Papers by Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker
Central European History Vol. 53, no. 4 (2020): 703-740., 2020
This study analyzes the marriage patterns of five hundred highly successful women in modern Germa... more This study analyzes the marriage patterns of five hundred highly successful women in modern German-speaking Central Europe. Among the women at the very top of their professions, women of Jewish descent were more likely than non-Jewish women to marry while they pursued their careers. The results of our quantitative study-67.6 percent of women of Jewish descent married versus 51.6 percent of non-Jewish women-provide a unique body of data that complements and contributes to other research that identifies distinctive aspects of Central European Jewish life patterns: the high number of Jewish women university students, the importance of women of Jewish descent in a number of fields, and Jewish families as early adopters of a modern family form with a small number of children and intensive investment in each child.
As far back as 1985, Catherine Prelinger argued for the need for new research on the central role... more As far back as 1985, Catherine Prelinger argued for the need for new research on the central role of religion in many women's lives. Yet despite the growth of gender studies in diverse fields-and important works like those of Marion Kaplan on Jewish women, Grit Klinkhammer on Muslim women, or Andrea Meissner on Catholicism-the diverse aspects of women's religious experience has not yet been the subject of systematic examination. Research has examined gendered religious spaces in the context of the emancipation and professionalization of women with less attention to religious experience and emotions.
Catholic Historical Review, 2019
In contrast to the male-only world of most of German student life, when Catholic women entered un... more In contrast to the male-only world of most of German student life, when Catholic women entered universities in the early twentieth century, they played an important role in what had been male-only Catholic student organizations. What accounts for the differences between Catholic and non-Catholic student subcultures? In this article, I argue that Catholic constructions of masculinity shaped the support for the integration of the first generation of Catholic women students within Catholic student subculture. In this way, this evidence contributes to research on the ways that constructions of masculinity impacted the experiences of men and women.
Realities and Fantasies of German Female Leadership: from Maria Antonia of Saxony to Angela Merkel,, 2019
Since the eighteenth century, modern Western men and women have extolled the power and passion of... more Since the eighteenth century, modern Western men and women have extolled the power and passion of motherlove [Mutterliebe]. By the nineteenth century, as the historiography on maternal feminism has shown, leading Central European women utilized motherlove to make claims to play a role in the public sphere. By the fin-de-siècle, women active outside of the home as social workers, teachers, or reformers described their work in terms of geistige Mütterlichkeit [often translated as spiritual motherhood]. What might this mean in terms of the power and possibility for women’s leadership? This paper draws on methods from the history of emotions to consider how the social construction of late nineteenth and early twentieth century motherlove created openings for new arguments about the power and potential of women’s leadership as well as the ways that the performance of motherlove could closely conscribe women’s ability to take on leadership roles. The article concludes with the example of Jeanette Schwerin, who was an acknowledged leader in the German women’s movement and whose early death in 1899 was a shock to women’s rights advocates across Europe. Schwerin was praised for her clear-eyed leadership, her thoughtful decision-making, her in-depth and nuanced knowledge, but at the same time for her kindly, humble, and refined presence. She was openly praised for her motherly qualities. As the mother of one son, she could devote herself to him during his youth, but her small family size allowed her new possibilities as he grew to adulthood. The new opportunities for women at the turn-of-the century allowed Schwerin to rise to become a leader of the women’s movement and an acknowledged expert in the new field of social work. It was less clear that the cultural norms of middle-class motherlove – expectations of gentility, sensitivity, humility, tenderness, and devotion to others - would have allowed her to be a leader of men.
Cultural History, 2018
In her groundbreaking 2012 article, ‘Are Emotions a Kind of Practice (and is That What Makes Them... more In her groundbreaking 2012 article, ‘Are Emotions a Kind of Practice (and is That What Makes Them Have a History)?’, Monique Scheer outlines a theoretical and methodological framework for the history of emotions. We six authors present short descriptions of our research drawing on this theory of emotions as practices, following an overview of Scheer’s framework. Encompassing research on groups ranging from early modern Italian military captains, to fin-de-siècle middle-class German mothers, to post-1945 Finnish historians, these cases allow us to consider how examining embodied emotional experiences can enrich our understanding of gender roles, individual choices and historical contexts. To close the essay, Scheer offers her own comments on these
projects in progress.
Key political leaders of twentieth century Germany had roots in Catholic student organizations. F... more Key political leaders of twentieth century Germany had roots in Catholic student organizations. For example, four of the five Center Party Chancellors in the Weimar Republic had been alumni of Catholic fraternities and associations. In 1914 approximately 1.5% of twenty to twenty-three year old men attended universities. Of those, less then one-third were Catholic, and less than one-third of those joined Catholic fraternities and associations, which would make them a small fraction of twenty to twenty-three year old men. This paper will consider the experiences of Catholic students in conflict with non-Catholics, the defense of pluralistic ideology that resulted from those conflicts, and the practical experiences and networks that Catholic students gained in their organizations as factors that could play a role in the large number of German leaders who spent formative periods of their youth in Catholic student organizations. At certain points of conflict, elite students attacked Catholic organization members as scolds, superstitious, stupid, and un-German, and Catholic leaders responded that the Protestant majority must respect Catholics’ freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and right to associate. The nurturing of pluralistic ideals within Catholic student organizations should be considered as part of the explanation for the large number of democratic leaders that emerged from the milieu of Catholic organizational culture.
The Journal of Modern History, 2013
Even though fraternity men glorified their duel with swords, a series of frivolous pistol duels w... more Even though fraternity men glorified their duel with swords, a series of frivolous pistol duels with deadly ends led students to organize a movement against pistol duels that swept German universities. Students argued that pistol duels violated the rules of reason, morality, and religion – and were thus also purportedly un-German. Because the pistol duel was so closely associated with the officer class and the nobility, students’ aggressive movement implicitly attacked these elites. By the end of this period of mobilization, students were openly attacking the conservative and elitist culture of Prussian civil servants. Viewed from this angle, middle-class students who would become doctors, lawyers, civil servants, and scientists were fighting for their rights to the moral leadership of Germany’s modern industrial society. In this way, an examination of this movement contributes to the historical debates about the role of the middle class in Germany. The findings in this article are consistent with recent research that emphasizes the strength, flexibility, and dynamism of the middle classes as well as the new reform trends in the last two decades before World War I.
Central European History, 2009
The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook, 2010
Towards Normality? Acculturation and Modern German Jewry, eds. Rainer Liedtke and David Rechter, 2003
Central European History, 2012
The American Historical Review, 2012
Book Reviews by Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker
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Papers by Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker
projects in progress.
Book Reviews by Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker
projects in progress.