German Women and the Revolution of 1848: Kathinka Zitz-Halein and the Humania

Association
Author(s): Stanley Zucker
Source: Central European History , Sep., 1980, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 237-254
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Central European History
Society

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 German Women and the Revolution of 1848:
Kathinka Zitz-Halein and the
Humania Association

STANLEY ZUCKER

ing field for historical research. Whether one sees it as a turning

THE Revolution of 1848 has proven to be a continuously interest?
point where German history failed to turn, as an uprising bun-
gled by a bunch of impractical professors, as a revolution undermined
by ethnic hostility, or as a revolution which failed because it ignored
the problems ofthe lower classes, the question of its failure has been al?
most as fruitful a focus of research as other countries' successful revolu-
tions. Historians have also been attracted to it because it seems to provide
outlines and previews of future events in German history. It marks, we
are told, the growing politicization of the masses, the birth of social
conflict, the inception of national struggles, or the first sign ofthe lib?
erals' political cowardice.
At least one topic, however, has received relatively little attention:
the role of women in the revolution and the origins of the feminist
movement in Germany. Not only does the defmitive study of German
women during the mid-nineteenth century remain to be written, but
the topic lacks even the beginnings of a monographic base on which one
could build. We do know that the later head ofthe Allgemeiner Deutscher
Frauenverein, Louise Otto-Peters, first engaged herself on behalf of
women's rights shortly before and during the revolution. In Berlin a
"Women's Club" was organized, and in Hamburg a women's institute
for higher education was established. Women also participated in the

The writer wishes to thank the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst and the
American Philosophical Society, whose financial support helped make possible research
for this article. Joan Wallach Scott also deserves thanks for her perceptive criticism of an
earlier version of it.

237

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238 German Women and the Revolution of 1848
fighting in Berlin in March 1848, in Vienna in August and October
1848, and in Dresden in May 1849.1
While these actions by women have been recorded, at least one aspect
of their activities has been largely ignored: their work in organizations
designed to support the uprisings in the spring of 1849 and subsequently
to help those imprisoned or in exile after the defeat of the new insur-
gency. Associations were formed in cities like Altenburg (Saxony),
Dietz (Nassau), Dresden, Frankfurt a.M., Heidelberg, Kastel, Kehl,
Lahr, Landau, Mannheim, Offenburg, and Worms. There is no com?
plete list of cities which had such organizations, but one ofthe most im?
portant and active groups was the Humania Association in Mainz.
Influenced by the French revolutionary tradition and the impact of
eighteen years of French rule (1792-93, 1798-1814), Mainz became a
center of political radicalism in 1848 and 1849. The revolution provided
a stage on which previously neglected or silent groups could perform:
the younger generation, workers, political radicals, and also women.
The dominant organization to emerge in the city, and the one which
seemed to embody this development, was the Democratic Association.
It was organized in May 1848 under the leadership ofthe twenty-five-
year-old law clerk Ludwig Bamberger and the prominent lawyer Franz
Zitz. It grew quickly and soon enrolled a cross section of Mainz's adult
male population.2 Its political goal was the establishment of a German
democratic republic as a prerequisite to dealing with the problems of
unemployment and poverty. It developed very close ties to the Work-
ingmen's Educational Club and the gymnastics association, and it con?
trolled the major daily newspaper, the Mainzer Zeitung. Under its spon-
sorship in the spring of 1849 a Rhenish Hessian contingent of about ele-

