Lohse was born in Ludwigshafen in 1956. She studied law at the universities of Heidelberg, Geneva and Freiburg. After the first state exam she studied administrative law at the Verwaltungshochschule Speyer. In 1995 she graduated as a Doctor of Law. From 1987 to 1996 she hold different positions in the regional administration, in the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and the police department Rheinpfalz in Ludwigshafen. From 1996 to 2001, Lohse was a lecturer at the Fachhochschule of Public Administration, Department of Labor Administration, in Mannheim with the subjects of administrative, employment and social law.[3]
Political career
Lohse joined the Christian Democratic Union and was elected to the local city council of her birthplace Ludwigshafen in 1994.
In May 2001, Lohse was elected mayor of Ludwigshafen, in the first round with 55.51% of the votes. She became the city's first directly elected woman Oberbürgermeister and the first Christian Democrat in this position since 1945. In 2004, she was in discussion to become the top candidate for the CDU in the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate. However, she refused to run against the chairman of the party, Christoph Böhr. On 7 June 2009 she was re-elected in the first round with 53.7% of the votes.
In November 2016, Lohse announced that she would not run for the next mayor's election. Her term of office ended in December 2017.
Life after politics
Since 2018, Lohse has been a member of the so-called Limbach Commission (Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property), a panel convened by the German government to give recommendations on restitution claims regarding art works stolen or purchased under duress by the Nazis.[5]
Other activities
2005–2017 Präsidium des Deutschen Städtetages, member
2006–2017 Verband Region Rhein-Neckar, president
2006–2017 Verein Zukunft Metropolregion Rhein Neckar e.V., vice-president
