Eva-Maria Kröger

Eva-Maria Kröger (born 16 June 1982) is a German politician of The Left who is serving as Mayor of Rostock, the largest city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, since February 2023. She was previously a member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 2016, and leader of The Left faction in the Rostock city council since 2010.

Education and personal life Kröger grew up as an only child in the Dierkow neighbourhood of Rostock, a 1980s GDR-era housing development. Her mother Kerstin is an elementary school teacher and her father Robert a retired police officer. Kröger graduated from the Goethe-Gymnasium in 2002. The same year, she began studying political science and public law at the University of Rostock, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2005. She then studied at the University of Tübingen, where she studied comparative government with a focus on the European Union. She graduated with a master's degree in 2008. After working in Mannheim, Eva-Maria Kröger moved back to Rostock the same year. From 2007 to 2009 she worked as a freelance journalist. She later worked as a staffer for The Left in the Bundestag, first from 2009 to 2013 for Steffen Bockhahn, who had been Kröger's classmate at the University of Rostock. From 2013 to 2016, she worked for Heidrun Bluhm.

Kröger had a daughter at the age of eighteen. She was married to Kay Spieß, former state director of The Left in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, from 2012 until his death in 2018. She later began a relationship with an employee at the Schwerin ministry of justice. In the Landtag, she was party spokeswoman for culture, media, housing and construction, digitization, petitions and queer issues.

Kröger took office for a seven-year term on 1 February 2023. She resigned from the Landtag the same day, and was succeeded by Dirk Bruhn.

Electoral record

Candidate Votes (First round) % Votes (Second round) % +/-