1. Hugh W. Puckett, Germany's Women Go Forward (New York, 1929, reprint 1967),
pp. 116-30; Jutta Schoers Sanford, "The Origins of German Feminism: German Women,
1789-1870" (Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1976), pp. 132-48; Robert W. Lougee,
Midcentury Revolution, 1848 (Lexington, Mass., 1972), pp. 172-78; R. John Rath, The
Viennese Revolution of 1848 (Austin, Tex., 1957), pp. 292-93, 324, 329; Veit Valentin,
Geschichte der deutschen Revolution von i848-i84g, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1930-31), 1: 369, 2:193,
236, 579-82, 684 nn. 54-63; Karl Obermann, Einheit und Freiheit (Berlin, 1950), pp.
815-17; Gertrud Baumer, Gestalt und Wandel (Berlin, 1939), Pp- 312-48; Margrit Twell-
mann, Die deutsche Frauenbewegung, i84j-i88g, 2 vols., Marburger Abhandlungen zur
politischen Wissenschaft, vol. 17, pts. 1 and 2 (Meisenheim am Glan, 1972), 1: 1-25, 2:
1-100; Anna Blos, Frauen der deutschen Revolution 1848 (Dresden, 1928).
2. Heribert Pauly, "Zur sozialen Zusammensetzung politischen Institutionen und Ver-
eine der Stadt Mainz im Revolutionsjahr 1848/' Archiv fur hessische Geschichte und Alter-
tumskunde, n.s., 34 (i973)-' 44~8i.

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 Stanley Zucker 239
ven hundred men was organized and dispatched to the Palat
port the uprising on behalf of the Frankfurt Assembly's
This step provided the stimulus to the formulation of th
Association.3
Mainz and the surrounding Rhenish area provided fertile soi
lic activities by women. As early as 1832 the invitation t
cratic Hambach Rally had mentioned "German women," c
exclusion from political affairs a mistake and asking them
in the political festival?which they did. Ludwig Bamberg
called that in 1832 servant girls, who are not generally kno
high degree of politicization, would sing: "Princes out oft
its time for the people to dine." This example is worth no
domestic servants were the largest female occupational gr
in 1848, constituting about 90 percent ofthe 3200 employ
Altogether, women made up 25-30 percent ofthe labor f
also worked as manual laborers on the docks, where, in t
1848, they engaged in acts of Luddism against the steam-p
recently put into use on the Rhine.4
These isolated examples gave way to systematic attempts
support ofthe women of Mainz for the revolution and for
In the summer of 1848 the Democratic Association sought
female constituency. At a well-attended ceremony in Augu
by the women and young ladies of Mainz were turned over

3. For Mainz in 1848-49 see Carlos Buckler, Die politischen und religios
Mainz wahrend der Revolutionsjahre 1848-1850 (Giessen, 1936); Mathild
Der politische Radikalismus in Hessen wahrend der Revolution von 1848
Forschungen zur hessischen Geschichte, vol. 9 (Darmstadt, 1929); Stanle
wigBamberger: German LiberalPolitician and Sccial Critic (Pittsburgh, Pa.,
4. Twellmann, Die deutsche Frauenbewegung, 2:1; Johannes Biihler, Das H
(Ludwigshafen, 1932), pp. 96, 99,102, and pictures opposite pp. 80,12
berger, Erinnerungen (Berlin, 1899), pp. 4-5, 49; Fr. Dael, Die Bevolkerungs
Stadt Mainz von den altesten bis zu den neuesten Zeiten (from Hiibner's Jah
wirtschaft und Statistik [Leipzig, 1853]), p. 31. The number of female do
increased by 468 (16 percent) between 1846 and 1849. It was this develop
ably prompted the Hessian government in May 1849 to institute a special t
and other dependent workers from outside Mainz. It led to a written pr
unidentified women ("An die Grossherzogliche Regierungs-Commis
Mainzer Tagblatt, June 15, 1849). By the next census in 1852 the num
servants had fallen by 868. There was also a 30-40 percent drop both in
day laborers in the mid-i 840s which may reflect the introduction of
boats and account for the acts of Luddism. Previously boats had to be p
along certain stretches of the Rhine near Mainz.

