Käte Strobel (23 July 1907 – 26 March 1996) was a German politician 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).

Biography

Born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, from 1923 to 1938 Käte Müller worked in the office of agricultural organisations in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. In 1928, she married Hans Strobel, who in 1934 was arrested for planning

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

against the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. He was released from

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

in 1937. Käte Strobel joined the SPD in 1925, being part of the party's leadership from 1958 to 1971 while from 1949 to 1972 being a member of the German

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 ...

. She also served 27 February 1958 to 26 January 1967 in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, where she became the leader of the Socialist Group from 1964 to 1967 (to this day, the only female leader other than Pauline Green) and from 1972 to 1978 in the city council of Nuremberg. In

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

's government, under Kurt Georg Kiesinger she led the Department of Health (from 1966 to 1969 Federal Ministry of Health) which from 1969 to 1972, with

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

as chancellor, was expanded to

Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth The Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (; abbreviated BMBFSFJ) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is headquartered in Berlin with a secondary seat in Bonn. The ministr ...

. She promoted

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

by having her department publish a ''Sexualkundeatlas'' book and the movie ''

Helga Helga (derived from Old Norse ''heilagr'' - "holy", "blessed") is a female name, used mainly in Scandinavia, German-speaking countries and the Low Countries (''Hege'', ''Helle'', ''Helge'', ''Helga'', ''Helka'' or ''Oili''). The name was in use ...

'', which depicted all stages of pregnancy. This was considered breaking a taboo. Her home town Nuremberg made her an honorary citizen in 1980, and named a street near the central station after her.nuernberg.de
/ref> She died in Nuremberg at age 88.

Quote

''"Politik ist eine viel zu ernste Sache, als dass man sie allein den Männern überlassen könnte."''- (Politics is far too serious a matter to be left solely to men.)

References

External links

*

at Deutsches Historisches Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Strobel, Kate 1907 births 1996 deaths Politicians from Nuremberg Health ministers of Germany Female members of the Bundestag Ministers for children, young people and families Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Women federal government ministers of Germany MEPs for Germany 1958–1979 20th-century women MEPs for Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs Socialist feminists