The Relationship between the Kindergarten Movement, the Movement for Democracy and the Early Women's Movement in the Historical Context of the Revolution of 1848–49, as reflected in Die Frauen‐Zeitung

Abstract

Does a movement for the creation of institutions for the care of small children aged between two and six years constitute a political movement? This movement was closely connected to the democratic movement of the 1848–49 revolution in the German States. It was also, as the author will argue, a movement that was an essential part of the emerging women's movement that constituted itself as part of the democratic movement of those years. These relationships may seem incomprehensible at first sight. Indeed, German research and teaching into the origins of public pre‐school education, the history of female professionalization and the Revolution of 1848–49 have hardly noticed this correlation. And yet, as will be demonstrated here, it existed. A contemporary source that reflects this correlation is the Frauen‐Zeitung (‘Women's Newspaper’) founded and edited by Louise Otto (1819–1895).1 This paper was published from 21 April 1849, until the middle of 1853. It was an important forum for the early German women's movement. In the context of a research project on the correlation between the movement for democracy, the early women's movement and the kindergarten movement at the Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg all surviving issues of the Frauen‐Zeitung were analysed for the frequency and context of articles on public pre‐school education and especially Froebelian kindergartens. The following article summarizes the results of this analysis and illustrates contemporary patterns of thought and discussions by taking a closer look at one article in Die Frauen‐Zeitung. 1 Louise Otto (after 1858 her name was Louise Otto Peters) was a writer, poet and journalist, a democrat and fighter for women's rights, particularly the right to education and work. More and more her efforts focused on the organization of women. The Frauen‐Zeitung, which she published from 1849 until 1853, was one of her activities towards this goal. In 1865 she became a co‐founder of the General German Women's Association (Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein).