Astrid Mannes (born 2 January 1967) is a German author and politician (
CDU). From 2017 to 2021, she served as a
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of the
national parliament (''"Bundestag"''), directly elected as a member for
constituency of
Darmstadt.
Early life and education
Astrid Luise Mannes was born into a Protestant family in
Hilden
Hilden is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the District of Mettmann, west of Solingen and east of Düsseldorf on the right side of the Rhine. It is a middle sized industrial town with a forest and numer ...
, a mid-sized industrial town a short distance to the east of
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
. She grew up in the town, where she attended the Helmholtz-Gymnasium (secondary school), successfully passing her school final exams (
Abitur) in 1986.
[ Her degree, for which she studied between 1986 and 1990, embraced history, political sciences and public law.] She received her degree in 1991.
Early career
During 1991/92 Mannes worked as a personal assistant to Herbert Czaja who at that time was president (described in at least one source as "the controversial president"[) of the Federation of Expellees (''"Bund der Vertriebenen"''), an organisation originally formed in 1957 to represent the interests of ethnic German victims of the ethnic cleansing east of the ]Oder–Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers a ...
during 1944-1950. Between 1992 and 2000 she was employed as a research assistant in the then recently relocated Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
. During this time she worked both for the CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (german: Unionsparteien, ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian-democratic political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Soc ...
parliamentary group as a whole and for several individual Bundestag members.[
Between 2000 and 2007 Mannes held a succession of relatively short-term appointments, while keeping in touch with the world of politics. From 2001 till 2003 she was a press spokeswoman for the German Didacta Association (''"Deutschen Didacta Verband"''), a lobbying organisation representing businesses involved in education and training. She also found time to work on her doctorate, which she received from the ]University of Dortmund
TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and ...
in 2005. Her dissertation was a biography of Constantin Fehrenbach
Constantin Fehrenbach, sometimes falsely,Bernd Braun: ''Constantin Fehrenbach (1852–1926)'', in: Reinhold Weber, Ines Mayer: ''Politische Köpfe aus Südwestdeutschland'', Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, p. 106. Konstantin Fehrenbach (11 January 185 ...
, a long-forgotten (by many) German chancellor
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...
during the early days of German democracy.
Political career
During 1986/87 Mannes served as chair of the Association of Christian Democratic Students
The Association of Christian Democratic Students (german: Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in tot ...
faction in the Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
Student Parliament. She joined the CDU (party) itself in 1990.[ Within the party she was involved in various committees. Between 2006 and 2008 she served as district chair of the (CDU) Women's Union in ]Darmstadt-Dieburg
Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis (district) in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds.
Histor ...
, having by this time moved the centre of her operation upriver to the region south of Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
.
In 2007 Mannes put herself forward as a candidate in the mayoral election for Mühltal
Mühltal is a municipality in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated southeast of Darmstadt from which it is separated by the ''Stadtwald'' (City Forest).
Historically, there have been many watermills on Modau river ...
, a small town in the hills to the south of Darmstadt. On 1 July 2007, two days after the much postponed opening of the Lohberg road tunnel, she was elected, taking office on 28 November 2007. She was a popular mayor. On 9 June 2013, she received the votes of 54.9% of participating voters in the subsequent mayoral election.
On 27 March 2011 the local party moved her up from place 39 to place 10 on the CDU candidate list for the district council election which, given the strength of party support in the area, meant that she became a member of the district council. She became a member of the CDU Party Executive for South Hesse (Darmstadt region).[
In the 2017 General Election Mannes stood successfully for election to the national parliament (''"Bundestag"''). This time, instead of being elected through inclusion on a regional party list, she was elected directly as the winning candidate for the Darmstadt electoral district (''"Wahlkreis 186"''). Her margin of victory was a narrow one: Darmstadt had previously been represented by ]Brigitte Zypries
Brigitte Zypries (born 16 November 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between 2017 and 2018, she served as Minister for Economics and Energy in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel; she was the f ...
(SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been t ...
) since 2005. In parliament, she served on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment.
Mannes lost her seat at the 2021 German federal election.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mannes, Astrid
People from Hilden
People from Darmstadt-Dieburg
Mayors of places in Hesse
Members of the Bundestag for Hesse
German women writers
1967 births
Living people
Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021
Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany
21st-century German women