Sigrid Damm-Rüger

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Sigrid Damm-Rüger , b. Sigrid Rüger (* 1939 ; † 1995 in Berlin ) was a German activist and feminist as well as an author in the field of vocational training research .

Her tomato throw, picked up by Spiegel and Stern reporting at the 23rd delegates' conference of the Socialist German Student Union (SDS) in September 1968, went down in history as the initial spark of the second wave of the women's movement in Germany .

She was a member of the SDS and was part of the West Berlin student movement since the mid-1960s in a prominent position in university politics. Her tomato throw in the direction of the leading SDS men was related to the activities of the SDS-affiliated feminist women's group " Action Council for the Liberation of Women ", founded in 1968 , whose demands, formulated by Helke Sander at the conference, became known at once.

Damm-Rüger later worked for many years at the Federal Institute for Vocational Training .

Life

Education path and politicization

In 1961, Sigrid Rüger was preparing for her Abitur at the Hessenkolleg Frankfurt on the second educational path . As early as 1962 she reported on a semester thesis at the college on the subject of the professional position and opportunities of women in commercial operations, but according to letters she also devoted herself to a theatrical performance of the Brecht play The Rifles of Ms. Carrar .

After graduating from high school, she began studying theater studies in Berlin , but soon turned to politics and sociology . She became a member of the SDS and was a member of the university policy working group. Her field of activity was university politics at the Free University of Berlin, where she has been involved since 1964 as the elected student spokesperson for the Philosophical Faculty , and from 1965 as a spokesperson for the Academic Senate .

Student protests in the mid-1960s

In these functions she soon became involved in the dispute over the political mandate of the student body and the democratization of the Free University.

In the “hot phase” of the student protests at Freie Universität, she confidently represented the demands of the students against the professors in these committees in these key positions and thus became one of the most important university political activists of the time. At the first big sit-in on June 22, 1966, the students, who had gathered in their thousands, sent Rüger several times to the Academic Senate with their demands. By reporting to the protesters about the negotiations in the panel, she defied the principle of confidentiality that had been customary up to that point.

As a contemporary witness, Tilman Fichter recalled in the mid-1990s that Rüger was "one of the most famous SDS activists" at Freie Universität when the student movement began in 1965 as spokeswoman for the philosophy faculty. "Almost better known than Rudi Dutschke ". Volkmar Braunbehrens , whom Rüger had chosen to succeed her as spokesman for the Philosophical Faculty in 1966, said that Rüger was an “absolute authority figure” in Berlin in the mid-1960s.

Due to the high burden of the dual office during this time, she later took leave and gave up the offices as elected student representative, but continued to actively intervene in political debates at the Free University.

Tossing tomatoes and the new women's movement

At the beginning of 1968 the SDS-affiliated women's group Action Council for the Liberation of Women was formed , whose activists in the SDS context both called for a feminist debate about the conditions of exploitation of women, as well as looking for practical solutions for childcare for themselves in order to be able to continue their university studies .

Rüger herself was not active in the Action Council, but through her leadership role in the SDS, she was aware of the lack of feminist aspects in the debates within the SDS from her own experience. She was also heavily pregnant with her first daughter in September 1968.

In the course of the activities of the Action Council, a small group of women from the Action Council appeared at the 23rd SDS delegates' conference on September 13, 1968 in Frankfurt am Main . It was there that Rüger's famous tomato toss took place, with which she aired her displeasure with the lack of consideration of the women's issue in the SDS's discussions and activities to change West German society.

With an exclamation, Rüger had thrown some tomatoes in the direction of the bank of leading SDS men, one of whom met the well-known SDS leader Hans-Jürgen Krahl . Thrown vegetables or eggs were a popular form of protest of the student movement, which was used to publicly label political spokesmen who were considered to be particularly reactionary and which were now turned against their own male leadership circle from among the SDS women.

Specifically, the tomato throw prevented the men in charge of the conference from simply being able to go on to the agenda without discussion after Helke Sander's speech . According to Damm-Rüger, Sanders Platz could only be enforced in advance as a delegate for the Action Council against considerable resistance from the Berlin SDS men. In her speech, Sander had addressed the problems of women in the SDS and in society as a whole and presented the strategy of the Action Council for the liberation of women in order to achieve an alliance. This did not come about in the period that followed, which ultimately led to the disintegrating student movement that some women fought for their cause increasingly autonomously and independently of an overall movement that was also supported by men .

