Unheard of - the history of the German women's movement from 1830 to today

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This recording of Anita Augspurg , Marie Stritt , Lily von Gizycki , Minna Cauer and Sophia Goudstikker from 1896 was made available by ARD as part of the press work for the series and illustrated many of the press articles. It was later used as the cover picture of the book publication Unheard of .

Unheard of - The history of the German women's movement from 1830 to the present day was a 12-part television series that was broadcast from April to June 1987 on the third channelsof ARD . Four editors - Barbara Schönfeldt ( NDR ), Inge von Bönninghausen ( WDR ), Gudrun Güntheroth and Beate Veldtrup ( HR ) - were responsiblefor the chronologically structured series. Because of the complexity of the cross-channel collaboration and the "delaying tactics" of the editors' superiors, the series had an unusually long preparation time of four years. Nine directors made the individual film contributions: Claudia von Alemann , Christina von Braun , Margit Eschenbach , Ann Schäfer, Ulle Schröder, Vikki Schaefer, Sabine Zurmühl, Ula Stöckl and Ingrid Oppermann.

The series had an unusually strong response. While the press emphasized the importance of the series, but rather criticized the result, the viewers were enthusiastic. Because it was the first television series on women's history on German-language television, the series was considered an "exceptional case in television history " from an early stage .

production

In 1977, autonomous women's groups from the public broadcasters met for the first time . All professions from radio and television were represented. The women discussed working conditions, the underrepresentation of women and discrimination as well as the women-free programs on their channels. From this the annual autumn meeting of women in the media developed . A little later the Association of Women Film Workers came into being. In 1980, the WDR program “ Frauen-Studien ” started, for which Inge von Bönninghausen was responsible. In 1984 the program " Women Questions " followed.

With the DC circuit of the women's organizations in the era of National Socialism, the Tradition was the first German women's movement has been canceled. In the 1970s and 1980s, their history was hardly known. It was only rediscovered and worked on with the new women's movement. The NDR editor Barbara Schönfeldt noticed when reading texts from the women's movement from the 19th century that the content corresponded to current topics. From 1982 she first tried to organize a series on the history of the women's movement internally at NDR, which could not be realized for financial reasons. Then she got in touch with the editors of the other stations, whom she knew from the autumn meetings of the media women. As Bönninghausen later told, they knew each other because the number of women in the media was manageable and because there was a keen interest in the work of the other women. There were also networks between the editors and women historians, e. B. between Schönfeldt and Karin Hausen , who had developed through the summer universities for women in Berlin.

In 1984 Schönfeldt organized a 2½-day meeting with the other three editors and many filmmakers and historians from the NDR. Then the four editors tried to jointly produce a television series under the leadership of the NDR. Schönfeldt later said that they wanted to show that women were repeatedly deliberately suppressed or kept secret. Women struggled to show that they are human. The cooperation was financially motivated, but also served to strengthen, as the topic was difficult to implement on the broadcasters. Schönfeldt emphasized in an interview: "Of course, we quickly realized that we would have to stand like a woman's wall if we wanted to develop this in three channels." However, due to the cooperation, it took until 1987 before the series could be broadcast. The company repeatedly delayed the delaying technique of the superiors in the broadcasters. In principle, the superiors agreed with the series, but there were always new objections. The production of the series was an expensive enterprise for the time, the budget was a little over a million marks.

The editors selected female directors and authors whom they knew either personally or through their films. Claudia von Alemann and Christina von Braun, for example, had already made films about historical women's issues , Sabine Zurmühl had appeared as editor of the feminist magazine Courage and as a documentary filmmaker .

concept

The editors wanted to do something about the "lack of history" of women at the time. The ambiguous title of the series alluded to this: an unheard of (unknown) story and unheard of that it had not yet been told (heard). The historians Ute Gerhard and Herrad-Ulrike Bussemer developed the historical-chronological concept, which was based on the preparatory work with the filmmakers and the responsible editors. However, Ute Gerhard was later disappointed with the series. Collecting material for the film was difficult and, as the two historians put it, “laborious”. The directors also had to look for photos in the newspaper archives, they had to - so Bönninghausen later - do research and implementation.

The series was structured chronologically, with each program having a focus. As the editors stated, they made a conscious decision not to orientate themselves on the milestones of male-dominated political history . For example, in 1870/71 they would not have focused on the battles, but on what the emerging national consciousness meant for the image of women. The television series was based on everyday women and focused on aspects such as B. work and wages, politics, sexuality, upbringing and education, culture, family. Bönninghausen later described the series as an experiment in which the mass medium of television was used for the first time to tell an “unknown” story “from the point of view of those who are heirs to this story”. The lack of available images posed a problem. So you had to think about the staging, re-enactment was not an established method of filmmaking history at that time.

