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Amalia Holst (''
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
'' Amalia von Justi; 10 February 1758 – 6 January 1829) was a German writer,
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
, and early
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
. Her work examined traditional
pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
and challenged
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
writers such as
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
. She often is called the German counterpart to
Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft ( , ; 27 April 175910 September 1797) was an English writer and philosopher best known for her advocacy of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional ...
. Little is known about Amalia Holst's life. She rose to prominence in the late 1700s through her works as a teacher. She became more widely recognized in the 1970s, after her work was rediscovered and republished by Kassel University Press.


Life


Early life

Amalia Holst was born in 1758 in
Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...
. She is the daughter of Johanna Maria Magdalena Marchand and
Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi (28 December 1717Jürgen Georg Backhaus, ''The Beginnings of Political Economy: Johann Heinrich Gottlob Von Justi'' (Springer, 2008: ), p. 20 The Political Economy of J.H.G. Justi by Ulrich Adam, p. 24/ref>21 July ...
and the oldest of six children from her father's second marriage. Her father was a well-known political economist and the
Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...
chief inspector of mines. He was an advocate of women's rights who published pieces advocating for improved education for women. When Holst was ten years old, her father was accused of embezzling funds and imprisoned in Küstrin, where he died several years later. After her father's death, the family was split up. Their possessions had to be dissolved. Holst's mother went to live with her brother, who was a pastor in Brunswick. Holst's younger sisters were lodged into a monastery in Potsdam and her brother was admitted into a Danish cadet school. What happened to Holst during this time is unknown, but she is reported to have been employed as a teacher at a young age. She is said to have received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Kiel. In large part due to the influence of von Justi's progressive beliefs, Holst was one of very few women to receive a college education during this time in Germany.


Marriage and children

At the age of thirty-three, in 1791 she married Ludolf Holst. He was a lawyer as well as the director of the Pedagogical Institute in Hamburg-St Georg. They had three children together, one son and two daughters.


Career

In 1791, Holst published her first work, ''Observations on the Errors of our Modern Education by a Practical Teacher (''German'': Bemerkungen über die Fehler unserer Modernen Erziehung von einer Praktischen Erzieherin)'', after having supported herself through teaching from a young age. From about 1792–1802, Holst was the headmistress of the preschool that her husband oversaw. During this time, she opened several small schools in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
,
Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...
, and
Boizenburg Boizenburg (, ) is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, west of Ludwigslust, northeast of Lüneburg and east of Hamburg. It is part of the ...
as well. These schools were short-lived, however. The reason for their closings is not known. In 1799, Holst published "Letters on Elisa, or Women as they Ought to be" (German: “Briefe über Elisa, oder das Weib wie es seyn sollte"), the second of her three known works. It was written in response to the novel, ''Elisa'', which according to Holst, dangerously extolled the marital oppression of the title character. In her response she also strongly advocated for marital equality and female autonomy. She argued that women should be defined as human beings first and as wives second. This was the beginning of her involvement in a larger debate about
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
occurring during this time. In 1802, Holst published a third work: ''On the Purpose of Women’s Advanced Intellectual Development'' (German: ''Über die Bestimmung des Weibes zur höhern Geistesbildung'').


Death

Holst died in Groß-Timkenberg on 6 January 1829.


Modern recognition

Holst is memorialized in Judy Chicago's installation art piece
The Dinner Party ''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by American feminist artist Judy Chicago. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women. Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor of Aquitaine, ...
, which features a triangular table with 39 place settings, each commemorating important women in history. While Holst is not given a place setting, her name, along with the names of 998 other feminist icons, is inscribed in gold on the white tile floor below the table.


Published works


''Observations on the Errors of Our Modern Education by a Practical Teacher''

Published in 1791, ''Observations on the Errors of Our Modern Education by a Practical Teacher'' criticizes widely accepted conservative pedagogical theories, specifically those of
Campe In Greek mythology, Campe, Kampe, or Kampê (; ) was a female monster. She was the guard, in Tartarus, of the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires, whom Uranus had imprisoned there. When it was prophesied to Zeus that he would be victorious in the Titano ...
and Basedow. Holst analyzes their ideas from the perspective of an educator, and points out the flaws and contradictions within them. She also calls attention to the impractical nature of their ideas.


''Letters on Elisa''

In 1799, Holst responded to the success of the novel ''Elisa'' with letters that were included in its fifth edition. She wrote four letters, addressed to the title character criticizing the self-sacrificing and submissive role of women. This seems to be Holst's first public statement for gender equality. According to Holst, a woman's attachment to her spouse did not detract from her autonomy. She emphasized a woman's responsibility to her domestic duty, however, and referred to her own marriage as "a domestic bliss".


''On the Purpose of Women’s Advanced Intellectual Development''

Holst makes the case for the same higher education for men and women alike in ''On the Purpose of Women’s Advanced Intellectual Development''. This notion was very radical: unlike many of the prominent advocates for the education of women before her, such as La Roche,
Herder A herder is a pastoralism, pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on extensive management, open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic pastoralism, nomadic or transhuma ...
, and
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
. Holst rejected the idea of separate curricula for the genders, believing that women could and should learn the same things men do. This was not an accepted idea at the time. Her ideas diverged from most her contemporary equal-education advocates as well, including the likes of
Hippel Hippel, also ''Hiepel'', ''Von Hippel'' or ''Hipel'', is a family name of German origin.Bahlow, Deutsches Namenlexikon, Gondrom Verlag, 1990 People * Arthur von Hippel (ophthalmologist) (1841–1916), a German ophthalmologist ** Eugen von Hipp ...
, Wollstonecraft, and
Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; ; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, political economist, politician, and mathematician. His ideas, including suppo ...
. While they were in favor of an advanced public coeducation system, Holst insisted on a professional maternal educator who would instruct her children in all academic disciplines from early childhood through adolescence. Asserting that only women who were thoroughly educated themselves were fit to educate the next generation, and thus, Holst reasoned that every woman was to be educated. She advocated for an in-depth knowledge of history, the sciences, philosophy, geography, and the arts. Holst stressed that the most important quality of an effective maternal educator was the ability to draw meaningful connections among all disciplines. She also placed an emphasis on individual perfection, urging women to engage continually in intellectual pursuits throughout the course of their lives. Holst made several demands for the education of women: * Women were to have complete freedom to study every subject. * Women were to be given access to original sources, as opposed to those specifically written for women, which she claimed offered “superficial knowledge” and which “treat
omen An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient history, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages ...
like overgrown children”. * Exceptionally intelligent women were to have access to a formal university education. They were to be free of the pressure to have children. She used the philosophers
Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...
and
Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...
as examples, noting that both were celibate, but their “immortal works, the offspring of their minds, have enriched the world”. Why then, Holst argued, shouldn't the same apply to women? * She demanded acceptance that women were capable of achievements in the most advanced fields of thought. Holst asserts “there exists no proof that a woman’s mind cannot comprehend the higher sciences”.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holst, Amalia 1758 births 1829 deaths German women academics German feminists Education writers 18th-century German educators 18th-century German writers 18th-century German women writers 19th-century German educators 19th-century German writers 19th-century German women writers 19th-century German women educators 18th-century German women educators