Louise Ebert

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Louise Ebert around 1923

Louise Ebert , fully Louise Dorothea Amalie Ebert, b. Rump, (* December 23, 1873 in Melchiorshausen / Weyhe as Louise Rump ; † January 18, 1955 in Heidelberg ) was the first "First Lady" in Germany as the wife of Friedrich Ebert , the first German Reich President .

biography

Early years

Louise Ebert came from a poor background. Her father Friedrich Hermann Rump was a worker, her mother worked as a laundress. She had four siblings. She attended the village school in Leeste for six years. The family moved to Bremen around 1878 .
As a young woman, at the age of twelve, she was employed as a young girl in Weyhe , then as a housemaid and label gluer in Bremen. Because of the bad wages she got involved in trade unions and fought for better working conditions and for equal pay for women and men. In 1893 she was elected second chairman of her Bremen group.

As the wife of Friedrich Ebert

On May 9, 1894, in Bremen, she married the Heidelberg- born social democrat Friedrich Ebert, who came to Bremen in 1891 and met her in 1893 at a trade union meeting. The couple received citizenship of Bremen. As a housewife and mother, she gave him support on his way from the editor of the Bremer Bürger-Zeitung , then party chairman in Bremen, member and SPD parliamentary group leader in the Bremen citizenship , party secretary and then party leader of the SPD to the Reich President. Louise Ebert grew into the tasks that were presented to her. She became a member of the SPD, but was not active in party politics. From 1894 to 1900 Ebert also ran the restaurant "Zur gute Hilfe" in Bremer Neustadt (Brautstrasse), a meeting place for trade unionists and social democrats. Louise Ebert also took over the management of the restaurant. The Eberts later lived in a small house at Neckarstrasse 79 (Neustadt) until 1905.

She was a pioneer and pioneer in the office of " First Lady ". With the end of the monarchy, Empress Auguste Viktoria , Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg, also abdicated. In the first democracy, Louise Ebert, as the wife of the Reich President, practically succeeded her as the first and highest-ranking representative of the state, but she filled this task with sober, democratic dignity without dynastic-royal pomp. The family living in the Count of Schwerin to 1925 in the former Palais Reichspräsidentenpalais in the Wilhelmstrasse (Moltekemarkt 1). Louise Ebert brought her new position to life and gained widespread recognition. “With what natural grace, unconstrained amiability, the hostess presented herself,” the Baroness von Rheinbaben described her demeanor.

family

Ebert family Christmas 1898

After the death of her husband, the family lived in Berlin-Wilmersdorf from 1925

The couple had four sons and a daughter, whom they raised with discipline, common sense and a sense of order:

  • Friedrich jun. (1894–1979), later Lord Mayor of East Berlin
  • Georg (1896–1917), killed in the First World War
  • Heinrich (1897–1917), killed in the First World War
  • Karl (1899–1975), member of the state parliament in Baden-Württemberg after the Second World War
  • Amalie Jaenecke (1900–1931)

There were also four grandchildren, u. a. the journalist Heinrich Jaenecke (1928–2014).

In 1933, after the National Socialists came to power , the SA carried out arbitrary searches of her house by the SA . The Social Democrats Friedrich and Karl were subjected to reprisals. Friedrich was arrested in her apartment, spent eight months in several concentration camps in 1933 and was under police supervision. Louise Ebert rented a house in Berlin-Treptow in 1933 , where her son Friedrich also lived after she was released. In 1943 she moved to Lahr / Black Forest because of the constant bombing and in 1945 to Heidelberg. In 1947 she visited a. a. Mayor Theodor Spitta in Bremen, who wrote: "I was able to experience all over again your cleverness, graceful entertainment and splendid personality."

She was buried in the Heidelberg mountain cemetery.

Honors

  • The AWO senior center in Heidelberg bears her name.
  • A social center has its name in Weyhe-Kirchweyhe near Bremen.
  • A street in Weyhe-Leeste was named after her.

literature

  • Ilona Scheidle: "With her natural grace, she won everyone." The first German First Lady Louise Ebert (1873 - 1955) " . In: Heidelbergerinnen who wrote history. Munich 2006, pp. 113–121.
  • Edith Laudowicz : Ebert, Louise . In: Women's history (s) , Bremer Frauenmuseum (ed.). Edition Falkenberg, Bremen 2016, ISBN 978-3-95494-095-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter-Christian Witt: Friedrich Ebert: Party leader - Reich Chancellor - People's Representative - Reich President. 3rd, revised and updated edition. Verlag JHW Dietz Nachf., Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-87831-446-9 .
  2. ↑ Angelika Büttner / Ursula Voß-Louis (eds.): New beginning on rubble : The diaries of Bremen Mayor Theodor Spitta 1945 - 1947, Munich 1992

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Ebert, Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rump, Louise (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German wife of the 1st German President Friedrich Ebert
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Melchiorshausen , Weyhe
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1955
Place of death Heidelberg