Anna Vorwerk

Grave of Anna Vorwerk in the old cemetery in Wolfenbüttel

Anna Vorwerk (born April 1, 1839 in Königslutter , † November 18, 1900 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a German women's rights activist , educator and founder of the castle school in Wolfenbüttel.

Live and act

Anna Vorwerk came from a respected and wealthy middle-class family. Her father became a senior judge at the state's higher court in Wolfenbüttel in 1851. She had a musical talent at an early age and was a student of Johannes Brahms and Hans von Bülow during her stays in Berlin and Hamburg . When the Vorwerk arrived, there was already a six-class girls' school in town, which she attended as a student. This was not a matter of course in the middle of the 19th century. Around 1865/66 she met Henriette Breymann , who gave lectures on the experiments and ideas of Friedrich Fröbel . Finally, on May 2, 1866, she and Breymann founded the “Association for Education”. On May 15, he opened a kindergarten in Wolfenbüttel Castle and the Anna-Vorwerk School for girls. The school was also located in the castle, which has housed the grammar school in the castle since 1970 , which has long been accessible to girls and boys and is attended by around 1,500 students. In 1870 there were already three elementary classes. After a falling out between the two teachers, Vorwerk took over the management of the castle school from 1870, which also gave a teachers' seminar. She continuously expanded this girls' school and so in 1880 a trade school, in 1884 the educational institute for handicraft and gymnastics teachers and in 1890 a housekeeping school were added. Since 1887 she was the editor of the papers from the castle. In addition, Vorwerk set up an after-work house for retired teachers in 1896. In order to improve the scientific educational opportunities for women, a separate advanced training course for teachers was set up at the University of Göttingen through their efforts . In the autumn of 1900 she died of a serious illness in the after-work house. She is considered an important pioneer of the emerging women's movement, which campaigned for a better education for girls.

Fonts (selection)

• On the head teacher question: A word of peace. Wollermann, Wolfenbüttel 1888, ( online ).
• Twenty-five years of work in the old castle in Wolfenbüttel. A look back for the friends and children of the house. In: leaves from the castle. Wolfenbüttel 1891, OCLC 247351576 .
• My memories of Johannes Brahms . In: leaves from the castle. Sommerblatt No. 40. Wolfenbüttel 1897; also in: Swiss teacher newspaper. 2nd year 1897–1898, No. 2 doi : 10.5169 / seals-309970 .

literature

• Sandra Donner: About higher daughters and learned women: girls and women education in the 19th century presented at the Wolfenbüttel castle institutions. Frankfurt am Main (among others) 2004, ISBN 3-631-53355-1 .
• Kornelia Vogt: Vorwerk, Anna. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 635-636 .
• Karin Ehrich: Women in the German Association for Higher Girls' Schools: Anna Vorwerk - Mediator between educational worlds , in: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Vol. 82/2001, pp. 129-156. ISSN 1437-2959.
• Juliane Jacobi: Anna Vorwerk (1839-1900). From the Waldstein Sonata to the scientific advanced training course , in: School and education in the hands of women. Anna Vorwerk and her predecessors, ed. v. Gabriele Ball u. Juliane Jacobi. Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 25–44. (= Wolfenbütteler Forschungen. Vol. 141. Ed. By Herzog August Bibliothek)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kornelia Vogt: Vorwerk, Anna. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 635-636 .