Heide Simonis - WikiHQ

Categories

1943 births

2023 deaths

21st-century German politicians

Politicians from the Rhine Province

University of Erlangen–Nuremberg alumni

20th-century German politicians

Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany

Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class

20th-century German women politicians

21st-century German women politicians

Female members of the Bundestag

Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class

University of Kiel alumni

Politicians from Bonn

Members of the Bundestag for Schleswig-Holstein

Members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein

Minister-presidents of Schleswig-Holstein

Ministers of the Schleswig-Holstein state government

Women minister-presidents in Germany

Women ministers of the Schleswig-Holstein state government

Heide Simonis (; 4 July 1943 – 12 July 2023) was a German author and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She was minister of finance in Schleswig-Holstein from 1988 until 1993, when she became minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein. She was the first woman to serve as head of a state government in German history and the only woman to do so in the 20th century, serving until 2005. As of 2025, she is the longest serving former minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein and also the longest serving former female minister-president of all German states (11 years, 343 days).

Early life and education

Born Heide Steinhardt in Bonn on 4 July 1943,

Despite basing its campaign for the 2005 elections on Simonis' popularity, the SPD suffered a heavy defeat due to the bad economic situation and its support dropped to 38.7% (for the first time in almost twenty years behind the CDU). On 17 March 2005, Simonis failed to be re-elected as minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein in four consecutive ballots by the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag.

2018 –

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