Johanna Goldschmidt (born Johanna Schwabe on 11 December 1807 in Bremerlehe, died 10 October 1884 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) was a German social activist, writer and philanthropist. She played an important role in supporting

Friedrich Fröbel Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel or Froebel (; 21 April 1782 – 21 June 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique need ...

and in spreading the concept of the "

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

Life

Family

Johanna Schwabe was born on 11 December 1807 in Bremerlehe to Jewish merchant Marcus Hertz Schwabe and Henriette (née Lazarus). In 1812, the wealthy Schwabe family moved to Hamburg. Her father had been one of the founders of the Hamburg Reform Temple in 1817. Johanna was a high-spirited girl, who spoke several languages, played the piano, the violin and the harp, and could also sing very well. Her talents were supported by her teachers. At the age of 20 Johanna Schwabe married the merchant Moritz David Goldschmidt. The couple had eight children. The eldest son

Otto Goldschmidt Otto Moritz David Goldschmidt (21 August 1829 – 24 February 1907) was a German composer, conductor and pianist, known for his piano concertos and other piano pieces. He married the "Swedish Nightingale", soprano Jenny Lind. Life Goldschmidt w ...

was a composer, conductor and pianist, who married the ''Swedish Nightingale'',

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...

. The botanist

Otto Warburg Otto Warburg may refer to: *Otto Warburg (botanist) (1859–1938), German botanist *Otto Heinrich Warburg Otto Heinrich Warburg (, ; 8 October 1883 – 1 August 1970), son of physicist Emil Warburg, was a German physiologist, medical doctor, and ...

was her grandson.

Work

By the 1840s, women such as Johanna Goldschmidt of Hamburg ventured outside the Jewish community to join forces with like-minded Christian women to promote religious tolerance and new approaches to education. In 1847 she wrote her first book, ''Rebekka and Amalia'', written as a series of letters between a young Jew, Rebekka, and a Christian aristocrat named Amalia. "The general topic of the work was the problem of Jewish conversion and assimilation, but in one of its chapters, Goldschmidt focused on a plan for an organization in which rich women would help poorer women to improve themselves by means of lectures and instruction."''Johanna Schwabe Goldschmidt''
/ref> In 1848, Goldschmidt became co-founder of the ''Frauenverein zur Bekämpfung und Ausgleichung religiöser Vorurteile'', a women's association to combat and reduce religious prejudice. Since 1848, Johanna Goldschmidt was in contact with

and invited him in November 1849 to Hamburg. This led to the foundation of the ''Hochschule für das weibliche Geschlecht'' (1850–1852), the first institution of higher education for women in Germany. In this project she worked closely with liberal Christian women. 22 kindergarten teachers had been educated and the first kindergarten for 70 children had been opened in Hamburg. Her disputation ''Zur Sache Fröbels'', published in 1853, caused a sensation. She defended his pedagogical model against unjust allegations. She also defended the idea of higher education for women to opponents like

Karl Gutzkow Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century. Life Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most menia ...

or against

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

administration which had been established in Altona in 1867. In 1860, Goldschmidt founded the ''Hamburger-Fröbel-Verein''. A separate kindergarten was added to a seminary as an exercise center. The seminary is still active as ''Staatliche Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik (Fröbelseminar)''. In total, she opened nine kindergartens. Her play, ''Blicke in die Familie'' (A Look at the Family), was published in 1860 and opened in Hamburg in 1864. Johanna Goldschmidt stood in contact with

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

and the educator

Adolph Diesterweg Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Diesterweg (29 October 1790 in Siegen7 July 1866 in Berlin) was a German educator, thinker, and progressive liberal politician, who campaigned for the secularization of schools. He is said to be precursory to the reform ...

Select publications

* ''Rebekka und Amalia. Briefwechsel zwischen einer Israelitin und einer Adeligen über Zeit- und Lebensfragen.'' Leipzig 1847. * ''Mutterfreuden und Muttersorgen. Worte der Liebe und des Ernstes über Kindheitspflege. Von einer Mutter.'' Hamburg (Vol.1) 1849, (Vol. 2) 1851. * ''Zur Sache Fröbels.'' In: ''Rheinische Blätter für Erziehung und Unterricht.'' (1853). * ''Blicke in die Familie.'' Leipzig 1860. * ''Der Hamburger Fröbel-Verein.'' In: ''Der Frauen-Anwalt.'' (1871/1872) No. 1, pp. 33–36.

References

External links

Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

''Johanna Schwabe Goldschmidt''
* Manfred Berger: ''Frauen in der Geschichte des Kindergartens: Johanna Goldschmidt'' (German) * Inge Grolle, ''Johanna Goldschmidt. “Our children are not here for us, we are here for them.” New educational ideals in the spirit of 1848'', in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History, March 11, 2021, https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:article-275.en.v1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldschmidt, Johanna 1807 births 1884 deaths Feminism and history Writers from Bremen 19th-century German Jews Jewish women writers 19th-century German women writers 19th-century German writers Jewish feminists

Life

Family

Work

Select publications

References

Further reading

External links