German Chancellor Friedrich Merz paid tribute to Rita Süssmuth at a parliamentary ceremony, calling her an exceptional politician whose thinking often outpaced her time.
In his remarks, Merz highlighted Süssmuth’s role in modernizing family policy and making it easier for people to reconcile work with family life. He also singled out her early, pragmatic response to the AIDS crisis while she served as federal minister for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth, noting her focus on prevention and research before she became president of the Bundestag.
Merz observed that although Süssmuth sometimes clashed with her party, she remained a committed Christian Democrat who rooted her politics in human dignity and compassion. He praised her for centering human vulnerability alongside efforts to promote individual development and the common good, and described her as an idealist whose demand for higher standards was a boon to the country.
Süssmuth led the Bundestag from 1988 to 1998 and headed the Frauen Union, the CDU’s organization for women, from 1986 to 2001. Over decades in public life she repeatedly challenged patriarchal power structures and conservative resistance to social change.
The ceremony brought lawmakers together to acknowledge a figure who pushed Germany to do better and who shaped crucial debates on family policy and public health at decisive moments in recent history.