Elly Steinmann

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Elly Steinmann (front right) at a demonstration by 600 women against NATO - on May 13, 1964 in the Netherlands

Elly Steinmann (born Elli Frieda Petzold , born September 19, 1921 in Danzig - Langfuhr , † April 25, 2009 ) was a German journalist, publicist and peace activist.

Life and commitment

Petzold attended the municipal Anna-Vorwerk-Oberlyzeum in Wolfenbüttel . She trained as a chemical engineer . After marrying Heinz-Günther Steinmann and moving to Wattenscheid in 1949 . The couple had two sons and divorced in 1967.

On October 14, 1951, Steinmann was one of nearly a thousand participants in the “Women and Mothers for Peace” congress in Velbert. When the West German Women's Peace Movement (WFFB) was founded on the following “Women's Peace Day” in Göttingen on February 10, 1952 , she was one of the founders. The slogan was: “Be vigilant! Be critical! Show civil courage! ”At the federal level, Steinmann took over the management of the WFFB and, with Ingeborg Küster (1909–2004), she was also a member of the editorial team of the WFFB magazine Frau und Frieden .

"In the WFFB, the Christian worked alongside the communist, the employed with the housewife, the scientist with the worker."

- Elly Steinmann

Alma Kettig , trade unionist, anti-fascist and member of the Bundestag (SPD) from 1953 to 1965, joined the WFFB in 1970. But this lost all meaning in the course of the policy of détente and had only seldom been able to win over young women from the post-war generation. In March 1974 the magazine Frau und Frieden had to be discontinued after 22 years and the WFFB disbanded soon afterwards.

Kettig, Küster and Steinmann initiated the Democratic Women's Initiative (DFI) together with women from the new women's movement and with trade unionists . The main concerns were: "Peace, development and equality" according to the motto of the UN initiative "International Year of Women '75". Their goal was to achieve “equality in a humane society”. It was about enforcing the right to work and equal pay for women. In terms of peace policy, the recruitment of women for the Bundeswehr was rejected. As editor and publisher, Steinmann co-edited the WIR WOMEN calendar and the women's dictionary .

One of Steinmann's political fields of activity was the movement against the Vietnam War and for peace in the then divided country. As a councilor of the International Women's Democratic Federation (IDFF) , she traveled to Vietnam in 1970 and 1974 . Steinmann wrote for the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , among others , but also for the Deutsche Volkszeitung . Her subjects were, for example, a conversation with Uta Ranke-Heinemann , Jane Fonda and her Vietnam film and the closure of the Bottrop plant of the Krups company .

Steinmann died in 2009. Your estate came to the archive of the German women's movement (AddF) in 2012 and was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) as part of the project “Equal Opportunities of Women after 1945 - Securing and Processing the Women's (movement) history in Germany ”in 2013.

Others

In 1997 Steinmann was awarded the golden bay leaf for 50 years of roadworthy driving.

Fonts (selection)

As editor
  • With Florence Hervé and Renate Wurms: Das Weiberlexikon. 1st edition, 1995.
  • WE WOMEN . Annual calendar, 1982–1990.
  • (Contributor): WomenPicturesReadBook. 1981ff.
  • Help Vietnam! (Vietnamese folk songs) / Martin Niemöller: Call to Action. / Text spoken by Lil Dagover . Record, Wattenscheid 1968.
As an author
  • What is - what wants - what is the West German women's peace movement doing? WFFB 1967.
  • With Ingeborg Küster: The West German Women's Peace Movement. In: Florence Hervé (ed.): History of the German women's movement. Cologne 1982, pp. 206-216.

literature

  • Franziska Dunkel, Corinna Schneider (Ed.): Women and Peace? Attribution - struggles - preventions. Budrich, 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Florence Hervé : Almost forgotten - the women's peace movement in the FRG. (Dossier women's movement of November 11, 2008)
  2. ↑ Florence Hervé , Fast Forget - The Women's Peace Movement in the FRG, in: Federal Center for Political Education (Ed.), Dossier Women's Movement, November 11, 2008, see: [1] .
  3. ^ Finding aid for inventory NL-P-40 Elly Steinmann. (pdf, accessed on September 26, 2018) The estate comprises 58 units of description.
personal data
SURNAME Steinmann, Elly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petzold, Elli Frieda (maiden name); Steinmann, Elli Frieda (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publicist and peace activist
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig - Langfuhr
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2009