Natascha Ebbenau

**Natascha Anastazia Ebbenau** (born 22 December 1960) is a Lungarian politician and educator who served as a member of the Stadtkart from 1995 to 2017. She was the founder of the Radical Party, and served as its leader until her retirement in 2017.

Ebbenau was born and raised in Elgerholme. She attended the prestigious Daniel Fürsch School, graduating in 1980. She later moved to Munbach, and received a bachelor's degree in history from King's University in 1983, later earning a master's degree and PhD from the University of Munbach in 1985 and 1990, respectively. After graduating with her master's degree, Ebbenau began working as a *gymnasiüm* lecturer at Munbach Cathedral School. She became a professor of Southwestern Wechallian history at the University of Munbach in 1991, and held that position until beginning her political career in 1995.

Originally a member of the Social Democratic, Ebbenau was elected to the Stadtkart in the 1994 general election. Due to her policies deemed "too aggressive" for the Social Democratic Party, Ebbenau ultimately announced the creation of her own political party, the Radical Party, in 1998, and that she'd stand with them during the 1998 general election. The party received one seat in the Stadtkart, and Ebbenau thus maintained her seat. Ebbenau and the Radical Party began seeing a rise in popularity in subsequent elections, increasing their seat total by each election cycle.

In 2017, Ebbenau announced that she'd be retiring from politics and resigning her seat following her Parkinson's disease diagnosis. She was replaced as leader of the Radical Party by Leon Schraunau.

## Early life and family

Ebbenau was born on 22 December 1960 in Elgerholme to parents Henrik and Barbara Ebbenau (née *Korstander*). Her father worked in a factory, while her mother was employed as a secretary. She has described her family as "working class". Ebbenau is the youngest of five children; she has two elder brothers, Jon and Nikolas, born  (1950-07-22) 22 July 1950 (age 73) and  (1955-03-12) 12 March 1955 (age 68), respectively, and two elder sisters, Magdalena and Anna, born  (1952-07-01) 1 July 1952 (age 71) and  (1958-09-19) 19 September 1958 (age 65). She was raised in the Heimeränner neighborhood of Northwest Elgerholme.

## Education and early career

Ebbenau began primary school in 1967, attending a primary school in Heimeränner. Ebbenau was academically gifted since a young age, and was fascinated in worldly events and history. As a child, she'd read the newspaper every morning with her father while eating breakfast, and credits this for influencing her passion for history and current events. Ebbenau graduated from primary school in 1973, where was chosen by teachers to give the graduation speech. She later began secondary school, where her academic successes continued. Ebbenau was elected secretary of her class in her final year of secondary school, and later graduated in 1977.

After graduating from secondary school, Ebbenau received admission to the prestigious Daniel Fürsch School in the Metropolitan Borough of Elgerholme. Ebbenau recalls feeling like an outcast in high school, as many of her classmates and friends came from affluent and respected families, while she was the only child from her working-class family to attend a *gymnasiüm*. Nevertheless, Ebbenau was still popular in high school in addition to academically successful, studying a history program. After graduating in 1980, Ebbenau moved to Munbach to study at King's University after being admitted to the Faculty of History. She went on to graduate with her bachelor's degree in 1983. Afterwards, she enrolled in the University of Munbach and received a master's degree in Southwestern Wechallian history in 1985. She began working on her PhD after receiving her master's degree, and completed it in 1990.

After completing her master's degree, Ebbenau received certification to teach history as a lecturer in the state of Munbach. She began working as a history lecturer at Munbach Cathedral School, one of the most prestigious *gymnasiüm* in all of Lungary. Ebbenau registered with the Future Professors of Lungary Registry in 1990, and began working as a professor of Southwestern Wechallian history at the University of Munbach the following year. She taught at the university until beginning her political career in 1995.

## Political career

### Member of the Stadtkart

Ebbenau was an active member of local Social Democratic organizations since beginning her university education in 1980. In 1993, she was invited by the party to appear on their list in Elgerholme for the 1994 general election. The party won enough seats in Elgerholme for Ebbenau to be elected to the Stadtkart, and she later left her position as a university professor to begin a political career.

### Leader of the Radical Party

Following Ebbenau's election to parliament, she began struggling within the Social Democratic Party, and beginning to believe that her political ideals did not overlap with the party's. In 1998, Ebbenau revealed that she would not stand with the party during the 1998 general election, and instead had formed her own political party, the Radical Party. The party won one seat in the election, and Ebbenau thus kept her seat in parliament.

In the years that followed, the Radical Party began receiving more and more attention and continued gaining seats in parliament with every election cycle. Following the 2014 general election, Ebbenau and Prime Minister Milo Grübberbach opened talks with the Radical Party for the possibility of a coalition between the Social Democratic Party, Radical Party, and The Greens, but this proposal was rejected by Ebbenau as she believed the Social Democrats could not promise the Radicals all that they were asking for.

#### Resignation

On 15 August 2017, Ebbenau announced that she'd be resigning her seat and position as Leader of the Radical Party in the coming weeks following her Parkinson's disease diagnosis. She announced that a leadership election would be held to find her replacement, and personally endorsed Leon Schraunau. After Schraunau was the only candidate to declare their candidacy by the deadline, the election was canceled and he was selected as leader on 28 August 2017, with Ebbenau resigning her seat that day as well.

## Personal life

Ebbenau has never married and never had children, which has elicited rumors regarding her sexuality. In 2011, Ebbenau stated, "My sexuality has nothing to do with my career as a politician. Ever since I was a little girl I have never seen myself getting married or having children, it is nothing more than that". She has openly identified herself as an atheist on several occasions since the beginning of her career, adding that she was raised without religion and has only ever identified as an atheist.

While a member of the Stadtkart, Ebbenau resided in the Nordersaun neighborhood of Lower Munbach. After her Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 2017, Ebbenau returned to her hometown of Elgerholme, and moved in with her sister Anna and her family, residing in the Münbrausen neighborhood of East Elgerholme.