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Erika Steinbach was born in [[Rumia]], [[Poland]], then under [[military occupation]]<ref name="Blum">
{{en icon}} {{cite book | author =Patrick Blum | title =The Battle for Expelee Memory | year =2004 | editor = | pages =11-13 | publisher =[[National University of Ireland]] | ___location =Maynooth | id =| url =http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2004.pdf | format =pdf | accessdate =February 26 }}</ref> by [[Nazi Germany]]. Her biography on the webpage of the German [[Bundestag]], which presumably reflects her own view of the issue, puts it somewhat differently, stating that she was born in ''Rahmel/Westpreußen'' (i.e. ''Rahmel'' in [[West Prussia]], or more precisely [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]]) <ref>{{Web reference | title=Steinbach Erika | work=Bundestag biography | URL=http://www.bundestag.de/mdb15/bio/S/steiner0.html | date=2006-02-17}}</ref>. Her birthplace had been Polish and German at various times in history, and is also known as ''Rahmel'' in German<ref name="Bundestag">{{de icon}} {{Web reference | title=Steinbach Erika | work=Bundestag biography | URL=http://www.bundestag.de/mdb15/bio/S/steiner0.html | date=2006-02-17}}</ref>. Her father, Wilhelm Karl Hermann, was a [[Luftwaffe]] ''[[Feldwebel]]'' ([[Non-commissioned officer]] in the German air force) from [[Hanau]] in [[Hesse]], western-central [[Germany]], whose family was originally from [[Silesia]]<ref name="welt2">{{de icon}}{{Web reference | title= Erika Steinbach bestreitet Sinneswandel | work= Die Welt| URL= http://www2.welt.de/data/2005/11/03/798145.html?s=2 | date=2005-11-03}}</ref>. He was sent to Rahmel in 1941 and served as a technician at the local airport during the war, while her mother Erika (née Grote) lived in Berlin but visited the town occasionally. In January [[1944]] her father was sent to the [[Eastern Front (WWII)|Eastern Front]]. In January [[1945]], three months before the advancing Soviet army reached the area, Steinbach's mother decided to return to Germany and went to [[Schleswig-Holstein]] together with her children<ref name="IPN">{{pl icon}} {{cite journal | first = Piotr | last = Szubarczyk | authorlink =Piotr Szubarczyk | coauthors = Piotr Semków | year = 2004 | month = May | title = Erika z Rumi | journal = Biuletyn [[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]] | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | pages = 49-53 | id = | url = http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn5_40.pdf }}</ref>. After several years of wandering through various parts of Germany, in [[1948]] the family moved to [[Berlin]], where Steinbach's grandfather had become a mayor of one of the districts.
The following year Wilhelm Karl Hermann returned from Soviet captivity and the family moved to his homeland in Hanau. There Steinbach finished her education and started studying violin play. In [[1967]] she had to abandon her music career due to serious bone illness. In [[1972]], after nine years of going out, she married [[Helmut Steinbach]], the conductor of a local youth symphonic orchestra. She then graduated from a school of civil administration and moved to [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]], where she started working for a Communal Evaluation Office. In [[1974]] he became the head of a sub-unit of that organization responsible for computerization of all public libraries in Hesse. The same year she joined the Frankfurt branch of the [[CDU]] party. In [[1977]] she was elected a chairman of the city council and held that post until [[1990]], when she was elected a member of the [[Bundestag]]. She became noted by the press for the first time when she was among the strongest opponents of German ratification of the border treaty with Poland. In [[1994]] she joined the [[Federation of Expellees]] and in May of [[1998]] became the head of that organization.
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