Wilhelmine Theodore Marie Cauer, née Schelle, usually known as Minna Cauer (1 November 1841 in Freyenstein – 3 August 1922 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

), was a German

pedagogue 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 ...

, activist in the so-called "radical" wing of the German

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

feminist movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and wom ...

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

and journalist. Alongside Anita Augspurg, Cauer was the most prominent figure in the radical feminist movement. In the 1890s she was the undisputed representative and had a special talent for winning over new and younger women to the feminist movement.

Life

The daughter of a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

pastor, Cauer grew up in Freyenstein, in the

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg () was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1947. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg (excluding Altmark) and ...

. She married a left-wing educator and physician, August Latzel in 1862, but was widowed in 1866. She then trained as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, working in

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for a year before marrying Eduard Cauer, a school inspector, and moving with him to

. Widowed for a second time in 1881, Cauer resumed work as a teacher and started studying

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that Woman, women have played in history and Historiography, the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights, women's rights throughout recorded history, ...

. She founded Frauenwohl (Women's Welfare Association) in Berlin in 1888, leading it until 1919, campaigning for women's rights and abortion rights. With

Helene Lange Helene Lange was born in 1848 in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg. Through her determination, she rose above the trials of her early life, including the loss of her parents, to become a leading voice for women's access to higher education and professio ...

and Franzisca Tiburtius she worked to establish the Realkurse girls' high school in Berlin, which opened in 1889 as the first educational establishment to prepare women for university study.Jean Macksey and Kenneth Macksey, ''The Book of Women's Achievements'', Stein and Day, 1976, p. 72 She founded the Commercial Union of Female Salaried Employees, one of the first nonpolitical women's trade unions, in 1889. In 1893 she cofounded the Girls' and Women's Groups for Social Assistance Work (''Mädchen- und Frauengruppen für Soziale Hilfsarbeit'').Minna Cauer Papers
/ref> In 1894 she joined with Anita Augspurg and Marie Stritt to establish the Federation of German Women's Associations (FGWA) She worked for the feminist newspaper '' Die Frauenbewegung'' (The Women's Movement) from 1895 to 1919. In 1896 she was president at the International Congress of Women's Work and Women's Endeavours in Berlin, the first international women's conference to be held in Germany. Increasingly radical, Cauer helped establish the Union of Progressive Women's Associations in 1899. In 1902 the suffrage movement gained the backing of the FGWA, and with Anita Augspurg, Lida Gustava Heymann and Marie Stritt Cauer co-founded the German Union for Women's Suffrage (''Deutscher Verband fur Frauenstimmrecht''), which pursued both suffrage cause and moral campaigns, such as that against state-regulated prostitution. In 1908, frustrated by the disinterest of the Free-minded People's Party in women's suffrage, Cauer founded a more militant group, the Prussian Union for Women's Suffrage. She joined the left-liberal Democratic Union. Resigning from the suffrage union in 1912, she joined a new German Women's Suffrage Association in 1914. However, with the German women's suffrage movement in disarray, Cauer turned to pacifist activities throughout

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Her papers are held at the

International Institute of Social History International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

References

External links

Chronology of Cauer's life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cauer, Minna 1841 births 1922 deaths People from Wittstock People from the Province of Brandenburg Democratic Union (Germany) politicians German Peace Society members Lutheran pacifists German journalists German schoolteachers German feminists 20th-century German women