Käte Niederkirchner was a German politician and pediatrician. In 1967 she became the youngest member of the East German parliament ("Volkskammer"). Her life was impacted by having been born with a famous aunt, the Communist resistance activist Käthe Niederkirchner who was killed by Nazi paramilitaries at Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944, and who was posthumously much celebrated by East Germany's political leadership.

The Volkskammer was the supreme power organ of the German Democratic Republic. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it.