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Xerox University Microfilms 76-18,038 SANFORD, Jutta Schroers, 1944- THE ORIGINS OF GERMAN FEMINISM: GERMAN WOMEN 1789-1870. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1976 History, Europe Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 4i PLEASE NOTE; Page 63 not available for microfilming. Filmed as received from the graduate school. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS THE OEIGINS OF GERMAN FEMINISM: GERMAN WOMEN I789-I87O DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy In the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jutta Schroers Sanford, B.A., M.A, The Ohio State University 1976 Reading Committee : Approved By Dr. Andreas Dorpalen Dr. Harold Grimm Dr. John C. Rule Adviser Department of History PREFACE Considerable attention has lately been devoted to the development of feminism, especially the organized women's movement of the latter part of the 19th century. Early feminism, however, is quite interesting as well and the purpose of this dissertation is to examine early German feminism and present a fuller account of the women of the period of 17&9 to 1870. The sources on early German feminism are varied. There are scattered references to early women through­ out the literature of the iSth and first part of the 19th century. Letters and diaries of the women of that period are interesting as well and help to draw a more complete picture of women of the period in question. Works by 18th and 19th century women are also important ; many of these works are no longer known and often seem to have been lost. In locating some of the works by iSth and early 19th century women, the"staff of the Stadt- und Universitâtsbib- liothek, Frankfurt/Main gave me invaluable help. I would like to express my thanks to them; thanks also to the staff of the Bundesarchiv Abt. Frankfurt and the staff of the Stadtarchiv Mainz. Special thanks to Ms, Thea Eyemuller of the Freie Deutsche Hochstift, Frankfurt/Main. I would also like to express ray appreciation to Professor Andreas Dorpalen for the encouragement and help which he has given me throughout this undertaking. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to my husband and daughter who have been so very patient and understanding. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to them. January 2 6 , 1944 Born - Frankfurt/Main, Germany 1962 Abitur, Schillerschule, Gymnasium für Kâdchen, Frankfurt/Main. West Germany 1962-1963 student, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat, Frankfurt/Main, West Germany 1 # 6 B.A., University of Maryland 1970 M.A., The Ohio State University 1970-1975 Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY 19th Century European History Professor Andreas Dorpalen Henaissance-Reformation Professor Harold Grimm Early Modern Europe- Professor John C. Rule Tudor-Stuart England Professor Clayton Roberts TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ..................................... 11 VITA ........................................ Iv INTRODUCTION .......... 1 Chapter I. GERMAN WOMEN IN THE SOCIETY OF THE 18TH CENTURY......................... 4 II. THE INFLUENCE OF ROUSSEAU; A TEMPORARY SETBACK FOR WOMEN.................... 2? III. THE FIRST SOCIAL CRITICS ........... 43 -IV. THE EMANCIPATION OF THE M I N D ........ 63 V. THE JEWISH WOMEN OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD.............................. 90 VI. A PERIOD OF TRANSITION.............. 117 VII. THE CONTRIBUTION OF 1848 ............ 132 VIII. ORGANIZATION..... 149 CONCLUSION V . ... .. ..'.................. 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................ I85 INTHODUCTION When women in many countries received the right to vote after World War I, it seemed as if the final goal of the women's movement had been achieved. Fifty years after they obtained the right to vote, the importance of this accomplishment is seriously questioned. It appears that with the achievement of suffrage the different women's movements had spent themselves and receded into the back­ ground or disappeared altogether.^ As a result, today, despite the fact that women gained the right to vote and even constitute the majority of the electorate, they are still underrepresented in many activities and have not achieved equality with men. The granting of suffrage did not eliminate the inferior position of women, because "the image of women, as we know it, is an image created by men and fashioned to suit their n e e d s . "2 Thus women have only slowly been able to break out of their tradi­ tional roles of economic dependence, domestic workhorse and childbearer. "As the struggle for equality between the sexes goes on, it has become popular to take a look at the history of the women's movement, to see how and when women began to break out of their assigned roles. 2 This dissertation, too, is concerned with the history of the women's movement, specifically the history of its German version. It will discuss the time when German women became socially and politically more active in the period of the l84o's to the 1870's, but will go back even before the l840's, those years of unrest and revolution, when some women had already concerns that went far beyond Kinder. Ktlche und Kirche. During the 18th and early 19th centuries these con­ cerns were mostly social in nature and some women acted as social critics. 'Social' refers in this context to the individual's place in society, and as women began to feel that they had a place and a responsibility in a society, which at the same time greatly restricted them, they often became critical of that society. Some expressed compassion with the poor, the peasant and the artisan who suffered from the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Some were concerned with the position of Jews because many of these women were Jewish. Many women were concerned with edu­ cation, as it seemed basic to progress in society, and the demand for a good education began spreading. Still others championed -the idea of women's rights. This in­ tellectual emancipation became the basis for an organized women's movement in the second half of the 19th century. These early beginnings of the women's movement in Germany thus are a worthwhile subject for investigation. NOTES TO INTRODUCTION %a t e Millett, Sexual Politics (Garden City, N.Y.; Doubleday, 1970), pp. Ô3 ff. ^Ibld.. p. 46. CHAPTEH I GEBMAN WOMEN IN THE SOCIETY OF THE 18TH CENTURY Traditionally, women were subjected to men; most known societies have been patriarchies in which women played the inferior role. The position of women in Western society has been forged within the framework of the family which was patriarchal. The head of the family, the patriarch, was the fountain of power and stature. His power was based on traditions, his apparent physical strength and the belief that it al­ ways existed and could not be changed. This belief in the authority of the head of the family is a very old and strong one. Those who are subordinated must re­ gard the powers of the head of the family as legitimate and legal. The rights derived from this power was the munt.^ Themunt is the power over all that are under the rule of the head of the family. The patriarch, the owner of the munt. can only be a man and must be free. He has the power-over his house, and he alone has the use of the symbol of his freedom: the sword. He alone can own land, because the land was fought for and protected with the sword.^ Therefore, those with­ out weapons cannot take part in the possession of land.^ The head of the family also acted on behalf of the family, women had no influence on the affairs of the family outside the immediate concerns of the household. With the advent of Christianity the position of women changed only slightly. They did not receive earthly equality, but spiritual equality in their relationship to God. But Christianity did not loosen the bond of complete dependence on the man and in many ways the inferior role of women was continued and reaffirmed.