Josephine Levy-Rathenau

Josephine Levy-Rathenau (born June 3, 1877 in Berlin ; † November 15, 1921 there ) was a social worker and pioneer of the German women's movement .

Life

Josephine Rathenau married the physicist Max Levy (1869–1932) and called herself Levy-Rathenau. Her two brothers were Fritz Rathenau and Kurt Rathenau . She was a cousin of the German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau and a granddaughter of Max Liebermann's aunt Therese.

With it, the Federation of German Women's Associations , founded in 1894 , which, among other things, wanted to promote the employment and economic independence of women, gained considerably in impact. As early as 1898 the federal government had set up an “information center for women's interests” in Berlin. Since 1902, after being renamed “Information Center for Women's Professions ” under the new head of Levy-Rathenau, it became the first independent career counseling facility on German soil.

Levy-Rathenau founded the Berlin Women's Club von 1900 eV In 1914 she was one of the initiators of the “National Women's Service”. In the period from 1910 to 1920 she published the magazine Frauenberuf und -erwerb , which contained important specialist articles on the employment and training situation of women disadvantaged in the labor market. In 1920 she became a councilor in the magistrate of Berlin. Her successor as head of the women's vocational office was from 1921/22 Käthe Gaebel . Until her death on November 15, 1921, she was committed to the professional emancipation of women, her life's work.

tomb

She is buried in the Jewish cemetery at Schönhauser Allee .

Works (selection)

• The woman as a technical employee. (= Publications of the women's professional office of the Federation of German Women's Associations. 1). Teubner, Berlin / Leipzig 1914.
• The German woman at work: practical advice on choosing a career. (= Handbook of the women's movement. 5). Moeser, Berlin 1906.
• Democratic women's professional policy. Democratic Publishing House, Berlin 1920.

literature

• Manfred Berger : Who was ... Josephine Levy-Rathenau ?, in: Sozialmagazin 2002 / H. 11, pp. 6-10
• Max Levy (ed.): Josephine Levy-Rathenau for memory. Berlin 1921.
• Johanna Ernst: Josephine Levy-Rathenau and career guidance: a contribution to the history of career guidance in Germany . S. Simon Nf., Berlin 1922, ( pamphlets on career guidance , volume 9).
• Manfred Berger : Levy-Rathenau, Josephine , in: Hugo Maier (Ed.): Who is who of social work . Freiburg: Lambertus, 1998 ISBN 3-7841-1036-3 , pp. 358f.
• Dieter G. Maier: Beginnings and Breaks in Labor Administration up to 1952 . Brühl 2004, ISBN 3-930732-93-9 , ( series of publications by the Federal University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration , Volume 43).
• Jürgen Nürnberger, Dieter G. Maier: Josephine Levy-Rathenau (1877-1921). A life dedicated to career guidance. In: Dieter G. Maier, Jürgen Nürnberger, Stefan Pabst : thought leader and designer of the labor market . Mannheim 2012, pp. 73-95, ( HdBA report , No. 05).
• Jürgen Nürnberger, Dieter G. Maier: Josephine Levy-Rathenau: Women's emancipation through career counseling . Published by the Centrum Judaicum, Hentrich & Hentrich , Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-942271-93-6 , ( Jewish miniatures , volume 137).
• Dieter G. Maier, Jürgen Nürnberger: marriage with Josephine Rathenau. In: Dieter G. Maier, Jürgen Nürnberger: Oscar and Max Levy: Europeans and 'Nietzsche Apostle' - patriot and entrepreneur . Published by the Centrum Judaicum , Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-95565-064-3 , ( Jewish miniatures , volume 152).
• Jürgen Nürnberger, Dieter G. Maier: Through the women's movement for career advice - Josephine Levy-Rathenau (1877-1921), a social politician from the Rathenau family, biography and bibliography, excursus: Max Levy - engineer and entrepreneur . Ludwigshafen am Rhein, 2016, ISBN 978-3-929153-86-6 , ( Gestalter der Arbeitsmarktpolitik , Volume 6).

Web links

• Literature by and about Josephine Levy-Rathenau in the catalog of the German National Library