Background
Stapelfeldt was born in 1956 in Hamburg.
Stapelfeldt was born in 1956 in Hamburg.
She took her school exam in 1975, and studied history of art, literary criticism, and social and economic history at the University of Hamburg.
In 1989 she earned a doctorate. From 2000 to 2004 she was President of the Hamburg Parliament. In 2007 she was in competition with Mathias Petersen for the position of top candidate for the Hamburg state election, but resigned after friction during an internal Social Democratic Party of Germany election.
Stapelfeldt ia a member of the (Social Democratic Party of Germany) and the verdi union. She is member of the state parliament since 1986.