{{Short description|German politician (1876–1963)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = V 649 1.jpg | caption = Kreft {{circa|1930}} | office = Member of the<br>{{Ill|Landtag of Schaumburg-Lippe|de|Landtag des Freistaates Schaumburg-Lippe}}<br>for Stadthagen | term_start = February 1919 | term_end = July 1933 | party = SPD (after 1910) | birth_name = Marie Fahsing | birth_date = {{Birth date|1876|11|4|df=y}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|9|4|1876|11|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Stadthagen, Schaumburg-Lippe, German Empire | death_place = Stadthagen, Lower Saxony,<br>West Germany | spouse = {{Marriage|Wilhelm Kreft|1899|1915|end=d.}} | children = 2 }} '''Marie Kreft''' ({{nee|Fahsing}}; 4 November 1876 – 4 September 1963) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party. She was the only woman ever elected to the {{Ill|Landtag of Schaumburg-Lippe|de|Landtag des Freistaates Schaumburg-Lippe}}, serving from 1919 until 1933.
== Biography == Marie Kreft ({{nee|Fahsing}}) was born on 4 November 1876 in Stadthagen, then part of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe in the German Empire. Her father was a bricklayer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Schröder |first=Wilhelm Heinz |author-link=Wilhelm Heinz Schröder |title=Marie Kreft |url=https://www.bioparl.de/datenbanken/biosop/biosop-db/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Parliamentarian Portal (BIOPARL) |language=de}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Herlemann |first=Beatrix |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biographisches_Lexikon_nieders%C3%A4chsische/ijVoAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Biographisches Lexikon niedersächsischer Parlamentarier, 1919-1945 |last2=Schatz |first2=Helga |date=2004 |publisher=Verlag Hahnsche Buchhandlung |isbn=978-3-7752-6022-0 |location=Hanover |pages=202-203 |language=de |trans-title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Lower Saxony Parliamentarians, 1919-1945 |oclc=57010887}}</ref> In 1899, she married carpenter Wilhelm Kreft, who later became a prominent member of the local Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the director of a consumer cooperative in Stadthagen. Her husband and one of their sons were killed in action during World War I.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lingner |first=Jürgen |url=https://spd-ov-stadthagen.de/uploads/spdOrtsvereinStadthagen/geschichte-klein.pdf |title=Die Sozialdemokratische Partei in Stadthagen 1887 bis 1945 |publisher=SPD-Ortsvereins-Stadthagen |year=2012 |location=Stadthagen |pages=14-17 |language=de |trans-title=The Social Democratic Party in Stadthagen 1887 to 1945 |access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Marie Kreft |url=https://infostation.synagoge-stadthagen.de/biografien/ort/details/marie-kreft.html |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=Stadthagen Synagogue Association |language=de |archive-date=2025-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250616034722/https://infostation.synagoge-stadthagen.de/biografien/ort/details/marie-kreft.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She was Protestant.<ref name=":1" />
Kreft joined the SPD in August 1910, becoming the first female member of the party in Schaumburg-Lippe. She became a prominent member of the party's women's movement in 1915.<ref name=":3" /> In the 1919 election{{snd}}the first elections in the newly-established Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe – Kreft was elected to the Stadthagen constituency in the {{Ill|Landtag of Schaumburg-Lippe|de|Landtag des Freistaates Schaumburg-Lippe}}, becoming the only woman to ever serve in the body.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lingner |first=Jürgen |url=http://stadthagen-synagoge.de/media/download_gallery/Politisch%20Verfolgte%20des%20Nationalsozialismus%20in%20Stadthagen.pdf |title=Politische Opfer und Verfolgte des Nationalsozialismus in Stadthagen |publisher=Stadthagen Synagogue Association |year=2009 |location=Stadthagen |pages=3 |language=de |trans-title=Political Victims and Persecuted Persons of National Socialism in Stadthagen |access-date=June 15, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211042613/http://stadthagen-synagoge.de/media/download_gallery/Politisch%20Verfolgte%20des%20Nationalsozialismus%20in%20Stadthagen.pdf |archive-date=December 11, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She was a member of the Landtag until 1933, when women were barred from holding political office by the Nazi Party following their seizure of power.<ref name=":0" />
Kreft was arrested twice during the Nazi era. In 1933, she was imprisoned for two weeks at the city prison in Stadthagen. In 1944, she was imprisoned for two months as part of Aktion Gitter, during which the Gestapo arrested and killed several Weimar era politicians in the aftermath of the 20 July plot. Despite this, Kreft still met with {{Ill|Franz Reuther (politician)|lt=Franz Reuther|de|Franz Reuther (Politiker)}}, a prominent local opponent of the Nazi Party.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> In 1945{{snd}}after the end of World War II – Kreft was involved in the rebuilding of the {{Ill|Workers' Welfare Association|de|Arbeiterwohlfahrt}}, becoming the director of the organization's local branch.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
Kreft died in Stadthagen on 4 September 1963.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> Her house on the Echternstraße was the headquarters of the local SPD from 1930 to 1933. Numerous documents and artifacts were hidden in her house during the Nazi era, including a party flag which was rediscovered in 2011.<ref name=":2" />
== References == {{commons category|Marie Kreft}} {{reflist}}
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Category:1876 births Category:1963 deaths Category:20th-century German politicians Category:20th-century German women politicians Category:German legislators (1815–1945) Category:Members of the Landtag of Schaumburg-Lippe Category:People from Schaumburg-Lippe Category:People from Stadthagen Category:Political repression in Nazi Germany Category:Politicians from Lower Saxony Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Category:Weimar Republic politicians Category:Women members of state parliaments in Germany