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Heide Simonis (January 2009)

Photograph:

Christian Thiel / IMAGO

She shaped politics in Schleswig-Holstein for decades, from 1993 to 2005 as Minister-President: Now Heide Simonis has died at the age of 80. The SPD politician was the first woman to head a state government in the history of the Federal Republic. Previously, she had already been a member of the state government as Minister of Finance in Björn Engholm's government.

Simonis replaced Engholm on 19 May 1993, who had failed due to the long-term effects of the Barschel scandal of 1987. Initially, Simonis led an SPD sole government, then from 1996 to 2005 a red-green coalition.

Career as prime minister ended after four failed rounds of elections

In the ministerial election on 17 March 2005, a dissident refused to vote for her in four rounds; because of this, her re-election in the state parliament failed. At the time, Simonis wanted to continue governing with a red-green minority government after a close state election – supported by the South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), the party of the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein. To this day, it is unclear who refused to vote for her at the time.

"The pastor will say at my grave: Here rests the woman who was not elected four times," Simonis once said. He will certainly report other things as well. "But he won't forget that one passage."

After her election failed in the state parliament, the then CDU state chairman Peter Harry Carstensen took over the post of head of government at the head of a grand coalition with the SPD. After the end of her political career, Simonis became the German chairwoman of Unicef. She resigned from this honorary position at the beginning of 2008 in the wake of a crisis of confidence at the children's charity.

"As a politician, she never minced her words"

"I mourn the loss of a great politician and a passionate Schleswig-Holsteiner," said Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU). Simonis has made Schleswig-Holstein even more lovable with her personality, her commitment, her humanity and her straightforwardness. "As a politician, she never minced her words, was upright, open and always straightforward. That's why she was liked by so many people.«

The SPD party leadership paid tribute to Simonis as an important advocate for social justice in Germany. "With Heide Simonis, the Social Democrats have lost an important personality who has made history," said party chairmen Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil. Simonis was a role model and encourager for many in the SPD and in her state. It has left deep scars not only in Schleswig-Holstein.

The chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Kiel state parliament, Thomas Losse-Müller, wrote on Twitter that Simonis would remain unforgotten as the first female prime minister and by her human and approachable manner. »As a trailblazer and role model, Heide has inspired thousands and motivated them to get involved.«

"As the first female prime minister in Germany, she encouraged many women to demand and take on leadership responsibility," said Schleswig-Holstein's Deputy Prime Minister Monika Heinold (Greens). She fondly remembers the joint cooperation in nine years of the red-green coalition. "Heide deserves to be able to enjoy her well-deserved retirement longer and healthier."

From Bonn to Kiel

Simonis was born on 4 July 1943 in Bonn. Her studies as an economist took her to Kiel, where she met her husband Udo. In 1967, the couple married. After stays abroad, the couple returned to Kiel at the beginning of 1972, where Simonis, who had meanwhile joined the SPD, worked as a career counsellor at the employment office and was active as a councillor.

For twelve years – from 1976 to 1988 – she was a member of the Bundestag. In 33, at the age of 1976, she was the youngest female parliamentarian to date. Simonis formulated a lesson from her time in the Bundestag as follows: "Always being nice – that's not possible." She then went into state politics, moving into the state parliament in 1992, where she belonged until 2005.

In 2014, Schleswig-Holstein's then Prime Minister Torsten Albig honoured Simonis as an honorary citizen of the state.

ulz/dpa/AFP