Ernestine von Trott zu Solz

Mother Ernestine's grave in the cemetery of Landheim Salem

Ernestine Elisabeth Sophie Helene von Trott , also mother Ernestine called (* 4. April 1889 in Heilbronn , † 24. April 1982 in camps Salem in Asendorf / Nordheide ) was one Deaconess and head of therapeutic food and Urbanization Country Home Salem at Asendorf. She belonged to the group of Protestant aristocratic women who largely renounced the privileges of their class in the Wilhelmine Empire and who turned to work among the sick, addicts and the needy. In addition to their practical work, as women they were also active in the lecture and preaching service, which was a novelty at that time.

Life

Ernestine von Trott zu Solz was the youngest of five children of the Heilbronn paper manufacturer Moritz von Trott zu Solz (1848–1913) and his wife Johanna, née Otto (1858–1934). Their maternal grandfather was Adolf Otto . Adam von Trott zu Solz , diplomat, journalist and resistance fighter against National Socialism , was a cousin of Ernestine. The headquarters of the noble family, which is registered with the Althessian Knighthood , is in Imshausen .

Ernestine's childhood and youth, which she describes as “extremely happy” in her memoirs, were shaped by a solid school education and encounters with the cultural and social offers of her time and her class. On the occasion of her confirmation ceremony , she gave a lecture on women's suffrage , to which she was inspired by literature by and about Anna Papritz and Alice Salomon . She rejected religion at the time.

From 1903 she attended a boarding school in Heidelberg , where she took part in the singing lessons of the artist Pauline Viardot-García . Boarding school in Heidelberg was followed by a visit to one of of Ida of Kortzfleisch launched Economic wife schools in Reifenstein . There the girls and women received in-depth training in self-sufficiency agriculture, horticulture , keeping small animals, nursing, raising children and introducing them to chemistry , physics , botany and art history . Here she also got to know the German Advocacy Association , an abstinence and life reform movement initiated by Hermann Popert . After returning to her parents' home in Heilbronn, she sought closer contact with representatives of the aforementioned movements and found him in the Stuttgart Circle of the Wandering Bird . This began a time of ideological search for her, which led her, among other things, to occupation with the Christian mystics and the Christian Science founded by Mary Baker Eddy .

In 1913 Ernestine von Trott zu Solz completed a therapeutic gymnastics training in Stuttgart, which was followed by a so-called Friedrich Froebel course in Munich. Deaths in the immediate family - Ernestine's father died on December 6, 1913 and her sister-in-law Hertha von Trott zu Solz died in May 1914, in August 1914 her husband and Ernestine's brother Erich died in Ypres at the beginning of the First World War - as well as internal family disputes about her The custody of her nephew Hans-Friedrich, given by her brother Erich in her will, led her into a deep life crisis. She sought pastoral care from Anna Petermann, whom she had known before, who worked as a city missionary in various cities and who later became her biographer. Anna Petermann advised her to part with her previous religious paths, to look for the truth only in the Bible and to turn personally to God in prayer. In addition, she recommended her practical diaconal work. As a result of this consultation, Ernestine von Trott zu Solz separated from Christian Science, gave away jewelry and clothing and worked under the simplest of conditions, initially as a family helper , later in the Fleestedter children's home of the deaconess superior Eva von Thiele-Winckler and finally in the Hamburg beach mission , which was organized by the free Pentecostal oriented evangelist Emil Meyer had been founded and was dedicated to the work among "stranded" men.

At Christmas 1921, Ernestine von Trott zu Solz visited the Salem country home for the first time. It was set up in a lonely farm near Asendorf, which had been abandoned for years. 1919 Founded in Hamburg and from the work of had Blue Cross emerged club Serve each other! she acquired with the associated 40 acres of heathland. The goals of the association and the newly created facility were to offer girls and women from socially problematic backgrounds a temporary home, to give them practical life lessons and to accompany them in pastoral care. The original names of the farm were Einödhausen and Up'n Rönnen.

On May 1, 1922, Ernestine von Trott zu Solz began her service. Richard Tresse writes about her in the anniversary publication of the Salem country home: “It literally became a change from a manorial class life to the service of a maid”. First of all, it was necessary to work with the other employees, most of whom came from the Baptist Diakoniewerk Tabea and the 30 girls and women they looked after, to set up a farm. For this purpose, stables had to be built and the heathland made arable. In 1926 she took over the management of the diaconal work and kept this until her retirement, in which she entered at the age of 78.

Publications (selection)

• Outside the usual , Asendorf / Nordheide 1967.
• The position of women according to the Bible , Asendorf / Nordheide o.J.
• Anna Petermann. A life of devotion , Asendorf / Nordheide 1970.

literature

• Richard Tresse: Ernestine von Trott zu Solz 1889–1982 , in: Landheim Salem eV (ed.): 75 years Landheim Salem. 1919-1994 , Asendorf / Nordheide 1994, pp. 15-21.
• Ludwig David Eisenlöffel: Free Church Pentecostal Movement in Germany. Interior views 1945–1985 , Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-275-7 .
• Jürg Arnold: A woman “outside the box”. Ernestine von Trott zu Solz (1889–1982) , in: Christhard Schrenk (ed.): Heilbronner Köpfe , Volume VII, Heilbronn 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Richard Tresse: Ernestine von Trott zu Solz 1889–1982 , in: Landheim Salem eV (ed.): 75 years Landheim Salem. 1919–1994 , Asendorf / Nordheide 1994, p. 16.
2. ↑ Ernestine von Trott zu Solz: Outside the usual. Life and work in Salem. Mission to stranded women and girls , Asendorf / Nordheide 1967, p. 23f.
3. ↑ Reichensteiner Verband (ed.): Economic women's school, later rural women's school in Reifenstein (PDF; 1.6 MB), accessed on May 22, 2013.
4. ↑ Ernestine von Trott zu Solz: Outside the usual. Life and work in Salem. Mission to stranded women and girls , Asendorf / Nordheide 1967, p. 24.
5. ↑ Ernestine von Trott zu Solz: Outside the usual. Life and work in Salem. Mission to stranded women and girls , Asendorf / Nordheide 1967, pp. 39–41.
6. ^ Ernestine von Trott zu Solz: Anna Petermann. A life of devotion , Asendorf / Nordheide 1970.
7. ↑ Ernestine von Trott zu Solz: Outside the usual. Life and work in Salem. Mission to stranded women and girls , Asendorf / Nordheide 1967, p. 51.
8. ^ Ludwig David Eisenlöffel: Free Church Pentecostal Movement in Germany. Interior views 1945–1985 , Göttingen 2006, p. 79.
9. ↑ Landheim Salem (ed.): 75 years Landheim Salem. 1919-1994 , Asendorf / Nordheide 1994, p. 7f.
10. ^ Richard Tresse: Ernestine von Trott zu Solz 1889–1982 , in: Landheim Salem eV (ed.): 75 years Landheim Salem. 1919–1994 , Asendorf / Nordheide 1994, p. 16.