Background
SIMONIS, Heide was born on July 4, 1943 in Bonn, West Germany. Parents: Doctor Horst Steinhardt and Sophia Steinhardt (née Bruck).
SIMONIS, Heide was born on July 4, 1943 in Bonn, West Germany. Parents: Doctor Horst Steinhardt and Sophia Steinhardt (née Bruck).
Grammar school for girls, Abitur (matriculation), 1962. Universities of Erlangen, Nürnberg, Kiel, Economics and Sociology Degree. 1967; spoken languages: English, French.
She was Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein from 1993 to 2005, the first woman to hold this position in any German state in Germany"s history. Simonis earned her high school degree (Abitur) in 1962 in Nürnberg. She worked in different positions after 1967.
Simonis has been married to university professor Udo Simonis.
Simonis joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1969. She was elected to the German Bundestag in 1976.
On May 19, 1993, she was elected Minister President of said state, after her predecessor Björn Engholm resigned from that position due to a scandal. She was the first woman in Germany to rise to this level in politics.
In February 2000, at the height of a Christian Democratic Union party financing scandal, the Social Democratic Party of Germany was able to enlarge its share to 43.1%.
Despite basing its 2005 election campaign on Simonis" popularity, the Social Democratic Party of Germany suffered a heavy defeat due to the bad economic situation and dropped down to 38.7% (for the first time in almost twenty years behind the Christian Democratic Union). On March 17, 2005 Simonis failed to be re-elected as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein in 4 consecutive ballots by the Landtag (parliament) of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1st ballot she received 34 votes and Peter Harry Carstensen (Christian Democratic Union) received 33 while 2 deputies cast empty votes.
Neither Simonis nor Carstensen got the absolute majority (35 votes).
In the 2nd and 3rd ballot the candidates received 34 votes each. Obviously one deputy of the alliance of Social Democratic Party of Germany, Grüne (Greens) and SSW abstained.
An unprecedented 4th ballot brought the same result. Simonis has since stepped down as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein.
From 2005 until February 2008 Simonis served as Chief of the German United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. She resigned from this position due to a scandal related to donations to the organisation that arose during her term.
The state election in 1996 saw the Social Democratic Party of Germany drop down to 39.8% (from 462% in 1992), but Simonis was able to form a coalition with the Greens.
She is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. In 1992, she became a member of the legislature of Schleswig-Holstein.
Spouse Professor Doctor Udo, 1967.