Luise Herrmann-Ries

Luise "Lilli" Herrmann-Ries (13 February 1904 – 17 January 1971) was a politician (KPD) and women's rights activist in the Saarland.

Life Luise Karoline Ries was born in the Altenkessel quarter of Saarbrücken. Her father, Wilhelm Jakob Ries, worked as a machine maintenance engineer. Her mother, born Margaretha Luise Forst, died during her birth, and her father died shortly afterwards. She was accordingly bought up by her maternal uncle, Friedrich Forst, in Wiebelkirchen, a small town in the hilly countryside between Saarbrücken and Mainz. ) This brought her into contact with the Communist Party which she herself joined in 1931. By that time she had already been politically active in other areas, notably, since 1929, through her membership of the "League of Working Women" ("Bund werktätiger Frauen"). She became a member of the Young Friends of Nature ("Naturfreundejugend Deutschlands") in 1927.

In 1932 Lilli Herrmann-Ries was elected to the Saarland parliament ("Landesrat"), becoming (after Elisabeth Hallauer) only the second - and as matters turned out the last - woman elected to the legislature.

Luise Herrmann-Ries died at Neunkirchen in the Saarland on 17 January 1971. There had been no return to politics or activism for her after 1945.