Käthe Thiemann

Käthe Thiemann , née Ulrich, (* July 30, 1911 in Hamburg ; † September 30, 2001 there ) was a German geographer , teacher and headmistress .

Life

After attending elementary and middle school from 1918 to 1928, Käthe Thiemann switched to the Helene Lange School . The reason for the change of school was that this school was more focused on math and science. In 1931 Thiemann passed the school leaving examination . After graduating from high school, Thiemann studied mathematics, geography and musicology from 1931 to 1935. She completed her studies at the universities of Heidelberg , Leipzig and Jena , where she received her doctorate in geography in 1936. In her doctoral thesis she dealt with the Red Cliff on Sylt .

Influenced by her class teacher Irma Stoss , the headmistress Alice Pollitz and other teachers who were involved in the General German Teachers' Association (ADLV), Thiemann advocated equal educational opportunities for girls and women as a student. She attended meetings and events at which calls were made to transfer the school leadership of girls' schools to women. In 1931, Thiemann wrote a scientific study entitled “The school system in the German Empire. School year 1926/27 ". The work, which appeared in the ADLV's association newspaper, contained statistics and tables showing the successes of the women's movement with regard to the educational opportunities of schoolgirls. After completing her studies, she attended private meetings of members of women's movements that were banned in the meantime while she was in Hamburg. In addition to Irma Stoss and Alice Pollitz, Margarethe Treuge , Anni Grühn, Emmy Beckmann and other women took part in the meetings.

Although she did not intend to teach due to the political situation at the time of National Socialism , Thiemann took the first state examination on the advice of Emmy Beckmann. She then took on a job as a scientific climatologist in Dresden , followed by a longer professional break. In 1943 Thiemann went to the naval observatory in Greifswald . She thus anticipated an obligation to do military service. Shortly before the end of World War II , she fled to Hamburg, where she began training as a teacher at the age of 34 after the end of the war. After attending the study seminar on Dammtorstrasse, she finished her legal clerkship in April 1947 with the second state examination. She then worked as a research assistant at the Curschmannstrasse girls' high school.

After being transferred to the convent school on Westphalensweg in 1949, Thiemann taught there for several decades. In 1951 she ended membership in the Society of Friends of the Fatherland School and Education System (GdF). The reason for this was the decision of the GdF to introduce the six-year elementary school. Thiemann vehemently rejected this, as she saw her goal of being able to offer talented pupils from all social classes access to an undergraduate education at a grammar school at risk. The teacher spoke out against the introduction of a standard school model in Hamburg, which she had previously got to know on a study trip to Sweden .

From 1960 to 1973 Thiemann took over the management of the monastery school, where co-education was introduced in 1968. A branch was also set up that focused on art. Thiemann took an active part in the anniversary celebrations in 1972 and 1997. In 1981 the former headmistress demonstrated against the possible closure of the educational institution.

It was important for Käthe Thiemann to pass on her knowledge of women's emancipation in research on the history of Hamburg's schools. Even if she did not publish on this herself, she saw in it the “payment of a debt”.

Käthe Thiemann was married. She met her husband, who was drafted for military service in 1940 and returned from captivity in the Soviet Union in 1950, during her doctorate.

literature

• Uwe Schmidt: Thiemann, Käthe . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 347-348 .