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Hanna Reuter. A biographical approach

Hanna Reuter, 1927. Auf einem Stuhl sitzend.
Hanna Reuter, 1927.

Image credits »© Landesarchiv Berlin, E Rep. 200-21 (Fotos), Nr. 109.

Hanna Reuter und Bürgermeister Otto Suhr bei einem Empfang im Rathaus Schöneberg, 20. Oktober 1965.
Hanna Reuter and Mayor Otto Suhr during a reception at Rathaus Schöneberg (city hall), 20 October 1965.

Image credits »© Landesarchiv Berlin, F Rep. 290, Nr. 0043748 (Detail, Gert Schütz).

Hanna Reuter

A biographical approach

The life and works of Ernst Reuter can hardly be evaluated without also giving thought to his second wife, Hanna Reuter (1899–1974). For more than 25 years, she remained at the politician’s side as his spouse but also as his companion and advisor. It was partly thanks to her courage and unceasing efforts that her social democrat husband was twice released from concentration camp imprisonment in 1934. She accompanied Ernst Reuter into exile in Turkey and then returned to Berlin with him in 1946. After his death in September 1953, she regarded herself as the trustee and guardian of her husband’s political and intellectual legacy. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had a considerable influence on exactly how West Berlin commemorated Ernst Reuter.