At the age of 36, Rita Süssmuth was designated to the professorship for “General Pedagogy” at the Pädagogische Hochschule (PH) Ruhr in Dortmund. After the integration of the PH Ruhr into the University of Dortmund in 1980, she additionally presumed the position of deputy head of the Institute for Social Pedagogy within the Department of Educational Science. At the same time, Süssmuth began to engage politically: she served on the Scientific Advisory Board for Family Affairs of the Federal Ministry for Household Affairs and on the third Household Report Commission. In 1982, her scholastic career took her to Hanover, where she headed the research institute “Lady and Society” till 1985.
Rita Süssmuth will be kept in mind above all for her political engagement from 1985 onward. A Christian Democrat, she was the very first Federal Minister for Youth, Household, Women and Health, promoted for women’s liberty of choice in between household and profession, supported a more liberal abortion law, and campaigned against the exclusion of individuals with help. From 1988 to 1998, she held the office of President of the Bundestag and, at the head of the German parliament, manage its reform required by German reunification in addition to its moving to Berlin. Süssmuth continued to take clear public positions, for example on concerns of women’s policy. She stayed a member of the Bundestag up until 2002, where she was committed, among other things, to migration and combination.
Rita Süssmuth last returned to TU Dortmund University in 2018: on the event of its 50th anniversary, the university granted an honorary doctorate to Donald Tusk, who at the time was President of the European Council. In her laudatory speech, Süssmuth praised Tusk’s passionate dedication to the European Union.
With Rita Süssmuth, TU Dortmund University loses an exceptional and extremely well-regarded personality– and will maintain her memory with honor.