Johanna Friederieke Louise Dittmar (September 7, 1807 – July 11, 1884) was a German feminist and revolutionary philosopher. She was the author of nine books, and the founding editor of the journal ''Soziale Reform''. Along with more general advocacy of equality for women, social justice, and a radical and near-atheist approach to religion, her works "in a manner unique for her time repeatedly and brilliantly questioned the notion of 'natural' differences between the sexes". She has been called "Germany's most brilliant (and yet often misunderstood) feminist theorist of the 1840s". Louise-Dittmar Straße, a road in

Darmstadt-Eberstadt Eberstadt is the southernmost borough of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany with a population of 23,728 (as of 2019). Geography In the north Eberstadt borders to the boroughs of Bessungen and Darmstadt-West, in the east and south to the municipalities ...

, was named for her in 2002.

Life

Dittmar was born on September 7, 1807, in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. She was one of ten children of a treasury official for the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

, had no formal education, and was the only daughter to remain unmarried, in part because her father's salary could not extend to a dowry for her. One of her brothers was involved in the leftist Büchner affair of the 1830s, and she and three other brothers also became liberals, while the rest of the family remained loyal to the duke. She began publishing her books anonymously in 1845, but after publishing four of them she revealed her identity in a public lecture in Mannheim in 1847. Her friends and correspondents in this period included

Ludwig Bamberger Ludwig Bamberger (22 July 1823 – 14 March 1899) was a German Jewish economist, politician, revolutionary and writer. Early life Bamberger was born into the wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish Bamberger family in Mainz. After studying at Giessen, Heid ...

Karl Theodor Bayrhoffer Karl Theodor Otto Christian August Bayrhoffer (14 October 1812, in Marburg – 3 February 1888) was a German American philosopher, free-thinker, and publicist. In 1834 he received his PhD from the University of Marburg, where he later became a pr ...

, and

Ludwig Feuerbach Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (; 28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872) was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book ''The Essence of Christianity'', which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced gener ...

. With Feuerbach's encouragement, she founded the journal ''Soziale Reform'' in 1849. After losing her anonymity, she published an additional five books, including an omnibus edition of her four earlier books, two books of poetry, and one of collected essays from the journal. After the failure of the

German revolutions of 1848–1849 The German revolutions of 1848–1849 (), the opening phase of which was also called the March Revolution (), were initially part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many European countries. They were a series of loosely coordinated pro ...

and consequent suppression of liberal views, she left public life. Her brothers emigrated as

Forty-Eighters The Forty-Eighters were Europeans who participated in or supported the Revolutions of 1848 that swept Europe. In the German Confederation, the Forty-Eighters favoured unification of Germany, a more democratic government, and guarantees of human r ...

, and her journal shut down after only four issues. She began living alone in 1850. She moved in with two younger relatives in 1880, and died on July 11, 1884, in

Bessungen Bessungen is a district in the South of the city of Darmstadt in Hesse. History Until 1888, Bessungen was an independent municipality. The reputation as the oldest part of Darmstadt goes back to Bessungen being first mentioned in 1002. In fact, ...

, largely forgotten. Her works were not revived until the 1970s and 1980s.

Books

Dittmar's books include: *''Bekannte Geheimnisse'' (1845) *''Skizzen und Briefe'' (1845) *''Der Mensch und sein Gott'' (1846) *''Lessing und Feuerbach'' (1847) *''Vier Zeitfragen'' (1847) *''Zur Charakterisierung der nordischen Mythologie'' (1848) *''Wühlerische Gedichte'' (1848) *''Brutus-Michel'' (1848) *''Das Wesen der Ehe nebst einigen Aufsätzen über die soziale Reform der Frauen'' (edited, 1849; abridged edition ''Das Wesen der Ehe'' published in 1850)

Life

Books

References

Further reading