Helga Labs
{{Short description|East German politician (born 1940)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox Minister
| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0605-0106, Berlin, XII. Parlament, 5. Beratungstag (cropped).jpg
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| office = Minister of Public Education
| primeminister =
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| term_start = November 1989
| term_end = 1989
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|5|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = Wenigtreben, Poland
| nationality =
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| party = Socialist Unity Party of Germany
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Helga Labs (born 22 May 1940) is an East German politician who served as the minister of public education of East Germany. As a member of the ruling party Socialist Unity Party (SED), she held several political and public posts in East Germany.
Early life and education
Labs was born in Wenigtreben on 22 May 1940.{{cite web
|title=Labs, Helga|url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/helga-labs
|publisher=Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung|access-date=16 August 2022|language=de}} Between 1955 and 1959 she studied at the institute for teacher training in Rochlitz and received a degree in teaching.
Career
Labs joined the Rochlitz branch of the Free German Youth organization in 1956 and served as its secretary between 1959 and 1960. In 1959 he became a member of the SED. In 1974 she was named as the head of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation, a youth organization, replacing Egon Krenz in the post.{{cite journal|author=Catherine Plum
|title=The Children of Antifascism. Exploring Young Historians Clubs in the GDR|journal=German Politics and Society|date=Spring 2008|volume=26
|issue=1|page=18|doi=10.3167/gps.2008.260101}} Lab's tenure lasted until 1985, and she was replaced by Wilfried Poßner in the post.{{cite news|title=Immer bewegt, niemals still|url=https://www.die-hellersdorfer.berlin/2020/03/10/immer-bewegt-niemals-still/
|access-date=16 August 2022|work=Die Hellersdorfer|date=10 March 2020|language=de}}
Labs was a member of the central committee of the SED from 1976 to 3 December 1989. She also served as chairman of the teaching and education union.{{cite news|author=Stefan Fries|title=Die Pressekonferenz als Bühne. "Nach meiner Kenntnis ist das sofort, unverzüglich"|url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/die-pressekonferenz-als-buehne-nach-meiner-kenntnis-ist-das-100.html|access-date=16 August 2022|work=Deutschlandfunk|date=2 April 2021|language=de}} In November 1989 she was appointed minister of public education, replacing Margot Honecker in the post.{{cite web|title=Helga Labs|publisher=DDR Center|access-date=16 August 2022|language=de
|url=https://www.ddr.center/person_helga_labs-pid_4000003433.html}}{{cite book|author= Cornelia Hippmann|title=Ostdeutsche Frauen in der Politik: Eine qualitative Analyse|publisher=Verlag Barbara Budrich|year=2014|isbn=978-3-8474-0421-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vCJpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|language=de|location=Opladen; Berlin; Toronto|page=155}}
References
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External links
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Category:20th-century German women politicians
Category:Women government ministers of East Germany
Category:Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Category:Free German Youth members