Auguste Eichhorn

Auguste Eichhorn , nee Strohbach, (born September 29, 1851 in Chemnitz ; † June 1, 1902 in Dresden ) was a weaver who was one of the founders of the proletarian women's movement and who was instrumental in founding the workers' education association in Dresden in 1894.

Life

Auguste Strohbach was born into the catastrophic living conditions of a weaving family in Chemnitz. Her father died shortly after she was born, very young, but worn out and exhausted from the hard, inhumane daily work of a textile worker in "Saxon Manchester" and her mother married a second time a little later - possibly only for economic reasons.

The half-orphan Auguste got to know hunger and deprivation early on. She worked in the service of the up-and-coming Chemnitz textile and machine manufacturers for a low wage as a “factory girl” and attended elementary school outside of her everyday work, where she learned to read, write and do arithmetic.

Her first husband turned out to be a brutal proletarian , embittered by the struggle for existence , who vented his anger violently on his young wife. However, in contrast to many other fellow sufferers, Auguste found the strength to break out of this marital hell and divorced, although she knew the fate of many divorced women. But she was lucky, she met the stonemason Eichhorn, a committed socialist whom she married soon after and who became a loyal and loving companion to her. Eichhorn's unemployment drove the young family to Switzerland in 1871, and the hope of better earnings around 1875 determined their move to Leipzig , where the Eichhorns lived and worked until they were expelled in 1888 on the basis of the Socialist Act .

A turning point in the life of Auguste Eichhorn was reading the 1879 first published work " The Woman and Socialism " by August Bebel , that they in their own - to work confirmed experience while encouraged, even political - especially in Chemnitz made. Her husband was already active as a social democratic agitator in Leipzig, especially after Bismarck had imposed a state of siege on Leipzig in 1881. That is why Eichhorn was seen as the instigator of the stonemasons.

After lockouts by the Leipzig stonemasons and the subsequent mass trials, the Eichhorns had to leave the trade fair city in 1888. They moved to Dresden, where the clever and energetic Auguste soon established herself as one of the founders and leaders of the proletarian women's movement. In 1894, the self-sacrificing campaigner Clara Zetkins played a key role in founding the Dresden Workers' Educational Association, where she primarily - but not only - imparted the Marxist doctrine to the workers . During this time she had to deal with another stroke of fate: her husband, who also fought in the front ranks of the workers in Dresden, died a few days after serving another political prison sentence of a lung disease.

Auguste Eichhorn nonetheless continued her political work and fed her children alone. Her sphere of activity expanded rapidly, the workers increasingly trusted her and finally delegated her to the party congresses of the SPD in Cologne, Gotha and Hamburg. But she soon got tuberculosis and her health deteriorated rapidly. She passed her duties on to younger women and died on June 1, 1902 after a long suffering.

literature

CZ : Auguste Eichhorn . In: The True Jacob . No. 416 of July 1, 1902, p. 3798 digitized
Rose Nyland, “The right way” in “I have to be able to give myself completely - Women in Leipzig” , edited by Friderun Bodeit, Verlag für die Frau, Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-7304-0256-0
Walter Fellmann, Sachsen-Lexikon , Koehler & Amelang Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Munich Berlin, 2000, ISBN 3-7338-0234-9

Web links

Article about Auguste Eichhorn in Frauenwiki Dresden

Remarks

↑ The average age of a Chemnitz weaver was only 32 years in the middle of the 19th century.
↑ The average weekly wage of a factory girl was 16 groschen, with no wage entitlement in the event of illness. A single loaf of bread cost four groschen.
↑ According to the Saxon Elementary School Act of June 6, 1835, the entrepreneurs could no longer deny the children lessons. They often granted it on Saturday afternoons.
↑ The social milieu in which women workers lived in the 19th century was described by August Bebel in “ Die Frau und der Sozialismus ” and Émile Zola in “Germinal” . The living conditions of the victims of the London serial killer " Jack the Ripper " must also be pointed out here.
↑ Clara Zetkin wrote about the Eichhorns: “But the inner happiness gained coincided with the greatest external hardship. The income of the young couple was meager, and capitalism soon turned Eichhorn into a nomad, who was chased from place to place, from country to country in order to earn a living. "

personal data
SURNAME	Eichhorn, Auguste
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Strohbach, Auguste
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German women's rights activist and socialist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 29, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH	June 1, 1902
Place of death	Dresden

[1] The average age of a Chemnitz weaver was only 32 years in the middle of the 19th century.

[2] The average weekly wage of a factory girl was 16 groschen, with no wage entitlement in the event of illness. A single loaf of bread cost four groschen.

[3] According to the Saxon Elementary School Act of June 6, 1835, the entrepreneurs could no longer deny the children lessons. They often granted it on Saturday afternoons.

[4] The social milieu in which women workers lived in the 19th century was described by August Bebel in “ Die Frau und der Sozialismus ” and Émile Zola in “Germinal” . The living conditions of the victims of the London serial killer " Jack the Ripper " must also be pointed out here.

[5] Clara Zetkin wrote about the Eichhorns: “But the inner happiness gained coincided with the greatest external hardship. The income of the young couple was meager, and capitalism soon turned Eichhorn into a nomad, who was chased from place to place, from country to country in order to earn a living. "