Emilie Vollmöller

Emilie Vollmöller , née Behr, (born January 25, 1852 in Balingen , † April 18, 1894 in Stuttgart ) was an early representative of Christian social ethics and a social reformer.

Life

Emilie Vollmöller was born as the youngest of five children of the textile manufacturer Christian Friedrich Behr in Balingen and, as was customary for senior daughters at the time, received training at the best private schools in Württemberg, the Härle girls' boarding school in Göppingen and Emilie Braun's senior daughter boarding school in Stuttgart.

At the age of 21, on September 25, 1873, she married Robert Vollmöller, who would later become Kommerzienrat . 10 children were born in quick succession, including Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann , Karl Gustav Vollmoeller , Hans Robert Vollmöller and Kurt Vollmöller . The tragic death of her son Hugo Erwin (* September 18, 1879 - May 24, 1883) made her a champion for better working and living conditions for the Vollmoeller AG workforce .

Together with her husband and with the support of Robert Bosch and Eduard Pfeiffer , she ensured that the working and living conditions in her own factories were unique at the time. On her initiative, the Emilienheim, named after her, was built in 1888 as a residential and leisure facility for unmarried female workers. Like the Filderhof, built in 1890 for the unmarried male employees, the Emilienheim was part of an area of ​​1,000 hectares on which, in addition to the factory buildings, there was a huge park, fruit tree plantations, a workers' housing estate, most recently 150 apartments for married workers and 25 houses for the managers Employees found.

Emilie Vollmöller took care of a company doctor to keep her employees healthy. She set up a chapel to look after the spiritual welfare of the staff. Together with her husband, she opened a reading room for employees. In addition, she had a factory kitchen and canteen set up, in which employees could have three generous, healthy meals a day for 50–60 pfennigs.

In and outside of their factories, the Vollmöllers operated between 1,300 and 1,400 looms, many of them working from home. She and her husband were convinced that a company had to bring work to the people instead of wresting it away from its sheltered, rural environment in order to degenerate into urban slums.

Emilie Vollmöller was able to convince her young sister-in-law, Theodora Elisabeth Vollmöller , of her ideas, which was reflected in her later social commitment.

Despite her great, time-consuming social commitment, Emilie Vollmöller found time to run an important, prestigious salon where writers, actors, painters and politicians met. She also paid great attention to the education of her children. That she was very successful in this, as in all of her activities, becomes clear since four of her ten children later made a name for themselves.

Emilie Vollmöller died on April 18, 1894 after a short, serious illness in Stuttgart at the age of 42 and was buried in the family grave in the Prague cemetery.

literature

• August Holder: Robert Vollmöller, Life and Work , Heilbronn 1912
• Frederik D. Tunnat: Karl Vollmoeller: poet and cultural manager. a biography . tredition, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86850-000-4 .
• Neue Rundschau, 8th year, issue 3 1897, S. Fischer Verlag Berlin
• The practical social politician, magazine, Berlin 1908
• Der Industrielle, magazine, Eckstein Verlag Berlin, 1898