Karl Lauterbach
Health Minister mourns his mother
Karl Lauterbach’s mother died at the age of 89.
© Bernd Elmenthaler / Future Image
Gertrud Lauterbach, the mother of the SPD politician Karl Lauterbach, has died at the age of 89. Recently she was in need of care.
The Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (61) mourns the loss of his mother Gertrud. As the top SPD politician confirmed to the “Bild” newspaper, Gertrud Lauterbach died on March 24, 2024 at the age of 89. The professor of health economics did not provide any further information. “I ask that privacy and grief be respected,” Lauterbach told the paper. After a hospital stay in July 2022, the politician’s mother was in need of care.
At that time, Lauterbach also told “Bild”: “My mother is very satisfied with her care – both with the nursing service that helps her at home and with the nursing home where she goes once or twice a week.” Lauterbach maintained close contact with his mother until the end, visiting her regularly and taking photos together shared on his Instagram account. Among other things, he published a photo of her being vaccinated during the corona pandemic. “My almost 86-year-old mother was just vaccinated by colleagues Christina Huerkamp and Franziska Botz in the Düren vaccination center,” Lauterbach wrote about his snapshot. She was very grateful for the vaccination and had waited a long time for this liberating moment.
Karl Lauterbach comes from a humble background
Karl Lauterbach was born on February 21, 1963 in Birkesdorf, today a district of Düren in North Rhine-Westphalia. The doctor is the son of the dairy worker Wilhelm Lauterbach, who has also died, and his wife Gertrud. He grew up in simple circumstances and, according to his own statements, in a “strict Roman Catholic home”. Despite his very good academic performance, he initially only received a recommendation for secondary school due to his background. However, he later switched to a high school and, after graduating from high school, started a scientific career as a human medicine specialist, which earned him a professorship at the University of Cologne in the mid-1990s.