The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included within the Federal Republic. Within a few years, the Federal Republic included all of West Germany, i.e. those parts of Germany under American, British, or French occupation.

The German word Grundgesetz may be translated as either Basic Law or Fundamental Law (Grund is cognate with the English word ground). The term Verfassung (constitution) was not used, as the drafters regarded the Grundgesetz as a provisional constitution for the provisional West German state and would not prejudice the decisions of a future reunified Germany to adopt a constitution. Shortly after its adoption, the East German Soviet occupation zone was transformed into the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) with its own constitution.

Dr. Gregor Gysi (German pronunciation: [ˈɡiːzi]; born 16 January 1948) is a German attorney and key politician of the socialist left-wing political party The Left (Die Linke). He played an important role in the end of communist rule in East Germany in 1989^{[citation needed]}, and was a main figure in the post-reunification Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). He is well known for his rhetoric talent and is considered one of the best German public speakers.

Gysi was born in East Berlin, Soviet Zone of Germany. His father, Klaus Gysi, was a high-ranking official in East Germany, and had been Minister of Culture from 1966 to 1973. His mother, Irene, was the sister of political activist Gottfried Lessing, who was married to the British writer Doris Lessing during his exile in Southern Rhodesia. The surname "Gysi" is of Swiss-German origin. Both of his parents were of part Jewish ancestry; his paternal grandmother was Jewish, as was one of his maternal great-grandfathers. One of his maternal great-grandmothers was Russian.

Anne Will (born March 18, 1966) is a television journalist from Germany. She was anchorwoman of the daily Tagesthemen news broadcast on ARD from April 14, 2001, to June 24, 2007.

Will was born on March 18, 1966, in Cologne, Germany. She grew up in Hürth, the daughter of an architect. After attending high school at the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium in Hürth, she studied history, politics, and anglistics (English language and literature) in Cologne and Berlin starting in 1985. During her studies she was already working as a journalist at Kölnische Rundschau (Cologne Review) and the Berliner Volksblatt newspaper. In mid-1990, she graduated with a Magister Artium from the University of Cologne and began her career in radio and television at Sender Freies Berlin (now part of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg).

At the end of 1992, she became more widely known while presenting both the talk show Mal ehrlich and the television sports magazine Sportpalast. At the time, she also hosted the show Parlazzo at station WDR from 1996 to 1998.

Martin Sonneborn (born 15 May 1965 in Göttingen, Germany) is a German satirist. He was editor-in-chief of the humorist magazine Titanic from 2000 to October 2005. Since November 2006 he has worked for Spiegel Online.

He is the founder and leader of the satirical political party Die PARTEI, one of whose aims is to rebuild The Wall in Germany.

He became famous for his efforts in 2000 to bring the 2006 FIFA World Cup to Germany by offering FIFA officials a small gift for their vote in favor of Germany. He documented this episode in a book, Ich tat es für mein Land. Wie TITANIC einmal die Fußball-WM 2006 nach Deutschland holte: Protokoll einer erfolgreichen Bestechung. (ISBN 3-936261-37-7). See Titanic (magazine)#2006 FIFA World Cup bribery affair.

In November 2007 he was heavily criticised by UK media for a "Find Maddie Ad" in the Titanic magazine, a satirical reference to the media coverage of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

In late 2009, he was criticized in a Chinese newspaper for "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people" in a broadcast about the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair on ZDF's satirical late-night program "Die heute-Show".

Sahra Wagenknecht (born July 16, 1969 in Jena, Thuringia) is a German politician. She is a Member of the Bundestag, author, and a member of the National Committee of the Left Party. Since May 2010 she is deputy chairperson of Die Linke.

Wagenknecht was born on July 16, 1969, in the East German city of Jena. Her mother worked for a state-run art distributor. Her father, whom she never met, was Iranian. She was cared for primarily by her grandparents until 1976, when she and her mother moved to East Berlin. While in Berlin, she became a member of the Free German Youth (FDJ). She completed her Abitur exams in 1988 and joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED) in early 1989.

From 1990 until 1996 she studied Philosophy and New German Literature in Jena, Berlin and Groningen. Her final thesis covered the topic of the young Karl Marx's interpretation of Hegel. The dissertation was published as a book in 1997.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the transformation of the SED into the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), Wagenknecht was elected to the new party's National Committee in 1991. She also joined the PDS's Communist Platform, an orthodox Marxist faction.