Because the individual programs were made by different filmmakers, the editors wanted to show the subjective attitudes towards the story. They hoped that this would make it easier for viewers to identify with the films. A woman from today portrayed by the actress Lore Stefanek served as a “ red thread ” through the individual programs in the series. The editors came up with this idea in order to establish the films as a series and to prevent the stations from picking out individual films and not broadcasting the series as a whole. But it was up to the individual filmmakers how they used the character. In Alemann's films, Lore was a silent observer of historical characters. Braun, on the other hand, let her interpret the events in their aftermath and think further, whereas Zurmühl asked the figure whether it was appropriate for those born later to criticize the people of 1914 for their enthusiastic engagement in the war. At Alemann's, Lore worked in a room that was reminiscent of a real factory ruin; at Braun and Zurmühl, it was in a loft with a desk, editing area and sofa.

Parts of the series

The individual parts of the series (each 45 minutes):

No. title Filmmaker Produced by First broadcast description
1 The next century will be ours (1830-1848) Claudia von Alemann MR 04/10/1987 The film presented stages in the lives of four protagonists of the women's movement from the pre- March period : Kathinke Zitz , Mathilde Franziska Anneke , Louise Aston and Louise Otto-Peters . Verbatim quotes from the women featured were presented in a collage . A continuous chronological storyline was dispensed with. Instead, the red thread figure Lore was looking for facts about the four women and about time, focusing on everyday experiences of the time.
2 We'd rather fly than crawl (1848–1860) Claudia von Alemann MR 04/17/1987 The film showed the experiences of Kathinke Zitz, Mathilde Franziska Anneke, Louise Aston and Louise Otto-Peters after the failed revolution of 1948 . As in the first part, no chronological plot was shown. Instead, verbatim quotations from the protagonists were assembled into a whole.
3 New railways (1865–1880) Christina von Braun WDR 04/24/1987 The film told of the founding of the General German Women's Association in 1865 and the Lette Association and how this new beginning of the women's movement was soon hampered by the new "patriotic" ideal of masculinity and femininity that manifested itself after the establishment of the Reich . The protagonists presented were: Louise Otto-Peters, Auguste Schmidt , Henriette Goldschmidt , Jenny Hirsch , Hedwig Dohm and Lina Morgenstern .
4th The struggle for education (1880–1908) Christina von Braun WDR 05/01/1987 The focus of the women's movement in the 19th century was the struggle for education. The film showed the different approaches to education within the women's movement. The filmmaker assembled dialogues from original quotes and in this way let the champions fight verbal battles among themselves. The protagonists shown are Helene Lange , Hedwig Dohm, Franziska Tiburtius , Hedwig Kettler , Marie Stritt .
5 The stubborn ladies (1895–1908) Margit Eschenbach NDR 05/08/1987 The contribution dealt with the heterogeneous morality movement, which partly opposed the prevailing double standards, partly established homes for " fallen girls " and demanded punishments for prostitutes and clients . Excerpts from silent films , e.g. B. with Asta Nielsen , showed the effects of the moral ideas of the time . The protagonists shown are Minna Cauer , Lida Gustava Heymann and Helene Stöcker .
6th The Right to Women - The Suffrage Movement (1850–1919) Ann Schäfer, Ulle Schröder, Vikki Schaefer NDR 05/15/1987 There were also different currents in the voting rights movement. The film showed the so-called moderate and radical wings of bourgeois women and the proletarian movement. From the turn of the century, the activists founded voting rights organizations to fight for women's suffrage. The film used the trick technique to structure the diverse information. Important protagonists were Anita Augspurg, Lida Gustava Heymann, Minna Cauer, Lily von Gizycki (Lily Braun), Marie Stritt, Clara Zetkin , Auguste Kirchhoff , Minna Bahnson .
7th We shall prove ourselves worthy (1914-1918) Sabine Zurmühl WDR 05/22/1987 After the outbreak of World War I, women too were seized by the national exuberance. The Federation of German Women's Associations and the Social Democrats worked together in the National Women's Service . Pacifist women, on the other hand, tried to counter the enthusiasm for war at international congresses in The Hague and Bern . Important protagonists were Helene Lange, Alice Salomon , Anita Augspurg, Lida Gustava Heymann, Toni Sender , Gertrud Bäumer , Marie-Elisabeth Lüders .
8th Basically equal rights (1918–1924) Ula Stöckl, Ulle Schröder NDR 05/29/1987 Women's suffrage was introduced after the end of the war . But after the first Reichstag election, the proportion of women in parliament was no more than 10%. Based on the discussion on the Weimar Constitution on the civil rights and duties of men and women, the filmmakers used many quotations to show the different points of view within the women's movement and among women parliamentarians. As with the following film, the search for the past itself was the subject of the film. Important participants were Anita Augspurg, Lida Gustava Heymann, Helene Stöcker, Gertrud Baer , Marie Juchacz , Gertrud Bäumer , Clara Zetkin, Käthe Kollwitz .
9 Is there nobody helping us? (1924–1933) Ula Stöckl, Ulle Schröder NDR 06/05/1987 The film dealt with the downside of the so-called " Roaring Twenties ". More than 800,000 women had illegal abortions annually, and thousands died. On abortion was prison . A mass campaign against § 218 arose. As with the previous film, the search for the past itself was the subject of the film. The protagonists were Helene Stöcker, Lida Gustava Heymann, Anita Augspurg, Gertrud Baer, ​​Marie Juchacz, Clara Zetkin, Auguste Kirchhoff, Luise Zietz , Gertrud Bäumer.
10 End of the Beginning (1933–1948) Ingrid Oppermann NDR 06/12/1987 The woman under National Socialism should find her destiny in marriage and as a mother and should limit herself to "essential" activities. The film used material from newsreel and cultural films that were supposed to convey this image of women - especially during the Second World War, so that the “home front” did not waver.
11 Time of displacement, time of reconstruction (1949–1959) Margit Eschenbach NDR 06/19/1987 With Art. 3 of the Basic Law, the “ mothers of the Basic Law ” enforced equality between men and women as a constitutional goal. In the post-war period, the women's movement was initially barely visible. The film showed excerpts from the weekly newsreel , which was popular at the time , which showed queens and movie stars as well as the radiant housewife who was enjoying her new kitchen. Four women who were involved in this conservative period told of their activities for the peace movement and against nuclear armament.
12 Except men we have nothing to lose (since 1968) Sabine Zurmühl WDR 06/26/1987 The film focused on the new women's movement.

