Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow

The young Bertha von Bülow

Bertha Maria Freifrau von Marenholtz b. Freiin von Bülow (born March 5, 1810 in Küblingen ; † January 9, 1893 in Dresden ) was a women's rights activist and an important German kindergarten teacher as well as an outstanding personality within the Froebel movement . Through her, the founder of the kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel , became "the most internationally known and recognized German educator".

Life

She came from the Mecklenburg primitive noble family von Bülow and was the fifth of twelve children of Georg Freiherr von Bülow- Wendhausen , who was married to Henriette Amalie Marie, Countess von Wartensleben (divorced Countess von Danckelmann ). She spent her childhood and youth on her parents' estate. At the age of 20 she married Wilhelm Reichsfreiherr von Marenholtz , whose two former wives, Sophie Henriette von Gustedt and Karoline Freiin von Hanstein , died early. The widower had five children between the ages of two and ten years of age. On January 14, 1831, the couple, who lived in Hanover, had a son who died of tuberculosis at the age of 22 .

Since Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow was not happily married, she left the family in 1847 without a formal divorce. By Bettina von Arnim and the great pedagogue Adolph Diesterweg it was the problem of popular education made aware. In the summer of 1849 the baroness met the pedagogue Friedrich Fröbel during a bathing stay in Bad Liebenstein :

“There is a deep spiritual friendship between the highly educated baroness and the profound autodidactic educational philosopher from the small Thuringian mountain village of Oberweißbach. Although Marenholtz-Bülow describes himself as a 'student' of Froebel, the relationship between the two was still equal and Marenholtz-Bülow always tried to 'understand Froebel better than he understood himself'. "

“The leaders of the women's movement in Germany”,
illustration from Die Gartenlaube 1894
B. von Marenholtz-Bülow can be seen in the middle of the lower row

The baroness went on extensive lecture tours through Germany , but also abroad, where she promoted the pedagogy of Friedrich Froebel and his idea of ​​the kindergarten. She was u. a. in London , Paris , Zurich , Brussels , Ghent , Antwerp , Mulhouse , Lausanne , Geneva , Neuchâtel , Florence , Rome and Naples .

In Germany, the noblewoman worked particularly in Berlin and Dresden. When the kindergartens in Prussia were banned on August 23, 1851 , she fought to keep the educational facilities. Finally in 1860 the absurd ban could be lifted with their support. She founded public kindergartens (the first institution of this kind was founded in Berlin in 1861 and directed by Ida Seele ), a kindergarten teachers' seminar and Froebel clubs. At the Frankfurt Philosophers' Congress in October 1869, she gave three highly regarded lectures on the following topics: The earliest childhood and the science of the mother , The transformation of popular education and Froebel's law of work, and the influence of Froebel's method on the education of the more mature and higher Educational institutions . In 1871 the General Educational Association was founded in Dresden . Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow also published the magazine Die Erziehungs der Gegenwart from 1861 to 1863 and from 1873 to 1890 . She made her last big trip to Kufstein in 1872 . There she visited the children's institution of the dean Matthäus Hörfarter .

She had a lifelong friendship with the teacher Angelika Hartmann .

Act

As for the kindergarten, she demanded, in contrast to Friedrich Froebel, a strict separation between the children of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in so-called elementary and family kindergartens. With the establishment of “people's kindergartens” the baroness reacted to the “neglect of the working class associated with the increasing proletarianization of the working class”. This “dichotomy” ultimately led to Froebel's game concept becoming frozen and back to the children's institution.

“Guided by the idea of ​​developing work education specifically for the“ poor people ”, being able to work skillfully and applying discipline at an early stage, B. von Marenholtz has mechanized the game system. Froebel's systematic order of children's play was related to the deepest religious basis of his worldview; it was an interpretation of childish play and not a guide for logically structured technical exercises. The game process remained free at Froebel, he intended no measurable learning outcomes for this age group. He respected child activity as an expression of the creative urge of the human mind and preserved individual freedom. The sterile paralysis of his way of playing, which was associated with the use of the game gifts until the 20th century, when people still clung to them, is due to B. von Marenholtz's missionary zeal. "

Grave of Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow in the old Annenfriedhof in Dresden.

The baroness had regarded herself as the “heiress” of Friedrich Froebel, as the representative of his pedagogy, which could only be received most appropriately by her. But the pedagogue was apparently not very convinced of her work and in no way paid her the attention she repeatedly attributed to herself. In a letter to his former student and later second wife, Louise Levin , Froebel wrote: "The Marenholtz, with all its gardeners, is a seductress, and not a single kindergarten has emerged from its efforts."

Despite criticism from the “master”, Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow is considered to be “a decisive representative of the Froebel kindergarten. Fröbel's kindergarten pedagogy owes its international dissemination to her [...] Through lively lectures [...] she helped Froebel's pedagogical ideas to achieve an international breakthrough according to their interpretation. "

After a stroke, the baroness died in Dresden at the age of 82. Her grave is there in the Old Annenfriedhof .

Works (selection)

• The first upbringing by the mother according to Friedrich Froebel's principles. Leipzig 1852
• A coherent set of games and activities for Fr. Froebel's first childhood. Dresden 1854
• The work and the new upbringing according to Froebel's method. Berlin 1866
• The child and his being. Contributions to the understanding of Froebel's doctrine of education. Kassel 1868

literature

• Henriette Goldschmidt : Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow. Your life and work in the service of Friedrich Froebel's educational teaching. Hamburg 1896.
• Louis Walter: Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow in her importance for the work of Fr. Froebel. Your life and your writings. Dresden 1881.
• Ramona Babel: The Froebel understanding of Bertha Freifrau Marenholtz-Bülow. A study of Froebel reception in the 19th century. Munich 2000 (unpublished diploma thesis)
• Manfred Berger : Women in the history of kindergarten. Frankfurt 1995, pp. 127-131.
• Manfred Berger: Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow. A portrait. In: Our children. 2007, issue 6, pp. 26-27.
• Erika Denner: Froebel and the women. In: Helmut Heiland and Karl Neumann (eds.): Friedrich Fröbel in an international perspective. Froebel research in Japan and Germany. Weinheim 1998, pp. 155-168.
• Helmut Heiland: Froebel movement and Froebel research. Important personalities of the Froebel movement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Hildesheim 1992, pp. 27-115.
• Erika Hoffmann : Pre-school education in Germany. Witten 1971
• Margitta Rockstein: Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow - representative of the Froebel movement in the second half of the 19th century. In: Journal for the history of education and science. 1997, No. 1, pp. 41-52.
• Manfred Berger : History of the Kindergarten. From the first pre-school facilities in the 18th century to day care centers in the 21st century, Frankfurt / Main 2016, pp. 35–39

Web links

• Manfred Berger: Women in the history of the kindergarten: Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow
• Baroness Bertha von Marenholtz-Buelow
• nifbe.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heiland 1992, p. 27
2. ↑ Heiland 1992, p. 32
3. ↑ Rockstein 1996, p. 42
4. ↑ Hoffmann 1971, p. 38 f.
5. ↑ cit. n. Denner 1998, p. 162
6. ↑ Heiland 1992, p. 27