Renate Schmidt

Renate Schmidt
Schmidt in 2014
Minister for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
In office
22 October 2002 – 22 November 2005
ChancellorGerhard Schröder
Preceded byChristine Bergmann
Succeeded byUrsula von der Leyen
Vice President of the Bundestag
(on proposal of the SDP group)
In office
20 December 1990 – 10 November 1994
Serving with Helmut Becker
PresidentRita Süssmuth
Preceded byHeinz Westphal
Succeeded byHans-Ulrich Klose
In office
18 October 2005 – 27 October 2009
ConstituencyState list
In office
4 November 1980 – 10 November 1994
Preceded byHans Batz
Succeeded byDagmar Wöhrl
ConstituencyNuremberg North (1980–1983)
State list (1983–1990)
Nuremberg North (1990–1994)
In office
20 October 1994 – 15 November 2002
Preceded byGünther Beckstein
Succeeded byThomas Döbler
Personal details
BornRenate Pokorny
(1943-12-12) 12 December 1943 (age 82)
Hanau, Germany
PartySocial Democratic
Spouse(s)
Gerhardt Schmidt
​
​
(m. 1961; died 1984)​

Hasso von Henninges
​
(m. 1998)​
Children3

Renate Schmidt (née Pokorny; born 12 December 1943) is a German Social Democratic politician.

Early life

Schmidt grew up in Coburg, Fürth, and Nuremberg. Due to a pregnancy at the age of 17, she was forced to leave school a year before she would have received her Abitur. Her future husband, Gerhard Schmidt (died 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, 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, Schmidt was elected to the company's works council in 1972; she was not required to work from 1973 to 1980, because of this. From 1980 to 1988, she was the Bavarian state chairwoman of the labor union HBV (Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken und Versicherungen; 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. 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, representing the Wahlkreis (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 took over power in 2005, Schmidt was discharged from her office and replaced by Ursula von der Leyen. 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 of her hometown in 2014.

Recognition

Books

References

  1. ↑ Stadt Nürnberg. "Liste der Ehrenbürger von Nürnberg" (PDF). nuernberg.de (in German). Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  2. ↑ Max Friedlaender Prize Bavarian Bar Association.