Bärbel Beuermann (born 16 September 1955) is a German politician (The Left, nowSPD), and was a member of theLandtag of North Rhine-Westphalia as alist MP since thestate election held on 9 May 2010. She is the joint leader of the party in the Landtag, and is also a member of The Left's national party executive. After the election of 2012 in North Rhine-Westphalia she retired from theLandtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Bärbel Beuermann
Beuermann in 2012
Leader ofThe Left in theLandtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
In office 11 May 2010 – 31 May 2012
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of theLandtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
In office 9 June 2010 –31 May 2012
Constituency	The Left List
Personal details
Born	(1955-10-16)16 October 1955 (age 69) Herne-Holthausen,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Occupation	Politician

Beuermann was born inHerne-Holthausen,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany on 16 September 1955.

She completedhigh school in 1972, then from 1973 until 1976 attended a technical college inDortmund from 1973 until 1976, graduating in nutrition science. She then taught in a vocational school inWattenscheid. Her students were in many cases young people still of school age but registered as unemployed and with no prior training.

In 1986, she became a teacher at a comprehensive school in Herne-Wanne, while also working at an external technical school.

In 1994, she moved to the special school for the mentally and physically disabled inWanne-Eickel, initially working as a subject teacher but then also focusing on a composite program for emotional and social development. She was elected as a representative by the staff in 2000, and is a member of theEducation and Science Workers’ Union

Since the mid-1980s, Beuermann engaged in thepeace movement, and in 1999 she actively opposed thewar in Kosovo, and through this, joined theParty of Democratic Socialism (PDS). On 12 September 1999, she was elected to the Herne city council, and from 2000 until 2003 was the party's spokeswoman. From 2004 until 2009 she represented Herne in the regional parliament ofArnsberg.

In 2004, she was elected to the party's executive, specialising in education, and in 2007, she was part of the steering committee managing the merger of the PDS and theWASG to formThe Left Party (Die Linke).

On 21 November 2009, a national meeting of representatives inMülheim an der Ruhr elected Beuermann (with 84% of the 203 delegates' votes) as their toplist candidate for the upcoming state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. She also nominated as the constituency candidate for electoral district 110 (Herne I).^[1]

At the election, she obtained 8.52% of the vote in Herne I — third overall, and an improvement of 3.34% on the combined PDS-WASG vote in the2005 election.^[2] The good showing of The Left under Beuermann's leadership throughout the state resulted in the party winning 11 list seats in theLandtag. The elected MPs subsequently elected Beuermann andWolfgang Zimmermann to leadership roles.

• Photo gallery (Der Spiegel)
• Interview (General-Anzeiger)