Irmgard Schwaetzer (born 5 April 1942) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and a

Protestant church Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

official. Since 2013, she has been chairing the Synod of the

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed church, Reformed (Calvinism, Calvinist) and united and uniting churches, United ( ...

(EKD). She is the central founding figure, as well as honorary chairwoman of the Liberal Women.

Early life and education

In 1971, Schwaetzer received a doctorate in

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

from the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

Career

From

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

to 2002, Irmgard Schwaetzer served as a member of the

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 Commons ...

. Under the leadership of chairman

Hans-Dietrich Genscher Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...

, she was the Secretary General of the FDP between 1982 and 1984. Following the 1987 West German federal election, Schwaetzer was appointed as

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

at the

Federal Foreign Office , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

in the government led by Chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

. In that capacity, she oversaw the ministry's activities on European policy and cultural affairs. At a party convention in 1988, she narrowly lost against

Otto Graf Lambsdorff Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff (20 December 1926 – 5 December 2009), was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Early life and education Lambsdorff was bo ...

in a vote on the FDP leadership. Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F086798-0026, Bonn, Tagung FDP-Bundestagsfraktion

In January 1991 Schwaetzer was appointed Federal Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction and Urbanism, succeeding

Gerda Hasselfeldt Gerda Hasselfeldt (born 7 July 1950) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and chairwoman of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians. Following her dep ...

. During her time in office, she oversaw various

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel o ...

s on construction projects that eventually permitted Germany’s Parliament and government to move from Bonn to Berlin after

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. Following the resignation of Hans-Dietrich Genscher in 1992, Kohl and Lambsdorff nominated Schwaetzer to be the new Foreign Minister. In a surprise decision, her own FDP parliamentary group rejected her nomination shortly after and voted instead to name Justice Minister

Klaus Kinkel Klaus Kinkel (17 December 1936 – 4 March 2019)

to head the Foreign Office. Schwaetzer would have been the first woman to hold a senior cabinet post in Germany. She retired on 17 November 1994 from the Federal Government. From

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Schwaetzer chaired the working group for labor and social policy, health policy, family, women's and youth policy of the FDP parliamentary group.

Other activities

(EKD), Member of the Council * Garrison Church Potsdam, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2015) * ''

Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy) is a German organization promoting diversity, tolerance and democratic participation, and opposing racism, prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in ...

'', Deputy Chairwoman (since 2014) * Gemeinschaftswerk der Evangelischen Publizistik (GEP), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2013) *

Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace The Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace (german: Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss) is a German foundation established by the Government of Germany to create the Humboldt Forum museum in the reconstructed City Pal ...

, Member of the Council (since 2010) * Evangelical Academy of Berlin, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2009) * ''Studium in Israel'', Member of the Board of Trustees *

Friedrich Naumann Foundation The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (german: Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit) (''FNF''), is a German foundation for liberal politics, related to the Free Democratic Party. Established in 1958 by Theodor Heuss, the first pres ...

, Member of the Board (2003-2014)

Recognition

* 1989 – Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Sash for Services to the Republic of AustriaAufstellung aller durch den Bundespräsidenten verliehenen Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich ab 1952
(PDF; 6,6 MB) * Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry * Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwaetzer Living people 1942 births German Lutherans People from Münster Free Democratic Party (Germany) politicians Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994 Government ministers of Germany University of Bonn alumni Individualist feminists

Early life and education

Career

Other activities

Recognition

See also

References