Charisma

The series was first broadcast almost simultaneously in the third programs of Nordschiene (NDR, SFB, RB), WDR and HR: on WDR every Friday at 9 p.m. (from April 10, 1987), on NDR, SFB and RB each Saturdays at 8:15 p.m. (from April 11, 1987) and in HR on Sundays at 9:05 p.m. (from April 12, 1987). It was announced as a "history lesson from the perspective of women". At the end, a one and a half hour final discussion was broadcast.

The editors hoped that the series would be taken over by other television companies. Even in the popular magazines and press reports, despite the criticism in detail, there were repeated calls to repeat the series and, above all, to show it in the first program. However, the series was only repeated in the spring of 1988 in the North 3 broadcasting area (NDR, RB, SFB).

At a retrospective of Ula Stöckl's films, the ninth program in the series was shown again in Berlin in February 2018.

Reception and criticism

More than 70 press articles on the series appeared during the first broadcast. The reporting was mostly positive, but criticism was also voiced. The lack of a “classification, evaluation and critical review” of the history of the women's movement was criticized. Only the final discussion after the actual series would have ensured this. The series was "drowned in the abundance of material": "Words, words, words streamed out of the television set, mostly clumsy, dry and so overloaded with data, facts, names that after a short time the head just spun." Given the abundance of material some of the authors and directors would have lost “all dramaturgical vigor” and put together “collages from the smallest pieces of information”. At the same time, the restriction to the history of the women's movement was criticized, whereby emancipatory models such as Rahel von Varnhagen , Bettina von Arnim , Ricarda Huch and Rosa Luxemburg would have remained hidden. The concept of the “red thread figure” was also not well received, she was a “woman of today” without a profile of her own who asked no questions. It was also criticized that the history of the women's movement was treated solely as a topic by women for women and was not used for cross-gender communication on the historical basis of current gender roles.

The opening show was widely criticized for its "paper purism". It would have been a "reading exercise", as if Aleman had "not wanted to put any of the precious texts back into oblivion". In contrast, the films made by Christina von Braun were positively mentioned. She had succeeded in “perforating” and “blowing up” the “unfortunate conceptual corset”, she had managed to “assemble witty comedic dialogues [...]” from the original quotes. The contribution to the voting rights movement was also well received, stating that it was “confidently related to the topic and at the same time staged in a media-friendly manner”. In addition, Eschenbach's program on morality and Stöckl's film about the first years of the Weimar Republic were praised.

When it was first broadcast in the broadcasting areas of NDR, HR and WDR, the audience ratings were between 1% and 8%. In absolute numbers, the series was watched in 30,000 to 380,000 households. The editorial offices of the participating broadcasters received more than 200 communications about the series. In addition, there were numerous requests for information material and personal letters to individual filmmakers, mostly from women and with a few exceptions positive.

