Alice Prausnitz

Louise Eryphylie Alice Prausnitz (born March 26, 1906 in Curepipe , Mauritius ; † 1996 in Plön , Schleswig-Holstein ) was a German lawyer and women's rights activist as well as the first district court director of the post-war period . She was particularly involved in the areas of family law and the legal position of women in civil service and the legal profession .

Life

Childhood and youth

Alice Prausnitz was born in Mauritius as the oldest of six children . The father worked as a businessman and worked for a German company in Mauritius. The youth of Prausnitz were characterized by frequent changes of location. She attended the Lyceum in Berlin and then the realgymnasiale urban college in Dortmund . There she graduated from high school in 1926 .

Education

After graduating from high school , Prausnitz studied law and political science in Hamburg , Geneva , Munich and Göttingen . She completed her legal clerkship in Bad Oldesloe , Altona and Kiel . In 1929 she passed her first state examination in Kiel . In 1933, she successfully passed her second state examination in Berlin , but was refused the appointment of assessor because of her gender and Jewish origin . She was discharged from the judiciary.

Nazi era

After a long period of unemployment, Prausnitz moved with her family to Leipzig in 1936 . Her father had been released and had been banned from living in the cities of Lübeck , Hamburg and Berlin . Prausnitz was privately critical of National Socialism . She and her sister spent a day in the Lübeck women's prison as they were arrested by the Gestapo and accused of violating the treachery law . However, this proceeding has been discontinued. From 1939 she worked as a commercial clerk in a paper wholesaler and later at Insel-Verlag . From 1944 until the end of the Second World War , Prausnitz worked as a conscript in a wool spinning mill.

Due to further reprisals against the family, the father moved to South Africa in 1939 . In 1945 the rest of the family followed him. Only Alice Prausnitz stayed in Germany .

post war period

After the end of the Second World War , Alice Prausnitz was sworn in as a lawyer by the American occupation . From then on she worked as a lawyer and from 1948 also as a notary in Leipzig . Because of increased surveillance and reprisals , because of her rebellion against the political system of the GDR , Prausnitz moved to Hamburg in 1951 . In 1952 she was appointed district judge there retrospectively. In addition, as reparation for the harassment of the National Socialists, she received compensation of 14,000 DM .

In 1960 she was appointed the first female regional court director in the post-war period . From 1960 until her retirement in 1974, she headed a reparations chamber.

retirement

After her retirement, Prausnitz moved to Plön, where she died in 1996 at the age of 90. Even after her retirement, she continued to be active in her activities for women's rights .

Engagement in women's politics

The impetus for Prausnitz's engagement in women's politics was a conversation with Camilla Jellinek . In 1946 she became a member of the SPD and later the SED . In this context, she campaigned above all for the participation of women in public, political and civic life. She also taught contemporary and legal studies at the technical school for social professions . In the GDR she could not continue her work for long in the spirit of the feminist movement. After moving to the FRG , she got involved in the working group of social democratic women. She also worked for the German Association of Women Lawyers , the German Women's Ring and the Hamburg Women's Organizations Association. From 1948 she was also active in the founded association of women lawyers and economists. From 1952 to 1956 she was involved as an assessor in the federal board for the topics of family law and the legal position of women in civil service and in the legal profession.

After her retirement, Alice Prausnitz became involved in the Plön group of the German Women's Ring and continued to represent the Hamburg regional association on the Legal Commission. She also devoted herself to the history of women in the legal profession. For the brochure of the German Association of Women Lawyers . In 1984 she documented the developments in the legal profession from 1900 to the present day.

Honors

In 1986, Prausnitz was awarded the association's badge of honor for her commitment to the Hamburg regional association of the German Women's Ring . The Alice-Prausnitz-Weg was named after her in Plön .

Fonts

Alice Prausnitz: Lawyers' Association in Historical Development . In: Deutscher Juristinnenbund (Ed.) Jurists in Germany. A documentation (1900–1984) , Munich 1984.
Gert Nicolaysen: Fate of Jewish lawyers in Hamburg in the Third Reich: transcription of a panel discussion with scientists and contemporary witnesses as well as a lecture by Gert Nicolaysen on the law faculty of the University of Hamburg, 1933, Hamburg 1985.

literature

Rita Bake, Brita Reimers: This is how they lived! Walking on the paths of women in Hamburg's old and new town. State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 2003.
Deutscher Juristinnenbund (Ed.): Jurists in Germany. A documentation (1900–1984). Schweitzer, Munich 1984.
Marion Röwekamp: lawyers. Lexicon on life and work. Edited by the German Association of Women Lawyers. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2005.
Gisela Wild: Women in the administration of justice. In: Jan Albers et al. (Ed.): Law and lawyers in Hamburg. Heymann, Cologne a. a. 1994, pp. 267-281.

Web links

https://www.digitales-deutsches-frauenarchiv.de/akteurinnen/alice-prausnitz

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Nicolli Povijač: Alice Prausnitz . In: Digital German Women's Archive . 2019 ( digitales-deutsches-frauenarchiv.de [accessed June 2, 2020]).
↑ ^a ^b Judges' Association MHR. Retrieved April 22, 2020 .
↑ Digital German Women's Archive: Feminist Search for Traces in Hamburg. In: Digital German Women's Archive. Retrieved July 7, 2020 .
↑ Hamburg Women's Library, Prausnitz estate, letter from Alice Prausnitz to the judge at the Munich Regional Court, Plön April 10, 1986.
↑ Hamburg Women's Library, Prausnitz estate, letter from Alice Prausnitz to Ms. Steinkampf (Deutscher Frauenring eV), Plön May 11, 1986.
^ Alice Prausnitz: Lawyers in Germany. A documentation (1900-1984) . Ed .: German Association of Women Lawyers.
↑ Hamburg Women's Library, Prausnitz estate, certificate of thanks for Alice Prausnitz on behalf of the Deutsches Frauenring e. V., Kiel April 1986.

personal data
SURNAME	Prausnitz, Alice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Prausnitz, Louise Eryphylie Alice (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German lawyer and women's rights activist, first district court director in the post-war period
DATE OF BIRTH	March 26, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH	Curepipe , Mauritius
DATE OF DEATH	1996
Place of death	Plön , Schleswig-Holstein

[Povijac2019-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Nicolli Povijač: Alice Prausnitz . In: Digital German Women's Archive . 2019 ( digitales-deutsches-frauenarchiv.de [accessed June 2, 2020]).

[Richterverein_MHR-2] Judges' Association MHR. Retrieved April 22, 2020 .

[3] Digital German Women's Archive: Feminist Search for Traces in Hamburg. In: Digital German Women's Archive. Retrieved July 7, 2020 .

[4] Hamburg Women's Library, Prausnitz estate, letter from Alice Prausnitz to the judge at the Munich Regional Court, Plön April 10, 1986.

[5] Hamburg Women's Library, Prausnitz estate, letter from Alice Prausnitz to Ms. Steinkampf (Deutscher Frauenring eV), Plön May 11, 1986.

[6] Alice Prausnitz: Lawyers in Germany. A documentation (1900-1984) . Ed .: German Association of Women Lawyers.

[7] Hamburg Women's Library, Prausnitz estate, certificate of thanks for Alice Prausnitz on behalf of the Deutsches Frauenring e. V., Kiel April 1986.