Sophie Then
Sophie Dann (born March 3, 1900 in Augsburg ; † December 18, 1993 in Sharpthorne , Sussex ) was a German / English kindergarten teacher, pedagogue, infant sister , founder of a mothers' school and employee of Anna Freud .
Life
Sophie came from an old, well-respected Jewish family. Her father Albert Dann (born 1868) was a "Kommerzienrat", synagogue commissioner and benefactor of the city of Augsburg. He was the owner of a short and manufactured goods company. Albert Dann came from Frankfurt am Main , his wife Fanny, nee. Kitzinger (born 1876), from Fürth . The couple married in 1899 and had a total of five daughters: Sophie, Thea (* 1901, died in 1918), Elisabeth (* 1906), Gertrud (* 1908) and Lotte (* 1912). The Jewish family ran a hospitable house ... in which many well-known personalities frequented, such as Martin Buber and the 'doll mother' Käthe Kruse . The eldest of the Dann sisters, after elementary school, attended the Protestant Anna Barbara von Stettensches Institute in Augsburg .
After training as a kindergarten teacher and infant nurse, Dann founded the mothers' school of the Augsburg women's association in 1930, and was also the manager of the home care association. In 1933 she had to give up her job because of her "Jewish infiltration" and worked in welfare work for the Jewish community. In 1939 she emigrated to Great Britain with her sister Gertrud . Then Dann made a difficult living as a domestic servant. From 1941 she worked as head of the infant, toddler and sick department at the Hampstead Nursersies war children's home in London, which was run by Sigmund Freud's daughter , Anna Freud. Dann published two papers about her work: Kriegskinder (1942) and Anstaltskinder (1943).
From 1945, Dann, who assumed British citizenship in 1946, looked after six orphans from the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Sussex . The children weren't quite three or nearly four years old; they had no idea of real food, were just used to some porridge, had never seen toys, knew no flowers or trees, no shops and of course no real apartments either. They ... spoke an utterly incomprehensible mixture of languages . On this extremely difficult and stressful work, Dann published her observations on young children adapting to the new language , a sad and at the same time hopeful report.Then Dann worked as a secretary at the 'Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic', caring for people in need.
Dann spent the last years of her life with her sister in a retirement home in County Sussex.
Publications
- Sophie Then: Observations on young children adapting to a new language. In: School and Psychology. 1960, pp. 375-381.
- Anna Freud, Dorothy T. Burlingham, Sophie Then: Homeless Children: on the application of psychoanalytic knowledge to raising children. Frankfurt am Main 1971.
literature
- Manfred Berger : Leading women in social responsibility: Sophie Dann. In: Christ and Education. H. 10, 1994, p. 315.
- Then, S .: she only lived for others. In: G. Römer (Ed.): Four sisters. Memories of Elisabeth, Lotte, Sophie and Gertrud Dann from Augsburg. Augsburg 1998, pp. 23-65.
- E. Findel, I. Löffler, A. Schmucker (Ed.): Augsburger Frauenlexikon. Augsburg 2006, pp. 36-37.
- G. Römer: Swabian Jews. Life and achievements from two centuries. Augsburg 1990, pp. 200-209.
- H. Wilhelm: Sophie Then. In: A. Zellhuber (Ed.): Augsburgerinnen. Augsburg 2014, pp. 119-137.
Web links
- Sophie Then in the Augsburg city dictionary
Individual evidence
- ↑ Findel / Löffler / Schmucker 2006, p. 37.
- ^ Then 1998, p. 47.
- ↑ Findel / Löffler / Schmucker 2006, p. 38.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Then, Sophie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German kindergarten teacher, baby sister, founder of a mothers' school and employee of Anna Freud |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 3, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | augsburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | 18th December 1993 |
| Place of death | Sharpthorne , Sussex |