Schmidt in 2014 Renate Schmidt (' Pokorny; born 12 December 1943 in

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

) is a German

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician.

Early life

Schmidt grew up in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

, and

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 ...

. Due to a pregnancy at the age of 17, she was forced to leave school a year before she would have received her

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

. Her future husband, Gerhard Schmidt († 1984), with the assistance of both their families, supported her in raising the child while he attended university. In 1963 and 1970, she bore two more children. In 1974 her husband gave up his work as an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, as her salary was bigger than his. Unusual for those times, he took charge of the household and cared for the children.

Labor and political career

Having worked at Quelle AG for quite a while, Schmidt was elected to the company's

works council A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of re ...

in 1972; she was not required to work from 1973 to 1980, because of this. From 1980 to 1988, she was the

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 ...

n state chairwoman of the

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

HBV ; meaning Labor Union Trade, Banks and Insurances). Schmidt joined the SPD in 1972. In 1973, she and her husband founded a local chapter of the SPD youth organization. In 1980, she was elected to the

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 ...

. From 1987 to 1990, she was deputy chairwoman of the SPD Fraktion in the Bundestag; from 1990 to 1994, she was Vice-President of the Bundestag. From 1994 to 2002, Renate Schmidt was a member of the

Landtag of Bavaria The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich. Elections to the Landtag are held every ...

, representing the (constituency) of Nürnberg-Nord. Here again, she was the leader of the SPD group until 2000. In 1999, she announced she would retire from politics. However, she had to change her mind in 2002, for on 22 October of the same year she became Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. After the

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

took over power in 2005, Schmidt was discharged from her office and replaced by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

. However, she had been elected member of the Bundestag again. In 2009, she no longer stood for election and retired from official politics.

Later life

Schmidt lives in Nuremberg, with her second husband Hasso von Henninges. She was bestowed

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of her hometown in 2014.

Recognition

* 2011 – Max Friedlaender PrizeMax Friedlaender Prize
Bavarian Bar Association. * 1994 – Order for Combating Deadly Seriousness

Books

* Renate Schmidt: "Was ich will" Im Gespräch mit Manfred E. Berger, ECON Verlag, 1994 * Renate Schmidt: ''Mut zur Menschlichkeit'', ECON Verlag, 1995 * Renate Schmidt: ''SOS Familie. Ohne Kinder sehen wir alt aus'', Rowohlt Verlag, 2002

References

External links

*
Official website
*
Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (German language)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Renate 1943 births Living people Federal government ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Female members of the Bundestag Ministers for children, young people and families Women federal government ministers of Germany 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany Works councillors