Elly Heuss | |
|---|---|
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| First Lady of Germany | |
| In role 12 September 1949 – 19 July 1952 | |
| President | Theodor Heuss |
| Preceded by | Ingeborg Dönitz |
| Succeeded by | Wilhelmine Lübke |
Elisabeth Eleonore Anna Justine Heuss-Knapp (néeKnapp; 25 January 1882 – 19 July 1952) was a German politician of theFree Democratic Party (FDP), social reformer, author and wife of German presidentTheodor Heuss. She was the founder of theMüttergenesungswerk charitable organisation, officially called Elly Heuss-Knapp Foundation in her honour.
Elly Knapp was born inStraßburg, then capital of the Imperial Territory ofAlsace-Lorraine, the daughter of the economistGeorg Friedrich Knapp (1842–1927), founder of thechartalist school ofmonetary theory, who taught at theStraßburg University. Her mother Lydia v. Karganow (1849–1925),[1] who was fromGeorgia, became mentally ill shortly after her birth and left the family when Knapp was three years old.[2] Elly, a bright, inquisitive child, and her sister Marianne spent much time with their grandparents and were raised by their father alone, uncommon at the time.
She studied to become a teacher, taking the exam in 1899, and worked as a teacher at a girls' school in Straßburg from 1900, of which she was one of the co-founders. Concerned withcivic education, she early became influenced by theliberal politicianFriedrich Naumann and in 1905, she went on to study economics inFreiburg andBerlin, while becoming a frequent public speaker on political issues. In 1908, she married then-journalist Theodor Heuss, an assistant to Friedrich Naumann. The wedding in Straßburg was presided over byAlbert Schweitzer. Their only son, Ernst Ludwig Heuss, was born in 1910. Due to complications during that birth (which was nearly fatal for Elly), she could not have more children.
Back inBerlin afterWorld War I, Elly Heuss-Knapp like her husband had been a candidate for the liberalGerman Democratic Party (DDP) in theGerman federal election of 1919, strongly emphasisingwomen's suffrage. Over the years Elly became more interested in theological questions and from 1922 became active in the Protestant congregation ofOtto Dibelius in Berlin.
After the NaziMachtergreifung in 1933, she was forbidden to speak publicly, and her husband was dismissed from his lecturing job at the university. Their home became a meeting place of people opposed to the regime, including theDahlem pastorMartin Niemöller. Elly Heuss-Knapp became an author and also worked inadvertising to support her family, developing an early kind ofjingle radio commercial. Her autobiography,Ausblick vom Münsterturm, was published in 1934, and a second edition in 1952. In the final stage of theWorld War II Heuss-Knapp and her husband lived inHeidelberg.
After the war, she was elected a member of theLandtag state legislature inWürttemberg-Baden in 1946, as a representative of the liberalDemocratic People's Party (DVP) and its Free Democratic Party (FDP) successor. Her work as a politician concentrated on child care and social policy in general, earning her the reputation of an unofficial "mother of the state". She finished her parliamentary career when her husband was electedPresident of Germany in 1949.
Together with her husband, Elly Heuss-Knapp was one of the co-founders of theEuropean Movement in Germany in June 1949, and was Vice President of the organisation. On 31 January 1950 she publicly announced the foundation of theMüttergenesungswerk organisation for maternal health, which remained under the patronage of the wives of the German presidents up to today. It was later namedElly-Heuss-Knapp-Stiftung – Deutsches Müttergenesungswerk in her honour.
Elly Heuss-Knapp died in 1952 at the university clinic inBonn, and was buried at theStuttgartWaldfriedhof cemetery.
| Unofficial roles | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Spouse of the President of West Germany 1949–1952 | Vacant Title next held by Wilhelmine Lübke |