Spiegel and Stern reported on Sander and Rüger, with Stern devoting a more extensive article to the protest of SDS women. Manfred Bissinger quoted Rüger's motives for throwing tomatoes as follows in the Stern article: "I threw the tomatoes to encourage the girls to express their problems more emotionally and aggressively."

The tomato throw developed a signaling effect for the new women's movement in West Germany as otherwise only the later campaign “ We have drifted! “Which the women's movement in 1971 finally carried from the student environment to broader strata of society. As a result of the tomato toss, which suddenly made the criticism and demands of the SDS women of the Action Council known within the student movement, so-called “ women councils ” were founded in various university towns , which draw the public's attention to existing grievances in the situation of women through sometimes spectacular actions did.

Further life

While her tomato throw became a lasting symbol of the emerging autonomous women's movement and this continued to develop in West German society in the following decade, Sigrid Rüger took a back seat politically. Professionally, she worked at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Berlin, most recently on the topic of social qualifications and social skills, and as an author and editor she published a number of papers in the field of vocational training research, which dealt in particular with the vocational training and development of women. At the Federal Institute she also worked as a staff councilor and worked as a voluntary trade unionist for ÖTV .

Sigrid Damm-Rüger was married to Uwe Damm, whom she had met in the SDS's university policy working group, and had two daughters. She was heavily pregnant with her first daughter during her historic tomato litter, which was born about two weeks after the event.

In 1995 she died in Berlin from cancer. At her funeral at the Wilmersdorf cemetery , some women, including Halina Bendkowski , laid a wreath of tomatoes on her grave in recognition of her importance for the women's movement in Germany.

Damm-Rüger's own assessments in retrospect

Damm-Rüger's retrospective assessment of her motivation to join the SDS and the power relations in the SDS between men and women (1995):

“... I was attracted to the SDS because it discussed topics that were not otherwise discussed at the university, but which hit exactly what I was interested in, i.e. international politics, contexts, fascism, authoritarian personality structures, democracy at the University. That was at the same time that I went to the convention, i.e. the student parliament. I was interested in what you could bring in as a student, what could be changed ... All of this was discussed in the SDS. That was incredibly helpful for me. In this respect, I initially didn't even notice the balance of power [between men and women within the SDS]. I was banned thematically. Another aspect certainly contributed to the fact that I did not perceive the balance of power so strongly, namely that my friend Susanne [ Schunter-Kleemann ] brought me into the SDS. It was already inside ... it was in Berlin before me. She took me to the SDS ... So I was already involved in a women's friendship, in a women's solidarity, and I was more oriented towards it. It was often the case that women went to the SDS with their husbands, but I appeared there with a woman who already had friends there, who in turn became my friends. "

Damm-Rüger's assessment of the role of her tomato litter and the mystification of social movements in public (1988):

“I have given this title: 'Demystifying the tomato throw!' Halina [ Bendkowski ] doesn't like to hear that because she thinks that was a highlight of our movement, but I think it is bad to mystify an event, person or a whole movement. That can lead to many thinking that the great one-off throw will bring it, and you don't need to do anything yourself, or the crowd doesn't need to do anything and the others are happy that the mystification is taking place. If you then destroy some of the leading personalities from the SDS or from the student movement, then you can topple all the thoughts, all the concepts that are or were connected to this myth from the pedestal and thus destroy the whole movement. So mystifying is never good and that is why I also turned against the mystification of the tomato throw and the women's movement at this time. I would therefore like to subtitle my remarks: 'Origin of the new women's movement' or, more loosely, 'The new women's movement was overdue and the tomatoes were overripe'. "

Publications (selection)

Books: As (co-) author:

  • Social qualification in the job. A study of typical requirements in different fields of activity. Reports on vocational training, issue 192. (with Barbara Stiegler ). Bertelsmann , Bielefeld 1996, ISBN 3-7639-0698-3 .
  • Education and professional situation of women and men in East and West - results from the BIBB / IAB survey 1991/92. (with the collaboration of Dick Moraal, ed. Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Der Generalsekretär), Bertelsmann, Bielefeld 1994, ISBN 3-7639-0505-7 .

