Bertha Hirsch

Berta Hirsch , also Bertha Hirsch , née Eberstadt (born September 10, 1850 in Worms , † January 10, 1913 in Heidelberg ) was a patron of German culture .

Berta Eberstadt came from the well-known Worms Jewish family of Falck Ferdinand Eberstadt (* Worms 1808, † Mannheim 1888). He was a textile merchant and an active participant in the revolution of 1848 . From 1849 to 1852 he was the first Jew in Germany to be appointed mayor of Worms.

For political and family reasons, he and his ten children moved to the liberal Mannheim on December 5, 1857 . There he founded the “Ferd. Eberstadt und Cie. ”Art and culture became an important part of his life within the better Jewish society into which his daughters married.

Berta married the grain wholesaler Emil Hirsch (1840–1918) in 1872 . In her social salon, which she had with Helene Hecht , artists and politicians frequented her, such as Ludwig Frank , Hedwig Wachenheim , Theodor Heuss and Friedrich Naumann , who called her "Frau Kultur" in an obituary. It developed its activities in the spirit of the women's movement at the time, which was founded as an association in Berlin in 1896, today the “German Association for Women and Culture” with 30 local groups.

Emma Eberstadt (1840–1906), the sister, was married to Bernhard Kahn . After his death, she founded the Bernhard Kahn reading hall in the workers' district of Neckarstadt in his memory for 60,000 gold marks (purchasing power today: € 560,000) . This facility was supported by Bertha Hirsch.

Berta Hirsch was cremated in the Christian cemetery.

The city of Mannheim honored them with the name of the primary school "Bertha-Hirsch-Schule" in Mannheim-Käfertal .

swell

• Karl Otto Watzinger : History of the Jews in Mannheim 1650-1945. Kohlhammer, 2nd edition Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-17-009646-X , pp. 102-103.
• The Brockhaus - Mannheim, 400 years of the city of squares - the dictionary. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig / Mannheim 2006, ISBN 978-3-7653-0181-0 .
• Anna-Maria Lindemann: Mannheim in the Empire. Mannheim 1988, ISBN 3-923003-40-4 . (With the only existing photograph by Berta Hirsch.)
• Biography of Falck (Ferdinand) Eberstadt
• http://www.eberstadt.info/biographies/F%201a%20FerdinandFalkEbBio.htm

literature

• Friedrich Naumann: Woman culture. In: Die Hilfe, 1913. pp. 56–58.
• Willi Wendling: Berta Hirsch: The founder and director of the first book hall with children's reading rooms. In: Mannheimer Hefte. 1977, H.1. Pp. 29-34. And in: Librarian work between theory and practice. Stuttgart 1976. pp. 107-118.
• Hirsch, Berta. In: Karl Otto Watzinger: History of the Jews in Mannheim 1650-1945. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-17-008696-0 , pp. 102-103.
• The cemeteries in Mannheim. Grave number 32: Ferdinand Eberstadt. Mannheim 1992, p. 327.