Political groups

1979-1984: Liberal and Democratic Group
1989-1994: Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group

National parties

1979-1984: Freie Demokratische Partei
1989-1994: Freie Demokratische Partei

Biography

Mechthild von Alemann was born in Seebach, in the former Prussian Province of Saxony. She obtained her secondary education in 1955 before attending a school for professional interpreters. She worked as a correspondent in English from 1957 to 1960 in various companies and from 1968, she worked as a librarian in a US consulting firm.

A disagreement over the school policy of the city of Düsseldorf and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia led her to become involved in political activity within the German Free Democratic Party, which was founded in 1948. From 1968 to 1975, she was citizens' representative in the city of Düsseldorf and was the President of the local section of the political party. From 1975 to 1980, von Alemann was a Member of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. From 1981 to 1985, she was a member of the advisory board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and in 1986 she received the Federal Cross of Merit.

Group picture with the German MEPs of the European Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group with their Group Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. L-R: Martin Holzfuß, Rüdiger von Wechmar, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Mechthild von Alemann, Manfred Vohrer © European Communities 1989

In the Free Democratic Party Assembly of Federal Representatives for the first direct elections of the European Parliament, she was elected to third place on the federal list. She would be a Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1984 and from 1989 to 1994 in the Liberal and Democratic Group, chaired by Martin Bangemann (1979-1984). She was Vice-Chair of the Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group from 1989 to 1994.

During her time as MEP, she was Vice-Chair of the Committee of inquiry into the situation of women in Europe and of the Delegation to the European Parliament/Spanish Cortes Joint Committee (1st parliamentary term). In addition, she was active on the Committee on Energy and Research, on the Committee on Youth, Culture, Education, Information and Sport, and on the Committee on Transport (1st parliamentary term). During the 3rd parliamentary term (1989-1994), von Alemann was a member of the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment, of the Committee on Transports and Tourism, of the Delegation for relations with Yugoslavia, and of the Delegation for relations with Albania, Bulgaria and Romania.

Von Alemann remained politically active even during the period when she was not a Member of Parliament: She was recruited to the Liberal Group as Secretary-General of the Liberal, Democratic and Reform Group (1985-1989) and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 1995 to 2000.

For more information on her time as an MEP, click here.

What's in the archives?

The fonds of Mechthild von Alemann’s activity are mostly focused on issues concerning the situation of women and women’s rights. The most remarkable items archived are supporting documents (reports of the institutions, brochures, articles, press cuttings, reviews, newsletters, books) as they show the state of affairs relating to the situation of women and means of claiming their rights in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of the documents in the fonds date from 1981 to 1984, though others date back to 1975 and some documents originate from 1992 to 1993.

Mechthild von Alemann's fonds are organised around two themes: the activities of von Alemann as Vice-Chair of the Committee of inquiry into the situation of women in Europe and as rapporteur on vocational training in the European Economic Community in the 1990s (report 93/93).

Within the files, there is a mixture of documents of different origins and typologies:

• Parliamentary committee documents: preparation of seminars, seminar documents
• Documents relating to the legislative procedure: copies of reports and drafts of the texts of the reports
• Documents relating to parliamentary activity: copies of questions, copies of debates
• Various additional documents from other international institutions, contributions, brochures, bulletins, journals, books
• Correspondence