An Exciting Political Evening at Rahlstedt Gymnasium

On February 11, 2025, the Rahlstedt Gymnasium transformed into a lively podium discussion, under the motto: “Affordable housing and internal security in Hamburg,” as politicians, students, and engaged citizens gathered on Tuesday evening to discuss central challenges ahead of the Hamburg Parliament elections in our atrium.

The panel discussion was organized by the profile “Politics makes history” and was confidently and reliably moderated by the two motivated students Anna Hansen (16) and Maximilian Angert (17). Already at 6:00 p.m. the evening began with a brief introduction of the guests and a concise overview of the positions of the attending parties. Food and beverages were also provided, as the pupils from the PmG profile treated all attendees to a variety of snacks and refreshments to stock up during the break between the topic blocks.

On the panel sat Florian Oberländer from the Left, Astrid Hennies from the SPD, Thilo Kleibauer from the CDU, Arne Raffelt from the BSW, Tara Stubley from the FDP, Marco Schulz from the AfD, and Katja Rosenbohm from the Greens.

Already in the first minutes, an intensive exchange developed about the question of how Hamburg's housing situation can be sustainably improved. Tara Stubley described her proposal to specifically promote apprentices’ and students’ housing, an approach that many considered essential for lowering rents. Various solutions, from creating new housing to state regulatory measures, were hotly debated. The audience did not stay silent either and demanded concrete steps to finally reduce the rising rents in the Hanseatic City. Through skilful transitions and concrete follow-up questions, Anna and Maximilian managed to stimulate discussion among the parties while also incorporating the numerous questions and comments from the audience into the consideration on the stage.

The second part of the evening focused on internal security. A heated debate ensued here. While some speakers advocated for increased police presence and harsher sanctions, others warned of possible side effects of an overly strong security state that could undermine citizens' trust. The discussion reached its peak when a member of the audience raised the question of how to strengthen the sense of security while also reducing fears of state surveillance. This lively exchange made clear how complex and controversial the topic is in a big city like Hamburg.

The evening ended with the sense that political discourse is more than just a debate: it is a forum where diverse perspectives meet and are collectively explored for solutions. The event compellingly showed how actively politicians and citizens alike work on the pressing problems of today. It also became clear that students can make an important contribution to political opinion formation.

Therefore we hope that the panel discussion could again help before the Bürgerschaftswahl to understand opinions, controversies, and perspectives of the major parties, in particular to provide political orientation to first-time voters like us.

A big thank you goes to all those responsible and organizers, especially our PmG profile, our PGW profile teacher Mr. Petrat, as well as our tutor Mr. Kubisch and of course the participating politicians.

We would also like to extend our thanks to Mr. Frankenfeld and the entire technical team for the great support, and finally to all attendees, especially our engaged student body from GyRa – together we made this evening a content-rich and emotionally moving event that will remain in our memories.