Bila, Helen von
Bila, Helen von
Lawyer, Ministerial Councillor
Born: 19.04.1904 in Halle
died: 11.02.1985 in Gießen
Bila came from a family based in Goldene Aue in what is now Saxony-Anhalt. After her father, an officer, was killed in the First World War, von Bila attended the Kaiserin-Augusta-Stift in Potsdam for two years. She then completed an agricultural apprenticeship in Mecklenburg and later obtained her A-levels.
After studying law, which she completed with a doctorate in 1932, she worked as a legal assistant in an international fertilizer company until 1945. She then worked as a legal advisor for the American military government, including in Wiesbaden. In 1950, she spent several months in the USA at the invitation of the military government as a member of a German legal group. There she dealt with questions of the international and American legal system as well as the influence of American women on politics.
In addition to her professional commitment, she campaigned for the legal equality of women in Germany and supported, for example, the Wiesbaden Office for Civic Women's Work. She joined the SPD in 1946 and in 1952, together with Olga Radtke, was appointed to the city council as the first female honorary councillor. From 1952, she initially worked as a personal advisor to the then Hessian Minister of Justice, Georg-August Zinn, and from 1952 was appointed by him as head of the higher education department in the Hessian Ministry of Education. In this position, which she held until her retirement in 1969, she earned a high reputation for the development and expansion of Hessian universities.
She received several awards for her services. In 1981, she received the Federal Cross of Merit First Class and the following year the Wilhelm Leuschner Medal of the State of Hesse. Philipps University Marburg honored her with the Philipps Plaque in 1977 and Justus Liebig University Giessen made her an honorary senator in 1982.
Literature
In the service of democracy. The recipients of the Wilhelm Leuschner Medal. Ed.: Hessian State Chancellery, Wiesbaden 2004 [p. 131 f.].
Renkhoff, Otto: Nassau Biography. Kurzbiographien aus 13 Jahrhunderten, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden 1992 (Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Nassau 39) [p. 58].
Röhlke, Cornelia: "... the world belongs to the man - and the woman". A portrait of six female local politicians in Wiesbaden in the post-war period. Edited by: Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs - Women's Policy Department, Wiesbaden City Archives, Municipal Women's Representative of the City of Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden 2006.