Women's welfare association
The Frauenwohl association was first founded by Minna Cauer in Berlin in 1888 with the aim of promoting the emergence of associations of the same name in Gdansk, Königsberg, Frankfurt a. Or to promote Breslau, Bonn, Bromberg, Rudolstadt and finally also in Hamburg. This should promote the basic demands for equal rights for women in all areas.
The association was founded in Hamburg at the end of 1895 and, like four other associations, its headquarters were in the women's center founded by Lida Gustava Heymann at Paulstrasse 9 in Hamburg. Lida Gustava Heymann and especially Minna Cauer came to the fore as founders .
The contents of the association overlapped with those of the local branch of the General German Women's Association (founded in Hamburg in 1895), there were big differences in the way it worked and in the political process: “In the Frauenwohl association there were never cautious ifs and buts, it was never asked whether this or that would provoke offense in the authorities or in the upper class Hamburg circles and families. The association Frauenwohl protested with undisguised objectivity against everything that seemed unjust to it, it criticized it at public meetings and in the press, it made its demands and did not make any compromises ”.
Demands of the association
- Uniform association law for all of Germany
- Employment of doctors in schools, by the health insurance company, the moral police, in prison
- A complete transformation of the prison system
- Thorough reform of the girls' school system
- Expansion of the employment of women, in particular of new occupations of a scientific and industrial nature
activities
- Holding meetings and discussions on current political issues
- Courses on civic education, constitution, guardianship, political parties
- Prisoners were visited and given social interception following their sentences
Foundation of a reform school for girls
While the reform school was founded by the Frauenwohl Association , the Hamburg General German Women's Association initiated high school courses for girls that had already been carried out in other cities at the endeavors of Helene Lange . But while the girls were given the necessary skills for the Abitur as quickly as possible, the reform school should be based on the following criteria: Girls should be able to achieve university entrance qualification, the school should be based on the principle of co-education and the "full-fledged human development of children ”was the focus. The curricula were largely drawn up by Anita Augspurg and Käthe Schirmacher , and the educationalist Else Pfleiderer acted as the unofficial director . However, while the high school courses even survived the First World War, the reform school was closed again in 1905 due to great resistance.
The motto of the graduation ceremony was: “The person is worthy of admiration who completely fulfills the position where he stands. No matter how small the sphere of activity, it is large in its kind ”(Twellmann quoted from Schiller).
literature
- Margit Twellmann (ed.): Experienced, seen: German women fight for freedom, law and peace; 1850-1940. Lida Gustava Heymann and Anita Augspurg, 1941 . Helmer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1992, ISBN 3-927164-43-7
- Minna Cauer: 25 years of the Frauenwohl Groß-Berlin association , Loewenthal [print], Berlin 1913, digital version