Famous Women

100 Pfg./0.51 € Grete Weiser 1903-1970.Actress,film mostly supporting parts,cabaret-singer.
issued Nov.9th,2000

110 Pfg./0.51 € Käte Strobel 1907-1996,a social democratic politician.Member of the west-german parliament 1949/72,federal minister 1966/72.
issued Nov.9th,2000

300 Pfg./1.53 € Nelly (Leonie) Sachs 1891-1970.A lyric poet and playwright.
Being jewish,she left Germany just with the last possibility in May 1940 for Sweden,where she lived till her death.
She became a swedish citizen in 1953.In 1966 she got the Nobel-Prize for Literature.
Although her Swedish was almost perfect (she translated swedish lyrics into German), she made her Nobel-Prize accepting speech in German.She said:
"I am deeply afraid of Germany and do not want to live there again,but the german language is my homeland."
issued Jan.11th,2001

Missing:
220 Pfg./1.12 € Marieluise Fleißer 1901-1974,writer and playwright.She spend more than sixty years in her hometown Ingolstadt,center of many of her works.
issued Jan.11th,2001

 

O.45 € Anette von Droste Hülshoff 1797-1848. Born as Anna Elisabeth
Franzisca Adolphina Wilhelmina Ludovica Freiin von Droste zu Hülshoff
into one of the oldest nobel families of Westphalia (her anchestry went
back for 20 generations),was the most eminent female poet and author
of 19th century Germany.All her life of poor health,she spent her later
years on Meersburg castle on the Lake Constanz.Her most famous novel
"Die Judenbuche" is still today required reading in schools in Germany.
She was also a muscian,singer and composer,but never performed in public.

0.55 € Hildegard Knef 1925-2002 was an actress and singer,as well as
author of several best-selling books.She lived some time in the US,and
became a US-citizen in 1950.She acted in many films,but mainly in Germany.
In 2000 she re-obtained her german citizenship.

both stamps were issued on Dec.27th,2002

 

1,00 € Marie Juchacz 1879-1956,born as Marie Gohlke in Landsberg Warthe (today Poland),was a social reformer and politician.
She was one of 37 women,who were elected to the "Weimar National Assembly" in 1919,after the suffrage was introduced in Germany.She was the first woman to give a speech in the german parliament.
Later in 1919 she was a co-founder and became the chair-woman of the "Workers Welfare Organization".She remained in that position till 1933,when
she had to flee from the Nazi-government.First she went to the Saar,1935
she fled to Alsace in France and at the beginning of the war on to the USA.
There she stayed till 1949. Back in Germany she became honorary chair-woman of the "Arbeiterwohlfahrt" (Workers Welfare Organization).
stamp issued Jan.16th 2003 (the last one of this series).

1,44 € Esther von Kirchbach 1894-1946,publicist,poet and pastoral worker.
As young war-widow and mother of two,she took her final school examination
as a mature student.She went to university and studied mathematics,
sociology,history and philosophy.In 1924 she married a former major,who had studied theology and had become a protestant pastor.From 1933 on,she and
her husband were prominent activists of the "Bekennende Kirche".
The protestant "Bekennende Kirche" was in opposition to the Nazi-regime and the protestant church under Reichsbishop Müller,who supported the Hitler-regime.When her husband became a military-pastor during the war,Esther
took over the leadership of his parish.
stamp issued Dec.27th,2002

This ends the definitive series "Women in the History of Germany".
Commemoratives etc. will follow.

