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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dollard, Catherine Leota.
The surplus woman : unmarried in Imperial Germany, 1871/1918 / Catherine L. Dollard.—1st ed. p. cm.—(Monographs in German history ; v. 30)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84545-480-7 (hbk.)—ISBN 978-0-85745-313-6 (pbk.)—ISBN 978-1-84545-952-9 (ebk.)
1. Women—Germany—History. I. Title.
HQ1623.D64 2009
306.81'53094309034—dc22 2009015697
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-84545-480-7 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-85745-313-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-78533-662-1 (open access ebook)
ForCatherine Wesdock Test,Eileen Test Dollard,and Lynne Dollard Mowery
CONTENTS
Introduction: Single Women in Imperial Germany
PART I Der Frauenüberschuß—The Female Surplus
2 Sexology and the Single Woman
PART II Alleinstehende Frauen—Women Standing Alone
5 Moderate Activism: Helene Lange and Alice Salomon
6 Radical Reform: Helene Stöcker, Ruth Bré, and Lily Braun
7 Socialism and Singleness: Clara Zetkin
8 Spiritual Salvation: Elisabeth Gnauck-Kühne
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
After many years of research, contemplation, and writing, the publication of this book is a most welcome event. I am happy to have the opportunity to thank those who provided the considerable intellectual, financial, and emotional support that has sustained me throughout this process. It is a genuine pleasure to acknowledge so many debts of gratitude. My time spent in Chapel Hill provided the foundation for The Surplus Woman. Konrad Jarausch helped me to formulate the questions that inspired this book and provided a model of scholarly excellence and professional engagement. At the University of North Carolina, Melissa Bullard, Donald Reid, and Gerhard Weinberg were important mentors who offered critical insights on this project. At Duke University, Claudia Koonz proved willing to traverse Highway 15-501 in repeated support of my scholarship. I am grateful for the encouragement of these teachers and fellow scholars.
I was fortunate to have received considerable financial assistance during the life of this project. Generous funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation supported a year spent as a Bundeskanzler scholar as well as a return research trip. I will be forever thankful to the Humboldt family, including Georg Schütte, Robert Grathwol, Donita Moorhus, and Bernard Stein, for their continued engagement with my work. Research has also been supported by the Junior Faculty Leave program at Denison University and by the Department of History at the University of North Carolina in the form of Mowry and Quinn grants.
I am indebted to numerous archivists and librarians, including the staffs of the Landesarchiv Berlin (Helene Lange Archiv), the Bundesarchiv (Koblenz), and the Archiv der deutschen Frauenbewegung in Kassel. Anna Marquardt at the archives of Cologne's Katholischer deutscher Frauenbewegung was very patient in helping me wade through the papers of Elisabeth Gnauck-Kühne. The William Howard Doane Library at Denison University has been endlessly accommodating. I offer special thanks to Pamela Magelaner for her skill in tracking down obscure titles via interlibrary loan.
This book has benefited from the insights of colleagues in history and German studies. James Albisetti, Ann Taylor Allen, Stephen Berry, Elisabeth Heineman, Dagmar Herzog, Lisabeth Hock, Elizabeth Peifer, Nancy Reagin, and Raffael Scheck each have given helpful feedback at various stages of the project. Lisabeth Hock introduced me to important source material for
