Madeleine Kinnen, daughter of Antoine Kinnen and Catherine Goergen, was born in 1915 in Esch-sur-Alzette. She spent her childhood in a sibling group that included two girls and two boys, first in Wecker, then in Colmar-Berg and Wasserbillig. Madeleine earned a doctorate in literature. In 1953, she founded the Christian-Social Women's Organization.
In 1946, she married Pierre Frieden, a professor and writer, who began a notable political career culminating in his appointment as Minister of State in 1958. Widowed in 1959, Madeleine Frieden-Kinnen entered politics in 1967 in the reshuffled CSV-LSAP government, where she became Secretary of State for Family, Youth, and Education.
The Secretary of State expressed her strong interest in women’s issues on March 9, 1967, during budget discussions when she presented the program for her ministry. “I believe it is my duty to appeal to the Chamber to ensure that married women finally have a status – I won't say worthy of them, but worthy of those who are their partners and who – thanks to their overwhelming majority in all matters of public power – have nearly sole control over the instruments that can change this status (...)”.
In 1968, a governmental crisis led to early elections. Madeleine Frieden-Kinnen then became Minister of Family, Youth, and Social Solidarity, as well as Minister of Worship and Culture. She was the first woman to hold a ministerial position in Luxembourg.
In September 1972, the politician resigned from her ministerial posts. She had been the victim of a defamatory campaign launched by Tageblatt at the end of the summer of 1969, known as the 'Buergfrid' affair, which was primarily based on voyeurism and speculation about her private life. Madeleine decided to take Tageblatt to court, but the proceedings were ultimately abandoned after several years, without a final judgment.
Throughout her life, Madeleine Frieden-Kinnen felt she had been treated unjustly, which led her to withdraw from public life to focus on humanitarian activities. She became involved in development aid in Africa and various charitable works. The first woman to hold a ministerial position passed away at the age of 83. In her political testament, read in Parliament, Mrs. Frieden-Kinnen designated herself as a victim of a miscarriage of justice, while expressing her forgiveness towards those responsible for this matter.
Sources :
● https://today.rtl.lu/luxembourg-insider/knowledge-bites/a/2064554.html
● d'Letzeburger Land du 12 février 1999
● d'Lëtzebuerger Land du 22.02.2019
● Sonja Kmec, Renée Wagener (et al.), Frauenleben–Frauenlegenden. Ein Streifzug durch 1000 Jahre Stadtgeschichte: Persönlichkeiten, Geschichte(n) und Hintergründe