Ottilie Schoenewald

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Ottilie Schoenewald (born December 21, 1883 in Bochum as Ottilie Mendel , † May 18, 1961 in Chicago ) was a German politician and women's rights activist .

Live and act

live in Germany

Ottilie Mendel was born on December 21, 1883 as the seventh child of Isidor and Sofie Mendel in Bochum. She led the life of an upper middle class Jewish girl . This included that she attended a secondary school for girls. As a young girl, she took part in local charity work alongside her mother.

In 1905, at the age of 22, she married the lawyer and notary Siegmund Schoenewald. During this time she began to get even more involved in social work . She became a member of the Federation of German Women's Associations . At the same time she joined the local Jewish women's association, which was, however, without much influence. She was also active in numerous other committees and institutions and held numerous posts. Among other things , she was a delegate , employee and secretary in the so-called arbitration tribunal , which mediated disputes between domestic workers and their employers .

During the First World War , Ottilie Schoenewald was the secretary of the housewives committee , which had the task of coordinating the work of all women's groups in Bochum so that it would benefit the general war effort. After the war she was the chairwoman of the National Women's Service .

Your work did not go unnoticed. Political parties were looking for a female figurehead at the time. She accepted the offer of the German Democratic Party (DDP) and was elected to the Bochum city ​​parliament in 1919 as one of eight women (of 66 elected city councilors) for this party . In the same year , the Schoenewalds adopted a daughter, Doris, born on August 9, 1918.

In 1926 the NSDAP gained influence in the Bochum city parliament. This led to Ottilie Schoenewald ending her political engagement at the municipal level. The party representation of the Democrats had encouraged them to stop so as not to be exposed to the "personal harassment" of the Nazis . She has now been co-opted into the local party executive and worked for a while on the Reichsparteiaausausschuss of the German Democratic Party in Berlin . There she often gave lectures on topics related to women and politics.

In 1929 Ottilie Schoenewald was elected to the board of the Jewish Women's Association in Berlin. She chaired the committee on women's rights. In 1934 she was unanimously elected chairman of the organization. Even if her feminist interests never let up, she had to devote herself almost exclusively to social work during the years of Nazi terror. Her last official act as chairwoman of the Jewish Women's Association was to dissolve the organization on the orders of the National Socialists in 1938.

to live abroad

1938 also marked a turning point in Ottilie Schoenewald's private life. Until that year, despite all the changes after 1933, she had never seriously considered leaving Germany. As with many other German Jews, that should change now. At the end of October 1938, Jews were first expelled from Bochum as well. Schoenewald wrote a report about it. Finally, Siegmund Schoenewald was arrested during the Reichspogromnacht and the family home was devastated. Now there was no longer any alternative to fleeing Germany. Siegmund Schoenewald returned from Sachsenhausen in December as a completely broken man . In January 1939 he left Bochum and went to the Netherlands . His wife followed him in March 1939. There, too, she was involved in social causes.

In August 1939 the Schoenewalds emigrated to England . In London , Ottilie Schoenewald was on the board of the Association of Jewish Refugees . She founded a local branch in Cambridge and was temporarily the chairman of that group. There she also completed her exams in English and literature at Cambridge University, took an accountant course and then worked as a social worker at the Cambridge Club of Refugees . Siegmund Schoenewald died on August 29, 1943.

Ottilie Schoenewald emigrated to her daughter in the USA in 1946 . There, too, Ottilie Schoenewald was very active in Jewish organizations. She also completed a few semesters at the Henry George School of Social Science . From the USA, Ottilie Schoenewald pursued her reparation proceedings with all vehemence. When she died in 1961, the proceedings were still ongoing.

In 1958 Ottilie Schoenewald was commissioned by the Leo Baeck Institute in New York to write the history of the Jewish Women's Association in Germany. She was no longer able to realize this project, she died in Chicago in 1961 at the age of 77.

Naming

There are currently two names in Bochum:

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schoenewald, Ottilie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mendel, Ottilie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician and women's rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Bochum
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1961
Place of death Chicago , USA