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Helga Wex (néeSchimke, July 5, 1924Buxtehude - January 9, 1986Mülheim an der Ruhr) was a GermanCDU politician.
Helga Wex came from a social democratic family; her father Hugo Schimke was active in local politics for the SPD in Buxtehude.[1] After studying philosophy, Helga Wex (Schimke) completed her doctorate in 1950 inHamburg on the subject ofThe farewell motif in German love poetry from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century.[2] She then completed additional courses of study at theEuropa-Kolleg inBruges and at theAcademy of International Law inThe Hague.
From 1953 to 1957, Wex was a ministerial advisor in the representation of the state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia to the federal government. She joined the CDU in 1961 and was a city council member of Mülheim an der Ruhr from 1961 to 1973. She lived there with her husband Günther Wex and their two children.
She became a member of the 5th German Bundestag on April 28, 1967, which she left at the end of 1969. She rejoined the Bundestag at the beginning of the 7th parliamentary term in 1972 and remained a member until her death on January 9, 1986, in the 10th parliamentary term. She reached the Bundestag via thestate list of the North Rhine-Westphalian CDU.
From 1969 to 1977, she was deputy federal chairwoman of the CDU and, as successor toAenne Brauksiepe, a member of the executive committee.
From 1971 to 1986, she was Chairwoman of the Women's Association of the CDU, today'sFrauen Union. In this office, she declared "the end of modesty" for the female section of the CDU and called for greater participation of women in the party. She raised issues such as thecompatibility of family and career and fought for the right to submit motions at party conferences for the women's association, which it finally received in 1975.
In 1979, she ran againstRichard von Weizsäcker for vice-president of the Bundestag within the party, but lost by a clear margin. In 1983, she became deputy chairwoman of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group.
In 1984, she became coordinator forGerman-French relations at theForeign Office and held this office until her death. In this position, she campaigned for the expansion of reciprocal language teaching inFrance and Germany.
During the first CDU party donation scandal involving illegal party funding via theStaatsbürgerliche Vereinigung, Helga Wex also encouraged, among others the Gerling Group to donate money directly to her CDU district association in Mülheim an der Ruhr, bypassing thetax office and the federal party.[3]
