Valerie Wilms’ book Meine zwei Leben: Als Junge geboren – als Frau im Bundestag (My Two Lives: Born a Boy – as a Woman in the Bundestag) is both a personal memoir and a political statement that challenges the direction of modern gender politics in Germany. Written with striking candor, it is the first time that Wilms, a former member of the Bundestag, publicly shares her life story and her experience as a transgender woman in politics. More than a simple autobiography, the book raises difficult questions about identity, authenticity, and the balance between personal freedom and social responsibility.
Born in 1954 in Hannover as Volker Wilms, Valerie Wilms built a distinguished career long before entering politics. She studied mechanical engineering at the University of Hannover and earned her doctorate in engineering from the University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg. Her professional path was firmly rooted in technical expertise rather than activism. She worked in design engineering and later as a technical inspector for the railway industry before becoming a lecturer at the Dresden University of Applied Sciences. This solid technical background formed the foundation of her political career, which began when she joined the Green Party in 2005.
Her political journey took a historic turn in 2009 when she became the first known transsexual woman elected to the Bundestag. Remarkably, she did so without drawing public attention to her gender history. During her two terms in office, from 2009 to 2017, she worked diligently as part of the Green Party’s parliamentary group, focusing on sustainable development and railway policy. Her colleagues and the public saw her simply as a competent politician and engineer, not as a transgender trailblazer. This discretion, as she later explains, was deliberate. Wilms believed that her work should define her, not her identity. Only after her political career ended did she decide to reveal her personal story, not to seek sympathy or visibility, but to comment on what she views as a dangerous political trend.
Wilms’ tone throughout the book is pragmatic rather than emotional. She describes her transition as a necessary step in her personal life but not as a political act. She openly acknowledges that she does not consider herself a biological woman and refers to transsexuality as a psychological condition requiring understanding and medical support, not ideological slogans. Her perspective contrasts sharply with current activist narratives that frame gender as a matter of self-declaration. For Wilms, facts and science must remain central to policymaking.
Her personal life, as revealed in the memoir, mirrors her professional discipline. She began living as a woman at the age of forty-one, a transition that came with painful consequences. Her then-partner left her, and she lost contact with her two sons. Yet she built a new life with courage and determination, channeling her energy into public service. What makes her story compelling is that she neither idealizes her transition nor portrays herself as a victim. Instead, she reflects on her choices with the analytical mind of an engineer, always returning to the theme of responsibility, both personal and political.
The later chapters of the book are devoted to her disillusionment with the Green Party. In 2023 she left the party, criticizing it for embracing what she calls a “woke cultural revolution” and an “irrational climate panic.” She argues that ideological purity has replaced rational debate, and that the party’s current direction alienates those who value critical thinking. Her critique is sharp but consistent with her lifelong commitment to evidence-based reasoning.
Meine zwei Leben is not an easy read for those expecting an uplifting tale of self-discovery or a celebration of diversity. Instead, it offers a sober reflection on how society understands gender, science, and truth. Wilms’ voice is that of someone who has lived through both personal transformation and political evolution, who knows the cost of authenticity and the limits of ideology. Whether one agrees with her conclusions or not, her story adds an important and often neglected perspective to the public conversation about trans identities.
In the end, Valerie Wilms’ life is a study in contradictions: a woman who fought to live in her true gender yet rejects many of the narratives now dominant in trans activism; an engineer who entered politics to serve her community but later felt compelled to warn against the path it was taking. Her book stands as a reminder that identity, like democracy, thrives on open dialogue and reasoned disagreement. Through Meine zwei Leben, Wilms challenges readers to think critically about where empathy ends and ideology begins, and to remember that the most courageous act is not always to conform but to speak honestly about one’s convictions.
Available via Amazon
Photo by Foto-AG Gymnasium Melle via Wikipedia
Photo via bilddatenbank.bundestag.de
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