Claudia Nolte

Claudia Nolte was born Claudia Wiesemüller on February 7, 1966 in , a town that then lay in East Germany. Nolte became a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), becoming the youngest cabinet minister in German history whilst in office from 1994–98. She was Federal Minister for family, seniors, women and youth affairs and, by virtue of this office, presided over the European Union Council of Ministers. Claudia is a Catholic and is active in the Catholic community. She is married to investigative journalist David Crawford of CORRECT!V. With her marriage in July 2008, she changed her name to Claudia Crawford.

Claudia Wiesemüller was born in 1966 and in her teenage years was refused admission to a college preparatory school due to her participation in Catholic church youth activities. East German school officials required her to learn a trade before she could enroll in college, so whilst attending a technical secondary school in Rostock, she took vocational training in marine electronics from 1982 to 1984.

In 1985, Nolte studied automation and cybernetic engineering at the Technical University of Ilmenau, where she graduatated with a Diplom degree in 1990. In October 1989 she was active in the opposition movement New Forum within the German Democratic Republic and joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in February 1990. After completing her studies at the Technical University of Ilmenau, she accepted a position as a research assistant there but left this job within weeks owing to her election to the first freely elected East German parliament.

From March to October 1990, Nolte was a member of the People's Chamber of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. After German unification on October 3, 1990 she led the Christian Democratic Party list in Thuringia State in the first all-German elections for the Bundestag in December 1990. She served from 1991 to 1994 as her parliamentary group’s spokeswoman on women's policy. During that time, she soon acquired a reputation for being independent minded, particularly on the issue of abortion. Most notably, Nolte voted against one liberalization bill supported by a majority of her own party. From 1992 to 1994 she was a member of Thuringia CDU.

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