 

Elsa Brändström (1888-1948),swedish philantropist.Born in St.Petersburg (Russia) as daughter of a swedish diplomat.
In the first world war she volunteered to work in hospitals treating wounded russian soldiers.When german prisoners of war were treated badly,she went
to help them.She even entered a train,what brought p.o.w.to Siberia and
stayed with them in a p.o.w. camp.
Later she moved to the US,where she helped german refugees,fleeing Nazi-Germany,to get visas for the US and helped,where she could.
stamp issued Oct.23rd,1951; from a set of 4;

 

Lisa del Giocondo 1479-1542,born as Lisa di Noldo Gheradini is said to be
"La Gioconda",the "Mona Lisa",painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
stamp issued April 15th,1952;

 

Elizabeth Fry 1780-1854 was an english social- and prison-reformer and philantropist.
She also worked in her field in other countries,like France and Prussia.
King Friedrich (Frederik) Wilhelm IV of Prussia was so impressed by her,
that he met her in 1842,during an official visit of Britain,in New Gate Prison.

 

Käthe Kollwitz 1867-1945;stamp issued Dec.28th,1954;
(compare with post #15)

 

stamp issued Dec.28th,1954
Bertha Pappenheim 1859 - 1936,born into a wealthy german-jewish family,
was a social worker,author and poet.
In 1907 she founded the "Jüdischer Frauenbund" (Jewish Women Association) JFB.The JFB aimed to achieve equal rights for jewish woman within the jewish community.The JFB joined the "Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine" (BDF)
(Confederation of German Women Associations) in 1907.The JFB was the biggest jewish charity orgabization in Germany with more than 50.000 members.
Pappenheim saw her greatest achievement in founding a home (1907) for illegitimate children,women saved from prostitution and women under the thread of traffic in human beings,what was not uncommon in the jewish communities in Eastern Europe.
The home in Neu Isenburg,near Frankfurt was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938,two years after Pappenheims death from cancer in 1936.
In her early twenties she suffered badly from "hysteria".Her doctor,
Josef Breuer together with Sigmund Freud wrote a study about her case:
"Patient Anna O.",the theoretical foundation of the psychoanalysis.
Freud later called Pappenheim (Anna O.) the founder of the psychoanalysis.

 

Amalie Sievekind 1794-1859,born,lived and died in Hamburg.
She was a social welfare worker and philantropist.
From a deep christian feeling,she worked to help the poor,foremost girls
and young woman,to give them education,health care and christian faith.
Born into one of the leading families in Hamburg,she not only organized
help for the poor,but also worked manually.When in Hamburg a cholera
epidemic broke out,she worked as a nurse,but soonly was asked to
organize the whole undertaking.
She has a place in the protestant calendar of saints.
Stamp issued Nov.15th,1955.

 

Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910) was an english nurse and social reformer.
She helped to inroduce the modern western professional nursing education.
She worked on the same field in India and fought for social reforms to help the native population.
She was also a good mathematician,specializing in statistics.
stamp issued Nov.15th,1955;

 

Only two women were commemorated in the 1961/65 defintive series of 16 stamps "Important Germans".
Same stamps with the additional inscription "Berlin" were issued for West-Berlin.

1 DM: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff,see post #23 in this thread.

7 Pfg.: Elisabeth von Thüringen 1207-1231.
Elisabeth was a daughter of the king of Hungary. At the age of four she
was sent to Thuringia to grow up in the family of her future husband.
When fourteen she married the then twenty-one year old Count Ludwig of Thuringia.
At the time the court of Thuringia,together with that of Austria,was "the"
centre of german cultural life.
However the couple had only few years (and three children) together,because Ludwig went on a the crusade led by Emperor Friederich II.This was in 1227.
The count died on his way to the meeting place of the crusaders.
Elisabeth turned to religion,in an even more radical way than before.
She renounced her riches and went to work for the poor and sick.
Her riches were mainly grabbed by her relatives,although the pope put her under his guard.
She did do preferably the lower works,like serving lepers.She ate very little and castigated herself excessively.
So she ruined her health and died young,aged 24 years.
Few years later she was canonized.She was and maybe is by some people regarded as the "National Saint of Germany".
She also is a saint for the protestants,as a symbol for selfless brotherly love.

commemorating Elisabeth´ 750th death anniversary,issued Nov.12th,1981

 