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240 German Women and the Revolution of 1848
nastics association. Bamberger, who delivered the speech of acceptance,
included in it a discussion ofthe place of women in the new democratic
society. He stressed that his organization wanted "full participation by
the totality" ofthe population in public affairs. He praised women for
their persistence, enthusiasm, and tolerance, and he emphasized that
those were the attributes which the democratic movement needed. It
was time, he said, to cease viewing women as operating only within a
narrow sphere, as mere objects or emotional beings. Restricting women
to a life of feeling was condemning them to an existence of "perfumed
slavery." That some women felt comfortable in that narrowness proved
nothing, he maintained. Without denying their femininity women
should be encouraged to take part in the emerging democratic system.
But Bamberger did qualify his call for female participation in public
affairs. He drew a distinction between an "equable" and an "equal"
participation of both sexes in public life. Opposing the latter, he asked:
"Who wants to eradicate differences which are present in nature?" It
was "self-evident" to Bamberger that each sex should involve itself in
public affairs only "as is appropriate to its nature."5 Which activities
were proper for women, other than sewing flags, he left unclear.
The call to political involvement within certain limits included per-
mitting women to attend the meetings ofthe Democratic Association.
Although they were not permitted to join in the discussions, they were
serious spectators.6 The Democratic Association, or Bamberger, also
invited the writer and feminist Louise Dittmar to give lectures in Mainz
on the emancipation of women. Apparently the talks found little re?
sponse because Dittmar was too extreme in her religious and social
views for her more traditional audience.7 These examples indicate that
in Mainz, at least, there was interest in and receptivity to public activity
by women.
The Humania Association was most closely identified with its foun-

5. Bamberger, Erinnerungen, pp. 119-22.

6. Ibid., pp. 80,132; Stephan Born, Erinnerungen (Leipzig, 1898), p. 195, remembered
the female presence during his visit to the Mainz Democratic Association, and noted that
he never had a more attentive audience.
7. The only source for this is the manuscript autobiography of Kathinka Zitz-Halein,
"Skizzen aus meinem Leben," p. 107b, in the Kathinka Zitz Nachlass, Hessische Landes-
bibliothek, Wiesbaden (hereafter cited as "Skizzen," Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden). Dittmar
wrote several books on religious, social, and political issues: Lessing undFeuerbach (Offen-
bach a.M., 1847), Vier Zeitfragen (Offenbach a.M., 1847), Zur Charakterisierung der
nordischen Mythologie im Verhaltnis zu andern Naturreligionen (Darmstadt, 1848), and Das
Wesen der Ehe (Leipzig, 1850).

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 Stanley Zucker 241
der and first president, Kathinka Zitz-Halein. She was born
on November 4, 1801, the daughter of a well-to-do merchan
Educated in several boarding schools, including one in Strasb
very early showed an inclination and talent for writing, and
her first works were published. For the next thirty years sh
essays, short stories, poems, translations, and novels. Her works,
tion to appearing in book form, were also published in news
literary journals.8 Her writing career was made more difficult b
of domestic tragedies which included her mother's and her si
deaths, her father's insanity, an attempt by him on her lif
bankruptcy of the family business. Kathinka, who for a tim
sponsible for two younger siblings, supported herself by wo
governess in Darmstadt, as a director of a private school in K
tern, by doing needlework, giving French lessons, and by w
June 1837 she married Franz Zitz, who later became the de
leader in Mainz. The marriage was a failure, and she left him
ber 1838. She lived in Paris for a year on support payments f
but returned to Mainz in time to contest successfully a div
which he initiated. Still his wife and still the recipient of su
ments, she now was able to devote more time to writing.9
In the 1840s she began to get involved politically, possibly
attachment to the German-catholic religious reform movem
had about three hundred adherents in Mainz and even more in
cities ofthe Grand Duchy of Hesse. A number ofthe Germa
communities provided a greater role for women within the
tion. During the Revolution of 1848 some ofthe people s
with in Mainz and other German cities are identifiable as G

8. At least two of her pre-1848 literary activities are relevant to 1848. He

lished article (published anonymously) was a response to an attack on th
women wore to the theater ("Skizzen," Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden, p. 4b).
she translated several plays by Victor Hugo (Marion de Lorme, Le Roi s'amuse,
well). The first two have women as central characters and portray them a
individuals, while the third deals with the corrupting influence of power.
strate her awareness of social and political issues. The reviewer of one of her
bemoaned the fact that a woman would undertake to translate such a soci
work (Bldtterfur literarische Unterhaltung, 1836, p. 774).
9. This brief sketch of Kathinka Zitz-Halein's life until 1848 is based prim
"Skizzen," two drafts of which are in the Hessische Landesbibliothek in W
her literary efforts see Karl von Schindel, Die deutschen Schriftstellerinnen de
Jahrhunderts, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1823-25), 1: 187, 3: 144-49; Karl Goedke, Gr
Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (Dresden, 1938), 13:295-98; and Ludwig Fra
und Franz Zitz," Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 45: 373-79.

