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born September 12, 1873 in Hohenlimburg (now part of Hagen), Germany
died March 25, 1954 in Bethel near Bielefeld, Germany
German women's rights activist, politician and writer
150th birthday on September 12, 2023
For three decades, from 1900 on, Gertrud Bäumer stood with Helene Lange at the head of the “moderate wing” of the bourgeois women's movement in Germany. Together they edited the monthly journal Die Frau and the Handbuch der Frauenbewegung. Today many high schools in Germany bear Lange's or Bäumer's name, for they campaigned for equal rights particularly in the areas of women's education, training and employment. As a politician, Bäumer worked in the Reichstag (parliament), the Ministry of the Interior and the League of Nations. When she was dismissed from these posts in 1933, she turned to writing and experienced equal success as an author.
Gertrud Bäumer was born in Hohenlimburg, now a district of Hagen, in 1873. Her paternal ancestors spanned "generations of pastors." Her father Emil was a pastor who however had to serve in schools, due to “his frank and audacious views," which were at odds with official church doctrine. "Our mother was - the mother." (Bäumer, Lebensweg 10)…read more
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Margareta Morgenstern
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
There is also version.
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Helen Wolff
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
There is also version.
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Josephine Brunswick
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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Gloria Swanson
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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Hilde Stieler
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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born around 1120 (1122) presumably in Poitiers
died on March 31 or April 1, 1204 in Fontevrault
French and English queen
820th anniversary of her death on March 31 or April 1, 2024
Eleanor is often described as dazzling and of dubious reputation in secondary literature of dubious quality. Régine Pernoud's extensive study of the sources reveals a different Eleanor: she was imaginative, strong-willed, politically astute, a caring mother and quite capable of enduring pain. Her life was a breathtaking whirlwind of events that urgently required and fostered all these qualities.
She grew up at the cultivated Poitevin court as the daughter of the first troubadour and Duke of Aquitaine William X and was an educated fifteen-year-old princess when she was married to the pious King Louis VII of France, who was inclined towards the monastic life. Seven joyless and childless years of marriage followed, after which two daughters were born - inappropriate for the dynasty.
In pursuit of glory, Louis embarked on an arduous and unsuccessful crusade, which lasted two and a half years and resulted in devastating hardships that Eleanor endured with him. She then…read more
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Born March 31, 1889, near Lehigh, Choctaw Nation (later Oklahoma)
Died Feb. 27, 1975, Oklahoma City.
US-American historian
40. anniversary of death
Muriel Wright, the daughter of a half-Choctaw father and a mother of Scottish and English descent, achieved prominence as a historian of the state of Oklahoma, in particular of its Indian heritage. She also played a central role in efforts of the Choctaw to receive a just settlement from the government for their tribal lands. In 1971 Wright was named the outstanding Indian woman of the 20th century by the North American Indian Women´s Association, one among many honors she received for her accomplishments.
Education was very important in Wright´s family; Muriel´s grandfather had been a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York as well as chief of the Choctaw nation, her father was a physician, and her mother a college graduate and Presbyterian missionary. When Muriel was old enough to enroll in school the family moved from their farm to a town in the region where she attended elementary school for seven years. Returning to the farm in 1902, Muriel and her sister were…read more
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Sylvia von Harden
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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Jutta Limbach
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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Gloria Steinem
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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Marianne Hainisch
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.
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born 25 March 1939 in New York City
died 9 December 1995 in Wallingford, Pennsylvania
US-America writer
15. anniversary of death 9 December 2010
Editor, teacher, writer, cultural and community worker, Toni Cade Bambara was born Miltona Mirkin Cade, on March 25, 1939 to Helen Brent Henderson Cade in New York City. Toni spent her childhood and adolescent years with her mother and brother in New York City and Jersey City, New Jersey. Deeply affected by the Black Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Toni's mother encouraged her to write, and even instructed Toni's teachers about African American history. One classmate remembers that Toni was also outspoken, and smart -- she graduated high school six months early.
In 1959, Cade received her B.A. in theater arts/English from Queens College and published her first short story, "Sweet Town." After a year in Milan, Italy, Cade returned to New York in 1962 to finish a Master's degree in modern American fiction at New York City College, while working as a social worker, occupational therapist and director of various neighborhood projects.
Bambara began teaching at City College in…read more
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born on May 30, 1928 in Ixelles (Brussels)
died on March 29, 2019 in Paris
French film director and photographer
5th anniversary of her death on March 29, 2024
Agnès Varda was 26 years old and working as a photographer for Jean Vilar's famous Théâtre National Populaire in Paris. She had no clue about filmmaking and had actually only been to the movies a few times in her life. But she was fascinated by the idea of using the camera to make her precisely composed photographic images speak. So, in 1954, she founded her own production company, Ciné-Tamaris, and shot her first feature film in a fishing district of the southern French town of Sète with limited financial resources. She allowed two unconnected storylines to run side by side: On the one hand, the relationship conflicts of a young married couple who had traveled from Paris - portrayed in a strangely detached manner by Silvia Monfort and the young Philippe Noiret - and on the other, the hard lives of the mussel fishermen, marked by everyday worries and protests against health inspections, played by the inhabitants of the village in their natural environment.
Alain Resnais…read more
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Born March 25 1909 in Militsch/Silesia
Died November 12 1997 in Berlin
German resistance fighter, saved the lives of many Jews, veterinarian
25. anniversary of death November 12, 2022
Maria Countess Malzahn was born the youngest of seven children at Militisch Castle in Silesia. She roamed freely on the big estate that boasted forests and lakes. Even at a young age, she was clearly very fond of animals and studied the birds of prey and forest fauna. She was extremely attached to her father, who was very understanding of her and encouraged her inclination to stand up for the weak, even though she sometimes took this too far. One time, she almost drowned her only brother Carlos, whom their mother favored over the girls, because the snakes he was afraid of had all been killed. Another boy, who had cut off a live newt’s legs, she punished by jabbing him in the leg with a knife.
When Maria was only twelve years old, she suffered the death of her father. Her mother wanted to turn the headstrong girl into an obedient daughter, which led to many conflicts – no wonder, given Maria’s rebellious streak. She was sent to school in Militsch, then on to boarding school in…read more
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Louise Otto-Peters
This biography is not yet available in English.
You can find the German version here.