Helene Mayer 1910-1953 was a German/US-American foil fencer.
She won the german championships six times 1925-1930.
In the Amsterdam Olympics 1928 she won the gold medal.
She studied international law in Frankfurt/Main and Paris.
1931 she won a scholarship to study in Calfornia.
In the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932,she ended as fifth,because
her studies left little time for training.
When the Nazis came to power,she lost her scholarship,because she
was a "Halb-Jude".(Her father was jewish,but not her mother.)
She stayed in the US,where she won the national foil fencing
championships eight times between 1934 and 1946.
Under pressure by the american public and the IOC the Nazis were
forced to let her compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Starting for Germany she won the silver-medal.
In 1937 she won the first (foil-) fencing world championships.
Shortly after that,she immigrated to the US and became a US-citizen
in 1940.
In 1952 she returned to Germany and married.
She died in October 1953 from breast cancer.

stamp issued June 6th,1968,in a set of 5,commemorating
the Mexico Olympics;

 

10 Pfg.Marie Juchacz see #23
20 Pfg.Marie-Elisabeth Lüders see #w21
30 Pfg.Helene Weber 1881-1962 was a catholic educator,women´s rights activist and politician.
Being a teacher,she went to study history,philosophy and romanistic 1905-1909.
She went back to teaching,but after WW I she became a high official in the school ministery of Prussia.
She was a member of the Reichstag 1924-1933 and of the Bundestag 1949-1962.
She was regarded as the most powerful women of the Christian Democratic Party.
Her most famous remark: "Der reine Männerstaat ist das Verderben der Völker" (the pure menstate is the undoing of people).
s.s. "50th anniversary of women´s franchise",issued Aug.11th,1969.

 

issued Jan.15th,1974

Luise Otto-Peters 1819-1895 was a womens rights activist,author,
poet and publicist.
From a middle class background,she was engaged in the fight of working-class people,especially women,for a decent life and equal rights.

Helene Lange 1848-1930 was a educationalist,women´s rights activist,philosopher and politician.
She fought successfully for equal education possibilities for
women and men.

Gertrud Bäumer 1873-1954 was an close associate,professional and private of Helene Lange.
She was a member of the Reichstag 1920-1932 and a high official
in the home office of Prussia.
She followed Lange as chairwoman of the BDF (Federation of
German Women´s associations).

Rosa Luxemburg 1871-1919 born in Russian Poland,was a marxist-socialist politician.
Highly educated,speaking more than six languages,she was a brilliant student in Zürich.In 1897 she moved to Germany,where she married
a metal-worker in order to obtain the german citizenship.
She was a prominent member of the socialist movements in Poland
and Germany.
During the WW I she broke with the Social Democratic Party,who supported the german war efforts and spend most of the war-years
in prison.After the end of the war,she was a co-founder of the Communist Party of Germany.She was the author of the parties programm.
On Jan.15th,1919 she was murdered in Berlin by a right wing military command,together with the chairman of the communist party,
Karl Liebknecht.

 

My avatar, Clara Maass, was a nurse who volunteered to be bitten by a mosquito during research on Yellow Fever and died as a result in 1901. Here are a few more famous women depicted on stamps from my collection.

 

Writers,issued Jan.15th,1975

30 Pfg. Anette Kolb 1875-1967
40 Pfg. Richarda Huch 1860-1947
50 Pfg. Else Lasker-Schüler 1869-1945
70 Pfg. Gertrud von le Fort 1876-1971

 

Molokai,
it is a well made stamp indeed !
I did not know Ayn Rand at all,apart from your post and the Wikipedia
articles.I read them now again and spotted that there is a translation
of "Atlas Shrugged" into German.I will have a look,wether I can find
it in the library.But I am not too optimistic.Rand was most likely "too
american" to make her popular here.She seems to have been on that
side of the US-society,what is so utterly disliked here.You could nicely
see how deep the rift between the current US-administration and Europe
(here especially France and Germany) has become,whatching the
exchanges at the Munic conference last week.The relations are very
close to open hostility.Trump´s popularity here rivals with that of
Kim of North-Korea !