Tina Anselmi

Tina Anselmi (25 March 1927 – 1 November 2016) was an Italian politician. A member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, she went on to become the first woman to hold a ministerial position in an Italian government.

In 1981, she headed the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the illegal P2 Masonic Lodge.

On 26 September 1944, Nazi soldiers forced her and a group of other students to witness the hanging of a group of 31 young Partisans. As a result, she joined the resistance movement and became part of the Cesare Battisti brigade. That year, she also joined the Christian Democracy party.

During World War II, Anselmi attended the local high school and then the teaching institute in Bassano del Grappa. After the war, she studied literature at the Catholic University of Milan and became a primary school teacher. In 1963, she was elected vice-president of the Female Board of the European Union. From 1958 to 1964, she was head of the Christian Democracy party's youth programmes. She served as Minister for Health from 1978 to 1979. She chaired the National Equal Opportunities Commission until 1994,

Anselmi was the chair of a commission of inquiry into the work of Italian soldiers in Somalia, and of a national commission on the consequences of laws for the Italian Jewish community. She was an honorary vice president of the National Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in Italy.

Later in her life, she began to write about her experiences in the Resistance; in 2003, she wrote Zia, cos'è la Resistenza? (Auntie, what's the Resistance?), a book explaining the Italian Resistance to young people.

In 2004, she wrote a second book for young people, titled Bella ciao: la resistenza raccontata ai ragazzi (Hey beautiful: the Resistance explained to children).

In 2006, she published her memoir together with Anna Vinci, as Storia Di Una Passione Politica (Story of a Passion for Politics).

Death Anselmi died at home in Castelfranco Veneto, Treviso, on 1 November 2016, aged 89. In 2005, she received the Archivio Disarmo – Golden Doves for Peace prize, awarded by Istituto di Ricerche Internazionali Archivio Disarmo. In June 2016, Anselmi was featured on an Italian postage stamp, the only living person to be honoured in this way.

Electoral history ElectionHouseConstituencyPartyVotesResult 1968 Chamber of Deputies Venice–Treviso DC 40,467 Elected 1972 Chamber of Deputies Venice–Treviso DC 38,389 Elected 1976 Chamber of Deputies Venice–Treviso DC 74,403 Elected 1979 Chamber of Deputies Venice–Treviso DC 77,944 Elected 1983 Chamber of Deputies Venice–Treviso DC 49,415 Elected 1987 Chamber of Deputies Venice–Treviso DC 57,235 Elected