New, Henny

Welfare worker, politician

Born: 24.09.1906 in Wiesbaden

died: 29.11.1994 in Wiesbaden

Neu came from a political family. Her father, a locksmith by trade, was a member of the SPD and a trade unionist. After elementary school, she completed an apprenticeship as a seamstress and then trained as an embroiderer. In 1920, she became a member of the Workers' Youth League, from which the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ) emerged in 1923. She joined the SPD in 1924. In 1929, she began training as a pediatric nurse in Hamburg-Harburg. After graduating in 1931, she became unemployed, but then completed internships in several welfare homes. She later worked in private households in Wiesbaden.

In 1939, she found a job at the municipal health department in Wiesbaden. However, she lost this job again at the beginning of 1941, as she was arrested along with several others. She was a member of the Social Democratic opposition group that had rallied around the future Lord Mayor Georg Buch since 1933. After almost ten months in custody, she was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Kassel Higher Regional Court. After the war, Neu was given a job as a welfare officer at the Wiesbaden Social Welfare Office, but soon gave it up again to enter politics.

In 1946, she was elected to Wiesbaden's first city council, where she served until 1948. During this time, she set up the parliamentary group office at the request of Georg Buch, then leader of the SPD parliamentary group, and was active in several committees. She then returned to the Social Welfare Office as a case worker for child recreation welfare.

She retired in 1967, but continued to volunteer in a variety of ways, including in the Workers' Welfare Association and the Senior Citizens' Advisory Council. In 1981, she was awarded the bronze citizens' medal for her political services.