Dietricha Reifsneider

Dietricha Reifsneider grew up in your average working-class Europan household, in Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Germany. Her father was a Shop Steward within the Europan Workers' Union and an ardent Trade Unionist, a fact she has long claimed brought the subject of politics to her family's dining table from an early age. She resided over the founding of a new wing of the ailing Europan Workers' Party and later presided over it as it split to form a new political party, One Europe, which she would lead over a decade later to success at the elections.

Of average height, Dietricha is not an imposing figure, though those who have met her have often reported to have presence. She dresses in smart blouses and light colours when performing her official duties and stylish and colourful dresses if attending a function, though she can often be found in what she would term 'comfortable' casual clothing when with her family. She employs a stylist though affirms that her choice of clothing is always made by herself and herself alone and that she would never have it any other way. Her periwinkle blue eyes, white-blonde hair, light complexion and often neutral-coloured blouses have seen both the opposition and her supports alike call her The Aryan Warrior.

Graduating university after studying Personal Relations and Politics, Dietricha's first job was as an intern at Giaquinto, Krasic and Haskell. It was in this company that she first met fellow employee Burkhard Spielmann whom she would later marry. Dietricha rose fast within the firm, retrospectively joking that she had received a promotion once a year for the duration of her career with G, K & H. A member of the party from the age of 16, Dietricha participated in the Europan Workers' Party throughout her career in PR. By the age of 27, it was clear to Dietricha that her real interests lay not in PR but in politics, and so she moved from being a supporter of the party, to an active member.

Her first position within the party was in the press office working on PR. Two years later, she led an effort to rebrand the party amid its flagging membership and outdated image. For its PR, the party turned to the German agency Traumbild. It was through her work with Traumbild that Dietricha was once again united with Burkhard Spielmann; the two would begin dating shortly and marry only a year later. Within her first year of marriage Dietricha gave birth to her first son, Lukas, who would take his father’s surname. With the rebranding hailed a great success for the party, Dietricha found much backing when she co-ordinated an initiative to create a strong, progressive-wing within the party. The wing in time found itself the centre of a power-struggle within the party as the two sides disagreed over the best way to modernise the party. This struggle saw the new, grassroots wing opt for independence from its parent institution as One Europe only four years after it began. Despite this split, the two parties have retained a good, close working relationship.

With One Europe now afforded total independence as a political party, Dietricha found herself the Deputy Leader of the party and the shadow Minister for Justice. A year later she would give birth to her second son, Thomas, and take a break from politics for five years to raise him. She would resume her career at the age of 40, and win a bid to lead the party only two years later. Two years on she would loose her first election to a scandal within the party. She used the loss as a chance to build up the image of her party and tune soften some of her more controversial social policies. This work was to prove a great success as she won the next election was a powerful majority, brining the party to power for the first time since its founding over a decade ago. Three years later she was re-elected for a second term, though with a much weaker majority, often depending on her relationship with the Europan Workers’ Party to pass key, controversial legislation.