Hannelore Mensch (born Hannelore Bosch; 16 June 1937 in Neu Zachun) is a former

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. She served as the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

's Minister for Work and Wages in 1989/90.

Life

Hannelore Bosch was born in the north of what was then the central part of Germany. Her father was a farmer and she had a rural upbringing. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

started when she was 2 and ended when she was not quite 8, after which her childhood was spent growing up in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...

in what remained of Germany. While she was 12 the occupation zone became the

, formally founded in October 1949. Between 1953 and 1956 Hannelore attended an agricultural college in

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal re ...

, emerging with a qualification in

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. In 1958 she took a job as a Planner with MTS Brüsewitz, a state-administered agricultural machinery depot serving the district. From 1958 till 1962 she served as FDJ secretary and as divisional leader with the Schwerin rural district council. In 1959 she joined East Germany's ruling SED (party). She worked in the Agriculture Department with the

Berlin city council Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

from 1962 till 1963, moving on to become a department head with the Party Regional Leadership between 1963 and 1973. Meanwhile, she undertook a correspondence course with the "Karl Marx" Party Academy which led her to a degree in Social Sciences. Promotion followed, and from 1973 till 1978 she was a Berlin city councilor and senior secretary with the council. From 1979 till 1989 she served as first deputy mayor of Berlin. During the final months of one-

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...

government in the

, from November 1989 till March 1990, she entered national politics, serving in the

Modrow government The Modrow government refers to the final socialist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was led by Socialist Unity Party (SED) official Hans Modrow from November 1989 until East Germany's first democratically elected govern ...

as Minister for Work and Wages. In 1993 Hannelore Mensch was convicted of local government election fraud by the Berlin district Court and sentenced to one year of supervised liberty ("probation").

Awards and honours

* 1971

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in bronze * 1981

in silver * 1987

in gold

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mensch, Hannelore 1937 births Living people People from Ludwigslust-Parchim Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Government ministers of East Germany Women government ministers of East Germany 20th-century German women politicians German politicians convicted of crimes Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold East German women in politics People from Bezirk Schwerin