Anke Fuchs (; ; 5 July 1937 – 14 October 2019) was a German lawyer and politician of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

. She was Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health (1982) and

Vice President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag ( or ; Grammatical gender in German#Professions, when the office is held by a man) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (poli ...

(1998–2002). From 2003 until 2010, she was the president of the

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as t ...

Life and career

She was born Anke Nevermann in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, the daughter of

Paul Nevermann Paul Nevermann (5 February 1902 – 22 March 1979) was a German politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and First Mayor of Hamburg (1961–1965). Early life and education Nevermann was born in Klein Flottbek (a then indepe ...

who later became mayor of Hamburg, and his wife Grete. Her parents met at home politicians such as

Herbert Wehner Richard Herbert Wehner (11 July 1906 – 19 January 1990) was a German politician. A former member of the Communist Party of Germany, Communist Party, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democrats (SPD) after World War II. H ...

Kurt Schumacher Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician and resistance fighter against the Nazis. He was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the fir ...

Wilhelm Pieck Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the Leadership of East Germany, chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as the only president of the Ger ...

and

Otto Grotewohl Otto Emil Franz Grotewohl (; 11 March 1894 – 21 September 1964) was a German politician who served as the first prime minister of the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) from its founding in October 1949 until his death in Septembe ...

. Her parents, both grandfathers and two brothers were party members of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD). She joined the party's youth organisation (''Falken'') as a school student, and was active in demonstrations against atomic weapons. She became a party member in 1956, shortly before her

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

. The same year, she began to study law, completing with the Zweites Staatsexamen in 1964. She then worked as Referentin für Arbeitsrecht und Sozialpolitik for

Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund The German Trade Union Confederation (; DGB) is an umbrella organisation (sometimes known as a national trade union center) for eight German trade unions, in total representing more than 6 million people (31 December 2011). It was founded ...

(DGB) for the Nordmark district. She was member of the board of the

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: , "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of German labor relations consider i ...

from 1971 to 1978. In 1977, Fuchs was appointed Secretary of State in the

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (, ; abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs as a member of the Cabinet of Germany (). Its first ...

by the then minister Herbert Ehrenberg. In 1979, she became a member of the board (''Parteivorstand'') of the SPD. She was elected to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

in 1980 as a candidate from the Cologne II district in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. On 28 April 1982, Fuchs was appointed Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health by Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He was the longest ...

. Following the election victory of the conservative opposition, she had to leave the cabinet on 4 October 1982. She was offered candidacy for minister-president in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

in the 1980s, but declined in favour of

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

. In 1990, she was the SPD candidate for the position in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, but the CDU with

Kurt Biedenkopf Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) party. He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum. Biedenkopf made a political career ...

won the election. Fuchs was a member of the Bundestag until 2002. She was vice president of its SPD fraction from 1993 to 1998, and she served as

from 1998 to 2002. For many years she was president of the (German tenants' association), and she was president of the

from 2003 to 2010. She focused on national and international political education, support of young scientists in international cooperation, and European politics for peace and social reforms. She was honorary president from 2010. Fuchs was married and had two children. She died on 14 October 2019 after a long illness, at the age of 82.

Works

References

External links