Germany
When Prof. Dr. Ellinor von Puttkamer was appointed the first female ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1969, a major German newspaper ran an incredulous headline: "A woman appointed German ambassador".
Born in 1910 in Versin, Pomerania, she is a descendant of one of the oldest and most respected noble families in Pomerania. Prof. Dr. von Puttkamer was a diplomat, historian and well versed in law.
From 1936 to 1945, she worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Foreign Public Law and International Law in Berlin while also studying law from 1940 to 1942.
From 1953 to 1960, she started a diplomatic career with a strong focus on multilateral issues: as political advisor to Germany's observer to the UN in New York, followed by the UN department at the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn.
From 1969 until her retirement in 1973, she reached the peak of her career, in Strasbourg. Being the first female ambassador, she headed the Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Council of Europe.
In Strasbourg, Ms von Puttkamer regularly welcomed her dog into the ambassador’s office. She thus enlarged her team, which has kept fond memories of their female leader.
As of October 2020, as a tribute to this outstanding diplomat, the Federal Foreign Office has attributed her name to a major hall in Berlin, now officially called “Ellinor von Puttkamer hall”. The previous namesakes of such halls such as Willy Brandt and Konrad Adenauer, are all men.
The project “75 women in 75 years of Council of Europe history” is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe with the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
