Anke Fuchs (; ; 5 July 1937 – 14 October 2019) was a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She was Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health (1982) and

Vice President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (politics), speaker in other countries. ...

(1998–2002). From 2003 until 2010, she was the president of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Life and career

She was born Anke Nevermann in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, the daughter of

Paul Nevermann Paul Nevermann (5 February 1902 – 22 March 1979) was a German politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and First Mayor of Hamburg (1961–1965). Early life and education Nevermann was born in Klein Flottbek (a then indepe ...

who later became mayor of Hamburg, and his wife Grete. Her parents met at home politicians such as

Herbert Wehner Herbert Richard Wehner (11 July 1906 – 19 January 1990) was a German politician. A former member of the Communist Party, he joined the Social Democrats (SPD) after World War II. He served as Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations from 1966 ...

Kurt Schumacher Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician who became chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the Wes ...

Wilhelm Pieck Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as president of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to ...

and

Otto Grotewohl Otto Emil Franz Grotewohl (; 11 March 1894 – 21 September 1964) was a German politician who served as the first prime minister of the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) from its foundation in October 1949 until his death in Septembe ...

. Her parents, both grandfathers and two brothers were party members 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 Fo ...

(SPD). She joined the party's youth organisation (''Falken'') as a school student, and was active in demonstrations against atomic weapons. She became a party member in 1956, shortly before her Abitur. The same year, she began to study law, completing with the Zweites Staatsexamen in 1964. She then worked as Referentin für Arbeitsrecht und Sozialpolitik for Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB) for the Nordmark district. She was member of the board of the

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ge ...

from 1971 to 1978. In 1977, Fuchs was appointed Secretary of State in the

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (german: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, ), abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs a ...

by the then minister Herbert Ehrenberg. In 1979, she became a member of the board (''Parteivorstand'') of the SPD. She was elected to 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 Common ...

in 1980 as a candidate from the Cologne II district in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. On 28 April 1982, Fuchs was appointed Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health by Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Ch ...

. Following the election victory of the conservative opposition, she had to leave the cabinet on 4 October 1982. She was offered candidacy for minister-president in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

in the 1980s, but declined in favour of

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

. In 1990, she was the SPD candidate for the position in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, but the CDU with Kurt Biedenkopf won the election. Fuchs was a member of the Bundestag until 2002. She was vice president of its SPD fraction from 1993 to 1998, and she served as

from 1998 to 2002. For many years she was president of the (German tenants association), and she was president of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation from 2003 to 2010. She focused on national and international political education, support of young scientists in international cooperation, and European politics for peace and social reforms. She was honorary president from 2010. Fuchs was married and had two children. She died on 14 October 2019 after a long illness, at the age of 82.

Works

References

External links