Vaterländischer Frauenverein (

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

, VFV; English translation, "Patriotic Women's Association"; long form, "German Women's Association for the Care and Aid of War Wounded") was founded by the Prussian Queen (later German Empress) Augusta on November 11, 1866. Initially, its reach was only the city of Berlin.

History

The foundation in 1866, during the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, soon gave rise to the first branch associations, which subsequently became the forerunners of the German Red Cross women's associations in the various regions of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. The first associations of this kind in Germany were the VFV in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

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

, and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, established between 1866 and 1869. On July 18, 1870, one was founded in Lübeck just before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War."Local- und vermischte Notizen", ''Lübeckische Blätter'', Volume 16, No. 25, March 29, 1874, pp. 154-155. (in German) VFV was established in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

,Konejung, Achim, "Das Rheinland und der Erste Weltkrieg", p. 110: War Kindergarten of ''Vaterländischer Frauenverein, Vaterländischen Frauenvereins für den Landkreis Bonn'', 2014, ISBN 978-3-939722-90-8 (in German) as well as numerous other places. During

World War I 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 ...

, VFV set up war kindergartens. Club hospitals were operated for wounded warriors. All over Germany, the half million women of the VFV had prepared so that, "when war comes," they had taken a first aid nurse's training course. In the first month of the war, no less than 70,000 women of the VFV, trained in first aid to the injured, had arrived at the doors of the Reichstag to offer themselves for Red Cross service. The VFV assembled 29,000 women in Berlin alone to take the course of training arranged for ''helferinnen'', assistants in all phases of relief work. In 1914, Cecilienhaus in Charlottenburg, with its crèche, maternity care, folks kitchens and its working people's gardens, was devoted to the welfare work in which the VFV of the nation was engaged. Queen Louise Gabriele Marie von Itzenplitz (1839–1901) from the Itzenplitz noble family in

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

was appointed the first chairwoman of the association. After the marriage of Louise Gabriele Marie von Itzenplitz, her sister, Countess Charlotte Clementine von Itzenplitz, took over the presidency and led the association for half a century from 1867 to 1916.Wörner-Heil, Ortrud: ''Adelige Frauen als Pionierinnen der Berufsbildung: Die ländliche Hauswirtschaft und der Reifensteiner Verband''). Kassel University Press 2010, ISBN 978-3-89958-904-7, p. 407. (in German)

References

{{authority control 1866 establishments in Germany Organizations established in 1866 Women's organisations based in Germany