Helene Wessel

Her parents were deeply influenced by their Catholic faith, her father being a member of the German Centre Party.

She completed a commercial apprenticeship in November 1915 and worked as a secretary in the office of the Centre Party Horder.

She managed two professions on as party secretary and another as a social worker of the Catholic Church.

[4] Adenauer's policy of German rearmament and joined forces with the CDU's Gustav Heinemann, the former Minister of the Interior.

Both formed the "Notgemeinschaft zur Rettung des Friedens in Europa" ("Emergency Community to Save Peace in Europe"), an initiative intended to prevent rearmament.

Helene Wessel receives the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from Eugen Gerstenmaier