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242 German Women and the Revolution of 1848
catholics.10 Her political attitudes, in favor of democratic-liberal re?
form and national unity, are evident in her poems and prose work
which appeared in Herbstrosen in Poesie undProsa (1846). Shortly before
1848 she became involved in the campaign by Mainz and other Rhenish
Hessian cities to defend their cherished and progressive legal codes,
which were products of French rule. The Hessian government sought
to replace them with codes in force in the other two Hessian provinces.
She wrote a series of articles, anonymously, for a Mannheim newspaper
attacking the government's plan and calling on the people of Mainz to
resist it. Distribution of the newspaper was eventually prohibited in
Hessian territory, but she claimed, and not with total exaggeration, to
have awakened the Mainzers from their political slumbers and lit the
spark that led to 1848.11
The first forty-seven years of Kathinka Zitz-Halein's life, it is clear,
did not conform to the middle-class feminine ideal. Her familial mis-
fortunes, the need to support herself, her literary and later political ac?
tivities point to the need to examine the reality of that ideal. It is true
that at least occasionally she identified with it, writing that she was cut
out for the * joys of family life," and that she would never find "true
happiness" outside it. Whether this was self-delusion or lip service to a
prevailing attitude is difficult to determine. More important to stress,
however, is that her personal experiences as well as her political and

io. On German-catholicism, political reform, and women's rights see Jacques Droz,
"Die religiosen Sekten und die Revolution von 1848," Archiv fiir Sozialgeschichte 3
(1963): 109-18; Helmut Hirsch, "Carl Heinrich Marx als Prediger der Krefelder Deutsch-
katholiken (1847-1851)," ibid., pp. 119-39; Giinter Kolbe, "Demokratische Opposition
in religiosen Gewande: Zur Geschichte der deutschkatholischen Bewegung in Sachsen am
Vorabend der Revolution von 1848-49," Zeitschrift fiir Geschichtswissenschaft 20 (1972):
1102-12; Catherine M. Prelinger, "The German-catholic Church: From National Hope
to Regional Reality," in Consortium on Revolutionary Europe: Proceedings, 1976 (Athens,
Ga., 1978), pp. 88-101, and her "Religious Dissent, Women's Rights and the Hamburger
Hochschule fur das weibliche Geschlecht in Mid-Nineteenth Century Germany," Church
History 45 (Mar. 1976): 42-45; "Skizzen," pp. 44a, 104b, 115b, Zitz Nachlass, Wies?
baden; Curt Pfiitze, "Heribert Rau," Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 27: 376-78.
11. Kathinka Zitz, Herbstrosen in Poesie und Prosa (Mainz, 1846), pp. 221-23, 227-29,
242-43. On the pre-1848 political agitation in the Rhenish areas see Karl-Georg Faber,
"Die rheinischen Institutionen," Hambacher Gesprdche, 1962, Geschichtliche Landeskunde
(Mainz, 1964), 1: 20-40; Katz-Seibert, Der politische Radikalismus, pp. 1-11; and the
newspaper clippings in Kathinka Zitz Nachlass, Stadtarchiv, Mainz: see also her critical
but not inaccurate comments on the political behavior of her husband in 1848 ("Skizzen,"
pp. 30a, 105a, 107a, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden). She also mentions ("Skizzen," p. 83b)
meeting Heinrich von Gagern before 1848.

