Topic: Anna Lindh

Ylva Anna Maria Lindh (19 June 1957 – 11 September 2003) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician, Chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League 1984-1990, Member of Parliament 1982-1985 and 1998-2003. Ascending to the government as Minister of Environment in 1994, she was elevated to Minister for Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998 and was widely considered his designated successor as Party Chairman and Prime Minister (none of which had been occupied by a woman), speculations that came to a brutal end upon her assassination on 11 September 2003. Anna Lindh was married to Bo Holmberg, the Governor of Södermanland, her home constituency for over twenty years, with whom she had two sons.

Lindh was born to Staffan and Nancy Lindh in Enskede, a southeastern suburb of Stockholm, but grew up in Grillby, just outside of Enköping. She became involved in politics at age twelve, when she joined the local branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, protesting against the Vietnam war as one of her top priorities.

Lindh studied at Uppsala University and graduated as a Candidate of Law (jur. kand.) in 1982. The same year she was elected a Member of Parliament. In 1984 she became the first female president of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League. Her six years as president were marked by a strong commitment to international affairs, including in Nicaragua, Vietnam, South Africa and Palestine, and against the arms race marking the end of the cold war.