Susanne Schaper

Schaper's parents were both members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), and has faced discrimination because of this fact.

In 1994, Susanne Schaper became a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and has since held various offices within Die Linke Saxony [de] and the Chemnitz city association.

[5] She is also the spokesperson for the Left Party in the Saxon state parliament for social and health policy, animal welfare, care, rescue services, family and the labor market.

[7] In November 2016, Schaper had to leave her office because there had been an increase in probably politically motivated attacks in the previous months, such as stone throwing or swastika graffiti.

However, she was unable to prevail against the candidate favoured by the CDU, FDP, AfD and Pro Chemnitz, who was subsequently rejected by the incumbent mayor Sven Schulze.