Luise Herklotz (August 20, 1918.Speyer — July 25, 2009, Speyer[1]) was a Germanpolitician in theSPD.
After attending theLyzeum, Herklotz, who was ofProtestant faith, completed a journalistic apprenticeship at theSpeyerer Zeitung from 1935. She then worked first as an editorial secretary and finally as an editor. From 1947, she worked forDie Freiheit inNeustadt an der Weinstraße. In 1948, she took part in the founding of theJournalistenverband Pfalz.
From 1978 to 1992, Herklotz was chairwoman ofArbeiterwohlfahrt in Speyer, of which she had been a member since 1946. In July 1984, an investigation was opened against Herklotz on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement,[2] investigating whether theAssociation for Civic Education she led had used forged signature lists for "ghost seminars" that were not held to raise 40.000 to 50,000 DM in state subsidies with the help of forged signature lists for "ghost seminars" that were not held, and whether these funds were passed on to the SPD and Workers' Welfare.[3][4]
Herklotz joined the SPD in 1946 and soon became chairwoman of the SPD women's organization in thePalatinate. She later became a member of the district executive of the SPD in the Palatinate and theRhineland-Palatinate state committee as well as the central women's committee of the federal SPD. From 1958 to 1962, she was a member of the party executive. In 1970, she was elected to the party's control commission. From 1974 to 1978, she was local chairwoman of the SPD in her hometown of Speyer.
Luise Herklotz was a Landtagsabgeordnete in Rhineland-Palatinate from 1949 to October 5, 1957. In 1954, the state parliament elected her as a member of the secondFederal Assembly, which re-electedTheodor Heuss asfederal president. She was a member of theGerman Bundestag from September 24, 1956, when she replacedHermann Trittelvitz, until 1972. From 1966 to 1973, she was also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of theCouncil of Europe.
She was later a member of theEuropean Parliament from 1979 to 1984.[5]
On September 6, 2003, the city of Speyer awarded her thehonorary citizen right.[5] In 1973, she was awarded the Cross of Merit First Class, which she had refused to accept in 1969,[6] and in June 1984 theGreat Federal Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.[2] In 1986 she received theMarie-Juchacz-Plakette of the Workers' Welfare Association, in 1990 the Medal of Merit of the City of Speyer and in 1999 theOrder of Merit of Rhineland-Palatinate.
