Wilhelmine Kähler ( Mohs or Moss, 3 April 1864 – 22 February 1941) was a German labour and women's rights activist, and politician.

Activism and politics

From 1890, Kähler was part of the

labour movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

. She co-founded and led the , making her the only woman to lead a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in Germany during the 1890s. She sat on the

General Commission of German Trade Unions The General Commission of German Trade Unions () was an umbrella body for German trade unions during the German Empire, from the end of the Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890 up to 1919. In 1919, a successor organisation was named the Allgemeiner Deutsch ...

. Her union became part of the

Union of Domestic Workers of Germany The Union of Domestic Workers of Germany () was a trade union representing domestic staff in Germany. The union was founded in 1909 and was based in Berlin. It published the newspaper ''Zentralorgan der Verband der Hausangestellten Deutschlands'' ...

, and she was acting president of that union in 1913. Around 1900 Kähler lived in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, where she primarily worked on improving the situation of working women. Kähler wrote for the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

women's magazine ''

Die Gleichheit ''Die Gleichheit'' (Equality) was a Social Democratic bimonthly magazine issued by the women's proletarian movement in Germany from 1890 to 1923. For many years it was the official organ of the international women's socialist movement. Foundation ...

'' and the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

newspaper ''Volkszeitung'' starting in 1906. She was an editor of ''Für unsere Frauen'', a

women's movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's ...

correspondence, the yearbook ''Der Frauenhausschatz''. From 1919 until 1923 Kähler worked as a civil servant for the Reich Ministry of Economy. In 1919 she also became a member of the

Weimar National Assembly The Weimar National Assembly (German: ), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of it ...

, which drafted the

Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era. The constitution created a federal semi-presidential republic with a parliament whose ...

. She was subsequently a member of the Reichstag until 1921, and then a member of the

Landtag of Prussia The Landtag of Prussia () was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameralism, bicameral legislature consisting of the upper Prussian House of Lords, House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower Prussian ...

until 1924. Kähler represented the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD/ MSPD). After 1926 she led a local organisation in her home town of Kellinghusen until 1931.

Personal life

Kähler was born in 1864 in Kellinghusen, where she also went to school. She was a seamstress and a housekeeper. In 1882 she married her first husband who was a cigar factory worker. Kähler later remarried in 1924 and moved to

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

with her husband in 1931, retiring from political activism. She died in Bonn in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahler, Wilhelmine 1864 births 1941 deaths People from Steinburg People from the Duchy of Holstein 20th-century German women politicians Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Landtag of Prussia German trade unionists German women's rights activists German women trade unionists