Bärbel Steinkemper

Bärbel Gertrud Steinkemper was born on 12 April 1947 in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. She studied economics and social sciences at the University of Cologne and completed a doctorate in political science (Dr. rer. pol.). After her studies she worked at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and taught as a lecturer at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration. From the 1970s she lived in Alfter, in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis south-west of Bonn, where she put down lasting roots.

Steinkemper joined the CDU in 1979 and became active in the Women's Union. She later said that both her Christian family background and the existence of an organised women's organisation in the party drew her in. In 1989 she was elected honorary mayor of Alfter, the first citizen of the amalgamated municipality in that ceremonial role.

In 1994 she sought the CDU nomination for the local Bundestag constituency but lost to Norbert Röttgen, then 28, in what she later called a clear generational change. When North Rhine-Westphalia ended the dual leadership of honorary mayor and professional municipal director, she was elected in October 1996 as Alfter's first full-time mayor and the first woman so elected in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis; she took office in 1997 and served until 2009.

She declined a third full-time term, announcing her decision at a staff meeting in October 2008. On handing over to Rolf Schumacher in October 2009 she pointed to the expansion of Alanus University and to balancing economic and urban development with landscape protection as the work she was proudest of. Contemporary reporting also linked her name to plans for a distinctive agricultural park concept for the Alfter-Nord commercial area.

Steinkemper was married and was widowed in 2021. She is survived by two adult sons and a daughter. She lived for decades in Alfter-Ort.

Beyond the Rathaus she held a wide range of voluntary offices. She was among the founding members of the Kulturkreis Alfter in 1992; chaired Rhein-Voreifel Touristik from 2004 to 2014 and remained honorary chair until her death; joined the founding board of the Förderverein Haus der Alfterer Geschichte in 2009 and later chaired it; chaired the German Red Cross local association in Alfter; sat on the twinning association with Châteauneuf-sur-Charente; served on the board of the Gangpferdefreunde Birrekoven; and chaired the Alanus University friends' association and sat on the Alanus Foundation board of trustees. She also chaired the German section of the European Women's Union and for a time served as vice-president of the European Women's Union.

Bärbel Steinkemper died unexpectedly on 10 October 2026 in Bonn, at the age of 79. The Municipality of Alfter published an official Nachruf on 12 October 2026 under the signature of Mayor Christian Lanzrath, praising her clear view of the municipality's future and her persistence in defending it. A book of condolence was opened in the foyer of the Alfter Rathaus. No cause of death was stated.

Steinkemper is remembered in Alfter as the mayor who spanned the shift from honorary to full-time local leadership and who helped shape a growing suburban municipality without abandoning its rural character. The official municipal tribute stressed her down-to-earth manner, humour and optimism, and her readiness to listen to residents and staff. Her long list of voluntary offices after 2009 kept her present in tourism, local history, culture, Red Cross work and higher education in the Rhein-Voreifel for another decade and a half.