Karen Hagemann attributed the discrepancy between audience and press reactions to the fact that the audience was thrilled to have learned something about the foreign and unknown history of the women's movement and that they did not take content-related and formal objections so seriously. On the other hand, those women who had already dealt more intensively with the subject or were involved in the new women's movement expressed themselves critically.

Accompanying project

Due to the media-political and historical significance of the television series, the Institute for History of the TU Berlin carried out an interdisciplinary project, the focus of which was a series of events lasting twelve evenings. Together with the filmmakers, the function, possibilities and difficulties of historical women's projects on television were discussed. Above all, the historical overall concept of the series was discussed. The largely chronological structure and the time weighting were controversial because it prevented thematic priorities from being set and too little reference to the current situation could be made. In addition, the development since 1945 would have been neglected. The proletarian women's movement would have been neglected. The "red thread" scenes would not have been implemented convincingly. All in all, however, the result could be impressive - despite tight funds and time pressure - because a broader audience was first informed about the history of the German women's movement.

Book publication

The soon-to-be publication of an accompanying book for the series was announced when it was first broadcast in autumn 1987. But Ute Gerhard, with the assistance of Ulla Wischermann , was only able to publish the book (under the same title as the television series) in 1992. In the preliminary remark, Gerhard pointed out that Schönefeldt had initiated the book, but a "quick" book was not possible, since it was only a "first step", a first preparation of the buried and of the historical science until then disregarded story acted.

literature

  • Unheard of. The history of the German women's movement from 1830 to today - from April in the third programs . In: Further education and media . tape 10 , no. 2 , 1987, pp. 15-44 .
  • Karen Hagemann: Showing women as acting objects of history. Wrap-up of the television series “Unheard” . In: Further education and media . tape 12 , no. 2 , 1989, pp. 46-48 .
  • Inge von Bönninghausen: An unheard of story. The rediscovery of the first women's movement . In: Claudia Lenssen, Bettina Schoeller-Bouju (ed.): How did you do it? Records of women and films . Schüren, Marburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89472-881-6 , pp. 61-63 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Unheard of. The history of the German women's movement from 1830 to today - from April in the third programs (introduction) . In: Further education and media . tape 10 , no. 2 , 1987, pp. 16 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Karen Hagemann: Show women as acting objects of history. Wrap-up of the television series “Unheard” . In: Further education and media . tape 12 , no. 2 , 1989, pp. 46-48 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Inge von Bönninghausen: An unheard of story. The rediscovery of the first women's movement . In: Claudia Lenssen, Bettina Schoeller-Bouju (ed.): How did you do it? Records of women and films . Schüren, Marburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89472-881-6 , pp. 61-63 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Susanne Kinnebrock: A lack of history is wrong! In: Feminist Studies . tape 35 , no. 1 , 2017, ISSN  0723-5186 , p. 93-102 , doi : 10.1515 / fs-2017-0007 ( degruyter.com [accessed on December 9, 2018]).
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g "The stubborn ladies". A conversation with Barbara Schönfeldt (NDR), Inge von Bönninghausen (WDR) and Beate Veldtrup (HR) . In: Further education and media . tape 10 , no. 2 , 1987, pp. 17-20 .
  6. ↑ Friederike Herrmann: Having fun in the argument. For the feminist scientist, equality is a question of humanity . In: The time . February 22, 1991 ( zeit.de ).
  7. ↑ a b c d Susanne Mayer : How much longer? TV preview . In: The time . April 10, 1987, p. 62 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l 12x “Unheard of”: the films . In: Further education and media . tape 10 , no. 2 , 1987, pp. 21-25 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Eva-Maria Lenz: Only the man grudges her. As a series in the third programs: “Unheard of - the history of the German women's movement” . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . April 10, 1987, p. 29 .
  10. ↑ a b Roland Timm: “Basically Equal Rights” (1918–1924) . In: Further education and media . tape 10 , no. 2 , 1987, pp. 26 .
  11. ↑ a b Ula Stöckl - Contributions to the history of the German women's movement. Retrieved December 23, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Roland Timm: “Doesn't anyone help us?” (1924–1933) . In: Further education and media . tape 10 , no. 2 , 1987, pp. 27 .
  13. ↑ a b c Mechthild Zschau: Drowned in the abundance of material. Chance wasted: “Unheard of - the history of the German women's movement” in the third programs . In: Süddeutsche . July 8, 1987, p. 26 .
  14. ^ Ula Stöckl retrospective. Accessed December 23, 2018 (German).
  15. ↑ a b c d Jutta Sehling: Television - History of the women's movement . In: Journal of History . No. 5 , 1987, pp. 54-59 .
  16. ^ Ute Gerhard: Unheard of. The history of the German women's movement . Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-499-18377-3 ( arsfemina.de [accessed December 23, 2018] The full text of the book (without images) is available online at ars femina.).