Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F015447-0012, Bonn, Ludwig Erhard mit Ehefrau im Garten

Luise Erhard (' Lotter; formerly Schuster; 18 April 1893 – 9 July 1975) was a German

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and the wife of

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is known for leading the West German postwar economic ...

, former

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany 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 G ...

Biography

Luise Lotter was born in Langenzenn and later moved to

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the t ...

; she lived in the same neighborhood as her future husband Ludwig Erhard and was friends with his sister. In 1914, she married Friedrich Schuster, a lawyer, but he was killed a year later while serving in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She encountered Erhard again while studying business management and accounting in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

in 1919, and they married in 1923. Luise had a daughter from her first marriage, Eleanore, and had a second daughter, Elizabeth, with Erhard. Although she was an accomplished economist in her own right, Luise Erhard placed her career on hold in order to support her husband's political career. Ludwig Erhard served as Chancellor from 1963 until 1966. A 1964 profile in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted that "In matters of economics, Luise Erhard, it is said, is one of the German Chancellor's most valued counselors. ... Whatever advice she gives remains private. She prefers homemaking to public life."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erhard, Luise 1893 births 1975 deaths Spouses of chancellors of Germany German economists German women economists People from Fürth People from Langenzenn