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 Stanley Zucker 243
literary activities before 1848 made her well known locally
suited to take the initiative to organize the Humania Assoc
The original impulse to found the women's group see
come from Mannheim where women had organized two a
One of them forwarded its statutes to Mainz, stating that
past when women should be only "inactive spectators" to c
and asking the Mainzers to join them as women from Frank
cently done. The women of Mainz, however, decided to f
own organization, and the Humania Association for Patriot
was formally constituted on May 24, 1849. Its membersh
with regard to social status and religion. Its purpose was to
patriots" and their families. A member had to make a mini
bution of three kreuzer (two cents) weekly, and contribu
form of clothing and bandages and of nursing services w
cepted. The executive leadership ofthe Humania Association
hands of a board of directors of seventeen elected for six
secret ballot ofthe general assembly. The board of directors
ity to dispense amounts up to fifteen gulden ($6.30) withou
ofthe general assembly. The board elected the president an
ident.13
The president ofthe association was Kathinka Zitz and the vice presi?
dent Amalia Bamberger, Ludwig Bamberger's mother. This reflected
the leadership of the Democratic Association, and at least sixteen of
twenty-one women who held board positions appear to have been re?
lated to members of the Democratic Association. The membership of

12. On her loyalty and toughness see her letter to her estranged husband, Aug. 12,
1845, Kathinka Zitz Nachlass, Mainz, asking him to help her brother who was in financial
difficulties. She asked him to forget that her brother was the "relative of a women you
hate_You know me well enough to be able to understand what a hard struggle it cost
me to send this request to you. What I would not do for myself for any price I do for
others because I recognize . .. that it lay within the sphere of my obligations, where my
own power no longer suffices... to take this last step." Her papers also contain material
on her literary infighting. She was attacked in an essay, Bilder aus der Paulskirche (Leipzig,
1849), and responded by suing the publisher and winning an apology, typical of her
unwillingness to tolerate any supposed injustice to herself. As the "official wife" of Franz
Zitz she was the focus of several popular demonstrations in his honor. Later as head ofthe
Humania Association she would receive her own ("Skizzen," pp. 29b, 47b, 105a, 106a,
107b, 108a, 109a, noab, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden).
13. Therese Canton (president ofthe Concordia association) to [Zitz], May 1, 1849,
Katherine Betz to Zitz [May 3, 1849], Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; Der Demokrat (Mainz),
May 17,1849, pp. 153-55; Kasteler Beobachter, May 18,1849; Statuten des Humania Vereins
fiir vaterldndische Interessen (n.p., n.d.), Zitz speech [May 24,1849], Zitz Nachlass, Mainz.

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244 German Women and the Revolution of 1848
the organization at its peak equaled 1,647 women compared to the
2,000 men who belonged to the Democratic Association by the spring
of 1849. It was not possible to correlate the membership ofthe two or?
ganizations since we do not have full names for all members and the
membership list for the Democratic Association dates from August
1848 when membership was 614. It would be interesting to know how
many women not related to members ofthe Democratic Association or
to those who participated in the spring uprising were members of the
Humania Association. Nevertheless, we have before us a large organiza?
tion of democratically inclined women, representing progressive politi?
cal thought at the inception ofthe German feminist movement.
Although it is not possible to know the attitude of the membership
toward the question ofthe role of women in German society, we do
have sufficient information about Kathinka Zitz's views. They seemed
to be accepted by the rank and file and to conform to the beliefs of
other female activists in 1848. Her conception ofthe proper role of
women during the revolutionary crisis could be described as realistic but
not necessarily moderate. Labeling the activities of women in times of
crises such as war and revolution as timid or courageous assumes a stan?
dard which in fact does not exist. What may appear as modest by the
standards of male participation could be regarded as extraordinary for
women when one considers the political, legal, economic, and social
disabilities with which they had to contend in mid-nineteenth-century
Europe.14 The mere act of forming such an organization was a coura?
geous step. There were scarcely precedents for it.
Zitz told her audience that the responsibility of women in the crisis
was more serious than simply being "inactive" visitors to the Demo?
cratic Association's meetings or sewing flags. She passed in review he-
roic women of previous epochs whose unique deeds made an imprint on
history: from Judith through Joan of Are to Charlotte Corday. These
were role models which suggest a high degree of political activism and
personal courage. What motivated them, she stressed, was their strong
sense of patriotism, and the women of Mainz could do no less. "We
must," she emphasized, "cease being just women and become entirely
citizens and patriots."15 What this suggests about her political and civil

14. See the collection of essays in Women, War, and Revolution, ed. Carol R. Berkin and
Clara M. Lovett (New York, 1980); Sheila Rowbotham, Women, Resistance, and Revolu?
tion (New York, 1972).
15. DerDemokrat, May 17,1849, pp. 153-55; Kasteler Beobachter, May 19,1849; news-
paper clipping [Mainzer Tagblatt, n.d.], Zitz Nachlass, Mainz.

