Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt
Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. She was Federal Minister of Health in the German Cabinet from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial position in Germany.
Biography
Schwarzhaupt was the daughter of an upper school principal who belonged to the German People's Party of Prussia. Her mother came from a wealthy merchant family. She was engaged to a Jewish doctor who fled to Switzerland and then the United States because of Nazi persecution.After finishing school in 1920, Schwarzhaupt studied law in Frankfurt am Main. In 1930, she received her doctorate in law. She was a legal adviser on women's issues until 1932 when she worked as a Beauftragter Richter in Dortmund and Frankfurt am Main. She was dismissed in March 1933 in the wake of a judicial decree that women should no longer hold judicial office.
From 1935, Schwarzhaupt worked as a legal assistant at the Registry of the Evangelical Church in Berlin. In 1947, she returned to Frankfurt, promoted by 1953 to Oberkirchenrätin and Geschäftsführerin der Evangelischen Frauenarbeit.
On 10 December 1965, she was the first woman to be awarded the Großkreuz des Bundesverdienstkreuzes. From 1970 to 1972, she was the First Chairman of the German Women's Council.
During the Weimar Republic, Schwarzhaupt was a member of the German People's Party. She belonged to the Christian Democratic Union from 1945 until her death. She was buried in the main cemetery in Frankfurt.