Elisabet Boehm

Elisabet Boehm (born September 27, 1859 in Rastenburg as Elisabet Steppuhn ; † May 30, 1943 in Halle (Saale) ) was the founder of the first agricultural housewives' association , the founder of the rural women 's organization in Germany and thus the founder of the rural women' s movement in general.

Live and act

Elisabet Boehm was born in East Prussia as the daughter of the landlord and Reichstag member Hermann Steppuhn . In 1880 she married the landowner Otto Boehm. From 1880 to 1911 she lived and worked in Lamgarben ( Garbno in Polish ). Elisabet Boehm belonged to the circle of East Elbian manor women who had a decisive influence on club life at the beginning. Already at the end of the 19th century she recognized in social responsibility - looking beyond her personal sphere of activity within the farm - the necessity of female influence also within agriculture. The lack of organization of women in agriculture and the endeavor to gain recognition for the work of women as mothers and in the farm motivated her to found the first agricultural housewives' association in Rastenburg ( Kętrzyn in Polish ) in 1898 (initially with 15 members). The goals of the association were the promotion of training and further education opportunities, the recognition of domestic work as professional work, the bridging of the contrast between town and country as well as practical aspects such as the improvement of production and sales in agriculture.

After founding other associations with the same objectives, she became chairwoman of the newly founded East Prussian regional association in 1905. Associations formed in other parts of the Reich merged in 1916 in the Reichsbund Landwirtschaftlicher Hausfrauenvereine (the forerunner organization of the German Rural Women's Association ), whose chairman was Elisabet Boehm until 1929.

In addition to her association activities, she was particularly committed to vocational training for women; In 1912 she founded the first women's agricultural school .

Honors

In her honor the Deutsche Bundespost issued a postage stamp (bust) in 1991 .

Publications

• Elisabet Boehm; Dr. W. Borgmann; EA Brödermann; Dr. H. Bade u. a .: Illustrated agricultural lexicon . 2 volumes. Edited by P. Gisevius. 5th revised edition. Paul Parey publishing house, Berlin 1920; 6., rework. Edition, 1923
• The German country woman and her work in home and fatherland . Paul Parey, Berlin 1924; 2nd, revised edition 1927, (Contains a variety of tips for home and farm, including poultry farming, beekeeping, fruit growing, cleaning, hospitality, neighborhood care, social work ...)
• How I got there! Reichsnährstand Verlags-GmbH, Berlin 1941

literature

• Robert Volz: Reich manual of the German society . The handbook of personalities in words and pictures. Volume 1: A-K. German business publisher, Berlin 1930, DNB 453960286 .
• Christoph Hinkelmann : Elisabeth Boehm and the rural women movement . Edited by the Ostpreußisches Landesmuseum Lüneburg, Husum Verlag, Husum 1998, ISBN 978-3-88042-871-3
• Liselotte Kuessner-Gerhard:  Boehm, Elisabeth, nee Steppuhn. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 380 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Anke Sawahn: The country women's lobby . The rural women movement in Germany and its functionaries, 1898 to 1948 . DLG Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 2009, ISBN 978-3-7690-0731-2
• Christina Schwarz: Elisabet Boehm and the agricultural housewives association. Under the sign of the bees . Landsmannschaft East Prussia , Department of Culture, Hamburg 1991

Web links

• Literature by and about Elisabet Boehm in the catalog of the German National Library