Helga Kühn-Mengel née Kühn (born 1 July 1947 in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

) is a German politician. She was a

Member of the German Bundestag Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In G ...

from 1996 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2017 and Federal Government Commissioner for Patient Affairs from 2004 to 2009.

Life and education

After graduating from

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 ...

in 1967 from Erzbischöfliches Gymnasium in Brühl, Kühn-Mengel studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

, which she completed in 1972 with a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from ) is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

degree in

. She then worked in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, first at the research association "Das körperbehinderte Kind" and then at the Centre for Early Intervention and Early Treatment. Kühn-Mengel is married and has three children.

Political career

She has been a member of the SPD since 1972 and has been honorary chairwoman of the Brühl local SPD association since 2004. Kühn-Mengel has been a member of the district council of the

Rhein-Erft-Kreis The Rhein-Erft-Kreis () is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neuss (district), Neuss, district-free Cologne, Rhein-Sieg, Euskirchen (district), Euskirchen, Düren (district), Düren. History The ...

since 1984. On 23 December 1996, she replaced Dietmar Thieser in the

German Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

. From 1998 to 2002 she was Commissioner for the Disabled and from October 2002 to January 2004 she was spokesperson for the SPD

working group on health and social security. She was also a member of the SPD parliamentary group executive from November 2002 to November 2004. Kühn-Mengel always ran on the

state list The State List or List-II is a list of 61 items. Initially there were 66 items in the list in Schedule Seven to the Constitution of India. The legislative section is divided into three lists: the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent Lis ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

into the Bundestag. In the 2009 Bundestag election, Kühn-Mengel was defeated by Detlef Seif in the Euskirchen - Erftkreis II constituency ( CDU) and also failed to re-enter the Bundestag via the state list. Kühn-Mengel was re-elected as a candidate in 2012 at the constituency assembly of her Bundestag constituency. Her opponent Melanie Taprogge was clearly defeated. In the 2013 Bundestag election, she succeeded via the

to re-enter the Bundestag.

Public offices

On 1 January 2004, she was appointed to the newly created office of

Federal Government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

Commissioner for Patients' Affairs. Her successor on 19 November 2009 was

Wolfgang Zöller Wolfgang Zöller (born June 18, 1942, in Eisenbach, Germany) is a German politician, member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He was the Federal Government Commissioner for Patients' Affairs from 2009 to 2013 and had previously been ...

(

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

) was appointed as her successor on 19 November 2009. In the 18th legislative period of the German Bundestag, which began in 2013, she was a member of the Committee on Health.

Honours

Kühn-Mengel was honoured with the Marie-Juchacz-Plakette of the Workers' Welfare Association (AWO), where she was Chairwoman of the AWO Regional Association Rhein-Erft and Euskirchen and sits on the Federal Executive Committee on an honorary basis. On 14 June 2012, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon in Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kühn-Mengel, Helga 1947 births Living people 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017