Hanna Kiep

Hanna Kiep , née Alves (born February 10, 1904 in Braunschweig , † August 22, 1979 in Pullach ) was a German lawyer, diplomat and functionary of the German Red Cross (DRK). During the time of National Socialism she belonged to the Solf circle, which was critical of the regime .

Life

After completing her school career, Kiep studied law and political science at the universities of Berlin , Oxford and Geneva . At the same time, she completed an apprenticeship as an interpreter and completed housekeeping courses. She married the diplomat Otto Kiep in 1925 , and the couple had two daughters and a son. Because of her husband's diplomatic activities, the family lived in the USA , Great Britain , East Asia and South America.

During the Second World War , the Kiep family lived in Berlin and belonged to the Solf group, which was critical of the regime. This group was denounced by the Gestapo spy Paul Reckzeh . In January 1944 the Kieps were arrested. Otto Kiep was charged with high treason, sentenced to death by the People's Court and executed in August 1944. She herself was imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp with other female members of the Solf district and later released from the concentration camp after an acquittal. Her son died in fighting.

After the end of the war she worked in the establishment of a civil administration in the American zone of occupation . From 1946 the socially committed woman was a member of the board of the DRK, worked for the World Organization of Mothers of All Nations and the German Housewives Association. After the Federal Republic of Germany was founded , she switched to the diplomatic service in 1949 and was a women's officer at the German Consulate General in New York from 1951 to 1969 . With the establishment of this office, the cooperation with the influential American women's associations should be intensified in order to promote equality.

Honors

• 1969: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany

literature

• Barbara Degen: "The heart beats in Ravensbrück" - The commemorative culture of women . Publishing house Barbara Budrich, Opladen u. a. 2010, ISBN 3-86649-288-X . (Biographies in the appendix ; PDF; 1.2 MB)
• Christiane Scheidemann: Hanna Kiep . In: Skilful, skillful and dispatched: women in the diplomatic service . published by Ursula Müller and Christiane Scheidemann, Olzog Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-7892-8041-0 .