Beta Isenberg

Beta Isenberg , b. Wobetha "Beta" Margarethe Glade (* May 12, 1846 in Bremen ; † March 10, 1933 ibid) was a German patron in the social, church and art sectors.

biography

Wobetha Glade was the daughter of the merchant Heinrich Glade (1810–1896) and Johanne Glade, b. Winter (1814-1894). In 1869 she married the widowed Hamburg shipowner, sugar plantation owner Paul Isenberg (1837–1903), who brought two children into the marriage. He worked u. a. at the Lihue plantation on the island of Kauaʻi in Hawaii . After the marriage they both moved to Hawaii and she had six children from 1870 to 1883. Johannes ( John ) Carl Isenberg, Heinrich Alexander, Julie Maria Pauline, Clara Margarete, Richard Menno Isenberg and Paula Bertha Johanna. In 1878 Paul Isenberg withdrew from the plantation management, but kept his holdings in the sugar plantation, which was one of the largest in Hawaii. In 1878 they both returned to Germany and in 1879 they moved to Bremen-Mitte, Contrescarpe 19, into what is now the Institute of Française .

Paul Isenberg became a partner in the Hinrich Hackfeld sugar factory in Hawaii in 1881 . Hackfeld died in 1887 and the management of H. Hackfeld, one of the largest in Hawaii, came to Isenberg. Both Isenbergs were closely connected to the Protestant Church and they were actively involved in social causes. In 1895 the Isenbergs acquired Gut Kamp (formerly Gut Travenort ) in the Segeberg district and expanded the estate until 1897.

When Paul Isenberg died in 1903, Beta Isenberg continued social work and founded the Paul Isenberg Foundation with a capital of 100,000 Reichsmarks in favor of the Ellener Hof in Bremen- Osterholz . With large donations, she made the construction of churches as well as ecclesiastical, secular and social institutions possible. She served in the Inner Mission and was a member of the women's group.

In 1908 she became chairman of the Association for a Refuge for Women and Girls and she particularly campaigned for “fallen or endangered” young girls. Homes were established at Hemmstrasse 157 in Findorff and Hansastrasse 122/24. Unmarried pregnant women, women from prison or homeless women after a hospital stay found accommodation there. One report stated that "there was a great need" and "was strikingly large ... the number of children who were forcibly taken away from their parents". In 1914/15 it enabled the construction of a home for girls based on plans by Abbehusen and Blendermann at Kornstrasse 209/211 for 50 girls and women, the Isenberg home .

The construction of the Zionskirche in Kornstrasse in Bremer Neustadt , the extension of the nursing home of the Diakonissenanstalt in Bremen and the construction of the country house Horn in Horn were financed . She supported artists and students in their studies. Isenberg's wealth in Hawaii was initially lost in the First World War in 1917/18 and decreased considerably in Bremen during the inflation of 1923/24.

The daughter Clara Isenberg (* 1878) married Hermann Sielcken , a German-American businessman who made a fortune as a coffee importer in 1907 .

She was buried in 1933 in the Riensberg cemetery , grave location AA 68–68c.

Honors

• The beta Isenberg Street in Bremen, district Obervieland , district Kattenesch, was named in 2001 after her.

literature

• Monika Porsch: Bremer Straßenlexikon , complete edition. Schünemann, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-7961-1850-X .
• Edith Laudowicz : Isenberg, Wobetha Margarethe, called Beta, b. Glade . In: Women's history (s) , Bremer Frauenmuseum (ed.). Edition Falkenberg, Bremen 2016, ISBN 978-3-95494-095-0 .
• Edith Laudowicz: Isenberg, Wobetha Margarethe, called Beta, b. Glade . In: Bremer Frauenmuseum - women portraits , Bremen around 1999.