Henriette Dorthea Beenfeldt née Hansen (1878–1949) was a Danish peace activist and feminist who became one of the principal members of the '' Dansk Fredsforening'' (DF) (Danish Peace Society). After experiencing difficulties with board members of DF, she became an enthusiastic member of '' Kvindernes Internationale Liga for Fred og Frihed'' (KILFF), the Danish chapter of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

, serving on the board of the Copenhagen branch. She continued to act as a radical pacifist, strongly opposing re-armament, even after Denmark joined

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

in 1949.

Biography

Born on 28 May 1878 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Henriette Dorthea Hansen was the daughter of the tobacco merchant Carl Vilhelm Hansen (1851–1922) and Karen Thorsen (1852–1900). In 1903, she married Thor Beenfeldt (1878–1954), a building inspector. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

had started in 1914, she and her husband became peace activists, joining the peace association Dansk Fredsforening (DF) in 1916. She was also an early member of

Danske Kvinders Fredskæde Danske Kvinders Fredskæde (Danish Women's Peace Chain) is the original name of the Danish branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. It was founded in 1915 following the International Congress of Women held in The Hague. Th ...

(Danish Women's Peace Chain), the Danish chapter of the

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

. While many in DF considered the Women's Peace Chain to be a competitor, Beenfeldt argued that it was an advantage for the peace cause to be represented by more than one organization. Henriette Beenfeldt died in Copenhagen on 24 December 1949.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beenfeldt, Henriette 1878 births 1949 deaths Danish feminists Danish pacifists Pacifist feminists People from Copenhagen

Biography

See also

References