In October 1946 she was appointed a member of the (at this stage still nominated rather than elected) state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, serving for two consecutive terms, till April 1947.
[1] In 1919 the "Catholic" Centre Party selected Elisabeth Zillken as a candidate for membership of the Dortmund city council, on which she served - with a twelve year break between 1933 and 1945 - till 1966.
[5] During the 1920s Elisabeth Zillken had also involved herself with the regional youth office ("Landesjugendamt"), but this was one of many activities that were curtailed after the National Socialists took power at the start of 1933 and transformed Germany into a one-party dictatorship.
She herself wrote of this period: Agnes Neuhaus died towards the end of 1944 and Zillken took over her friend's role as KFV president, work which she combined with her existing responsibilities as General Secretary.
The English appointed Elisabeth Zillken to membership of the Dortmund city council and of the regional parliament (Landtag) for the newly constituted province of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The overall organisation comprised 20 - 30 women divided into five working groups which devised practical proposals for the struggle to overcome the postwar emergencies.
Apart from a break between 1950 and 1953 when the job was taken on by Johanna Schwering, Zillken remained at the head of the KVF (renamed in 1968 "Sozialdienst Katholischer Frauen" / SkF) till after her 82nd birthday in 1971.
She was also a vice-president at the German Caritas Association and a member of the executive board at the Deutscher Verein für öffentliche und private Fürsorge.