Brigitte Schröder (; born July 28, 1917, in Breslau; died October 27, 2000, in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

) was a German politician and volunteer in the church and social sector. She had been the wife of the German politician

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 ...

since 1941. According to the

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...

, she was considered a " mongrel of the first degree". The wedding was therefore only possible with an exemption permit from the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. Surprisingly, this was issued even though Gerhard Schröder had left the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

in the same year. Brigitte Schröder was active in many honorary functions. She was a member of the city council of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

for 13 years, was also a

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

in the Matthäi parish there and founded the working group of Protestant parents and educators. After moving to Bonn in 1962, she founded the Women's and Family Service of the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

. In 1969, she founded the Evangelische Kranken- und Altenhilfe (eKH), which she led for 27 years until she handed over the reins to Gabriele Trull in 1996. Today, over 11,000 " Green Ladies and Gentlemen" work at the eKH. For her services, Brigitte Schröder was made an honorary member of the Order of St. John in 1985. In 1993, she received the

Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia () is a civil Order (honour), order of merit, of the Germany, German States of Germany, State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia was founded on 11 March 1986. It is ...

Literature

* Norbert Friedrich: ''Brigitte Schröder. A diaconal-evangelical personality.'' In: Siegfried Hermle, Thomas Martin Schneider (eds.): ''Protestant Impulse. Formative figures in Germany after 1945'' (= ''Christentum und Zeitgeschichte.'' Volume 8). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2021, , pp. 141–148. * Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu: ''Brigitte Schröder. Germany's "First Green Lady"'' Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, Leipzig 2003, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schroder, Brigitte 1917 births 2000 deaths People from Wrocław German evangelicals