Claudia Crawford (''

né The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Wiesemüller, formerly and still commonly known as Claudia Nolte; born 7 February 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who became the youngest cabinet minister in German history whilst in office from 1994 to 1998 and was Federal Minister for family, seniors, women and youth affairs and, by virtue of this office, presided over the European Union Council of Ministers. Nolte is a Catholic and is active in the Catholic community. She is married to investigative journalist David Crawford of Correctiv. With her marriage in July 2008, she took the name of her husband.

Childhood

Claudia Wiesemüller was born in 1966 in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

, a city that was in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. In her teenage years she was refused admission to a college preparatory school due to her participation in Catholic church youth activities. East German school officials required her to learn a trade before she could enroll in college, so whilst attending a technical

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Rostock, she took vocational training in marine electronics from 1982 to 1984.

Entry into politics

In 1985, Nolte studied automation and

cybernetic Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

engineering at the Technical University of Ilmenau, where she graduatated with a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from ) is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

degree in 1990. In October 1989 she was active in the opposition movement New Forum within the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in February 1990. After completing her studies at the Technical University of Ilmenau, she accepted a position as a research assistant there but left this job within weeks owing to her election to the first freely elected East German parliament.

Political office

From March to October 1990, Nolte was a member of the

People's Chamber The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initial ...

of the

, or East Germany. After German unification on 3 October 1990 she led the Christian Democratic Party list in Thuringia State in the first all-German elections for 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 December 1990. She served from 1991 to 1994 as her parliamentary group’s spokeswoman on women's policy. During that time, she soon acquired a reputation for being independent minded, particularly on the issue of

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

. Most notably, Nolte voted against one liberalization bill supported by a majority of her own party. From 1992 to 1994 she was a member of Thuringia CDU. On 18 November 1994 Nolte became the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. She was 28 years old, making her the youngest German cabinet minister in German history. She was also one of only three women in the Cabinet and one of only two people from eastern Germany in Chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

's 16-member Cabinet; the other was Environment Minister Angela Merkel.Craig R. Whitney (15 December 1994)
Kohl Names Abortion Foe To Family Post in Cabinet
''The New York Times''. On 30 November 1994 she was named the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

’s President – again the youngest ever. In 1998 she left the German cabinet when her party joined the opposition. From 1996 to 2000 Nolte was a member of the CDU presiding council in Germany and from January 1999 to October 2002 she was commissioner of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group for disabled people. From 2002 to 2005, Nolte was vice chairman for

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

contacts in the German parliament. In 2005 she failed to win a direct seat in the Bundestag representing the Gotha Ilm county electoral district. Under Germany's electoral law she was eligible to return to the German Federal Parliament via the state list in May 2008, but she declined.

Later career

In January 2006, Nolte moved to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, where she directed the activities of a political foundation, heading the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung offices in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. In April 2010 she moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where she headed the activities of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung offices in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2013 she moved to Moscow, where she heads the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung offices in Russia. She is a member of the German American Society, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Christlich-Demokratische Arbeitnehmerschaft (CDA) and of CDU/CSU's association of medium-sized businesses ''Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsvereinigung'' (MIT).

Publications

* ''Die Bedeutung des Internet für die weltweite Wahrnehmung der Vereinten Nationen'', in: Alexander Bilgeri und Alexander Wolf (Hrsg.): ''„Diplomatie Digital“'', Verlag Barbara Budrich, Opladen 2004. * ''Putins "Gelenkte Demokratie" - Weg zum authoritären Staat?'', in: Erich G. Fritz (Hrsg.): ''Forum Internationale Politik. Russland nach den Wahlen – Weg ohne Demokratie oder russischer Weg zur Demokratie'' (erscheint im Herbst 2004) * ''Wirtschaftsstärke mit Sozialkompetenz verbinden: globale Veränderungen fordern mündige Bürgerinnen und Bürger'', in: Rita Süssmuth (Hg.): ''Mut zur Macht in Frauenhand'' - Herford. - (2001), S. 196 - 201. * ''Auf jeden Fall freiheitlich demokratisch!'', in: Hans-Otto Mühleisen (Hrsg.): ''Welche Gesellschaft – welches Deutschland?: PolitikerInnen der jungen Generation entwerfen Zukunftsbilder'', Frankfurt am Main: Knecht, 1999. * ''Familienpolitik als Zukunftsaufgabe'', in: ''Die Zukunft der Familie : Aufgaben und Perspektiven moderner Familienpolitik'' / rsg. von der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Bereich Forschung und Beratung- Sankt Augustin. - (1998), S. 9 - 19. * ''Frauen sind die Gewinnerinnen der modernen Welt'', in: ''Leitbild auch für morgen: Die soziale Marktwirtschaft: Thesen zur Gestaltung Deutschlands und Europas'' / Matthias Wissmann (Hrsg.). - München. (1998), S. 87 - 92. * ''Läßt sich sexueller Kindesmißbrauch mit politischen Mitteln bekämpfen?'', in: ''Prävention des sexuellen Kindesmißbrauchs: gesellschaftspolitische Implikationen und Reaktionen'' / Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e.V. - München, S. 79 - 85. * ''Das Internationale Jahr der Senioren der Vereinten Nationen 1999: eine Gesellschaft für alle Lebensalter; der internationale Rahmen und der derzeitige Stand der Umsetzung in Deutschland'', in: ''Nachrichtendienst des Deutschen Vereins für Öffentliche und Private Fürsorge'', - 77 (1997),9, S. 265 - 268.

References

External links

* *
Bundestag website
Search for Claudia Nolte . {{DEFAULTSORT:Nolte, Claudia 1966 births Living people Politicians from Rostock People from Bezirk Rostock German Roman Catholics Federal government ministers of Germany Ministers for children, young people and families Members of the 10th Volkskammer Members of the Bundestag for Thuringia Women federal government ministers of Germany Female members of the Volkskammer Female members of the Bundestag Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 20th-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany 21st-century German women politicians