As (co-) editor:

  • Women - Training - Profession: Reality and Perspectives of the Professional Training of Women. Documentation of the contributions of a workshop on 18./19. April 1991 at the Federal Institute for Vocational Training. Conferences and expert discussions on vocational training, issue 14. (with the Federal Institute for Vocational Training, Der Generalsekretär), Verlag Bibb, Der Generalsekretär, Berlin / Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-88555-488-7 .

Essays:

  • Sensitivity in everyday working life. (with Barbara Stiegler) In: Vocational Training in Science and Practice 25 (1996) 2, pp. 35–40.
  • Job, career and employment. In: The future of dual vocational training. Nürnberg (1994) pp. 179-213.
  • Women's employment and women's training in the old and new federal states - previous development and perspectives. In: Vocational training in science and practice 22. (1993) 2, pp. 3–7.
  • Women - education - profession. Results of a workshop. In: Information for the advisory and placement services of the Federal Employment Agency. (1992) 6, pp. 319-321.
  • Comments on the recent development of the proportion of women in some qualified commercial and administrative training occupations. In: Vocational training in science and practice 19. (1990) 9, pp. 37–38.
  • Women in the Federal Republic - their previous education and training. In: Research on vocational training 24. (1990) 5, pp. 206-213.

See also

literature

Press reports at the time:

  • Students: SDS - Hü und Hott . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1968, pp. 77 ( online - report on the 23rd delegates' conference of the SDS, mentions Helke Sander and Sigrid Rüger by name and briefly touches on Sander's speech and Rüger's tomato toss).
  • Manfred Bissinger : Tomatoes for the feeling of pleasure. (Article title in the table of contents: SDS girls rehearsing the uprising. ) In: Stern , No. 39/1968, p. 32 ff. (Larger, heavily illustrated article on the displeasure of SDS women at the 23rd delegates' conference, on the speech Helke Sanders and Rügers Tomato Throw)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 30.
  2. ↑ a b c How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 31.
  3. ↑ a b c How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 33.
  4. ↑ cf. also: web.fu-berlin.de/APO-archiv/Online: Tilman Fichter, Siegward Lönnendonker: Berlin: Capital of the Revolt. The sit-in from 22./23. June 1966. March 1980. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  5. ↑ a b c d Ute Scheub : The woman who threw the tomato. In: taz , January 12, 1996.
  6. ↑ How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , pp. 34/35.
  7. ^ Foreword to the new edition by Ute Kätzel. In: Ute Kätzel (ed.): The women of 68. Portrait of a rebellious generation of women. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-274-3 . S. I.
  8. ↑ a b c (insertion in brackets not in the original text); Discussion event on anti-authoritarian claims and women's emancipation - the revolt in the revolte (part of the lecture series 1968 - Prehistory and Consequences. Freie Universität Berlin, 1988) Participants: Silvia Bovenschen , Sigrid Damm-Rüger and Sybille Plogstedt , discussion chair: Halina Bendkowski .
  9. ↑ a b c Ilse Lenz : The new women's movement in Germany. Farewell to the small difference. Selected sources. 2nd updated edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-17436-5 , p. 57.
  10. ↑ Stern : SDS girls rehearse the rebellion / tomatoes for the feeling of pleasure. Issue No. 39, September 29, 1968, p. 32ff.
  11. ↑ bpb.de: A tomato throw and its consequences. Hours of birth of the new women's movement in West Germany. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  12. ↑ bpb.de: A tomato throw and its consequences. The tomato throw. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  13. ↑ How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 29.
  14. ↑ How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 39.
  15. ↑ a b How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 25.
  16. ↑ (insertions in brackets not in the original text); How far did the tomato fly? A gala of reflection for women in 1968. Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Feminist Institute, 1st edition, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-927760-32-3 , p. 31/32.
personal data
SURNAME Damm-Rüger, Sigrid
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rüger, Sigrid (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German activist and feminist and author in the field of vocational training research
DATE OF BIRTH 1939
DATE OF DEATH 1995
Place of death Berlin