD-Bundestagsabgeordnete führt Wahlkreisgruppe in russische Botschaft". Die Welt (in German). 21 September 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  16. ↑ Kamenova, Valeriya (July 2024). "The road to European parliament mandate for populist radical-right parties: Selecting the 'perfect' AfD candidate". Party Politics. 30 (4): 685. doi:10.1177/13540688231173804. eISSN 1460-3683. I don't see the AfD as a pure parliamentary party… I rely on our independent citizens' movements. I stand by PEGIDA. I stand by Zukunft Heimat in Cottbus, which has made significant contribution to the fact that the South [Brandenburg] has become strong.
  17. ↑ Augustin, Jan (16 December 2024). "Bundestagswahl 2025: Birgit Bessin ist Direktkandidatin der AfD in OSL und Elbe-Elster". Lausitzer Rundschau (in German). Retrieved 16 October 2026.