Eritrean-born makes history as Germany's first Black African woman in parliament

An Eritrean lawyer made history after being elected the first African Black woman to join Germany’s parliament, or the Bundestag, media reports said Wednesday.

Awet Tesfaiesus, 47, stood for election on the Green Party ticket in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg constituency, according to German-language news site RND.

It said although Tesfaiesus did not get a direct mandate, she was chosen to join the house via the party’s list where she was number nine on the list.

Tesfaiesus and her family fled Eritrea to Germany when she was a child. She studied law at Frankfurt University where she graduated in 2006 and started practicing, often helping the underprivileged people, especially migrants.

She was motivated to join politics after the racist attack in Hanau in February 2020, where nine people with migration backgrounds, including four of Turkish origin, were killed by far-right extremists who attacked two cafes.

Germany has witnessed growing racism and xenophobia in recent years, fueled by propaganda from far-right and anti-Muslim groups.

Tesfaiesus joins a list of growing African-born migrants who have been elected to Western legislatures, including Ilhan Omar, a Somali refugee who has been a congresswoman in the US state of Minnesota since 2019.