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 Stanley Zucker 245
aspirations for women is difficult to ascertain. Her general
goal, which might be classified as democratic-liberal, was th
of a "united Germany" based on the "Frankfurt Assembly's
tion," which in her view provided for "freedom under the p
ofthe law, respect for property, and order." Before 1848 mh
rosen in Poesie und Prosa she was very critical of those who
complete female equality with men, and instead stressed that the
cipation of women" should be understood in a moral sense as
the recognition by men of women's special abilities. "The tru
pation of women," she wrote, "is only the... acknowledgem
feminine existence within its own limits." Those limits seeme
fined by domestic responsibilities. During the revolution her
women of Mainz to act like citizens and patriots implicitly
edged an improved political and civil position for them. Noth
comments, however, indicates that she expected the success o
lution to change dramatically the status of women in Germa
wrote Countess Sophie Hatzfeldt, who had more than a passi
in women's rights, "Be patient, women's rights are not impo
The most important problem is the success ofthe revolution
then, she added, "we will have to work hard to get our rig
Kathinka Zitz, like other prominent women during 184
Louise Otto, Malwida von Meysenbug, and Fanny Lewald
limitations on women's involvement in public affairs.17 He

16. "Skizzen," pp. 30a, 31a, 42b, 104b, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden; Zitz, H
PP- 330-41; Zitz to Countess Sophie Hatzfeldt, Aug. 16, 1848, as cited i
"Origins of German Feminism," pp. 134-55; see also Jean Quataert, Relucta
in German Social Democracy, 1885-1017 (Princeton, N.J., 1979), which sho
many female socialist leaders the goals of feminism would have to wait for
of socialism and even then not be realizable.
17. Louise Otto claimed that women who wished to make women into ca
men brought female emancipation into ill repute. She believed that women
tion involved participation in the task of German unification (Baumer
Wandel, pp. 328-31). Malwida von Meysenbug, Memoiren einer Idealistin, 2
1917), wrote (1: 244) that the aim of female emancipation was not to mak
men but to "make them worthier as women." Her memoirs, which went
printings from 1876 to 1927, suggest the need for a new look at this ever h
Fanny Lewald also believed that unorthodox behavior, such as Louise Asto
cigars in public or dressing like a man, would damage the cause of female
(Sanford, "Origins of German Feminism,,, p. 143). Zitz was in contact wit
and Meysenbug. She asked Johanna Kinkel to contribute an article to O
zeitung and had Meysenbug's Ein Frauenschwur zur Demokratie publish
newspaper (Gottfried Kinkel to Zitz, Aug. 8 [1852], Johanna Kinkel to Zitz
1850, Rupprecht Leppla, "Johanna und Gottfried Kinkels Briefe an Kathink

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246 German Women and the Revolution 0/1848
reaction to the lectures of Louise Dittmar on the emancipation of wom?
en is but one example of her rejection of what she regarded as a radical
feminist point of view. "The true woman," she wrote caustically, "can?
not declare herself in agreement with teaching which, stripping herself
of all womanliness, strives to make her an amazon, a hermaphrodite,
which belongs neither to one nor the other sex." Also characteristic of
her attitude is her reaction to meeting the wife ofthe revolutionary offi?
cer Ludwig Blenker, who accompanied her husband on his campaigns.
After their first meeting she noted that normally "hermaphrodites who
go beyond the boundaries of their sex" were "repugnant" to her. But
Blenker's wife seemed to be motivated by self-sacrificing love for her
husband, and thus deserved respect. A second meeting four weeks later,
during which Zitz saw Blenker's wife dressed in the uniform of an in-
surgent and smoking a cigar, "filled her with loathing" and destroyed
her previously favorable view.18
Woman's task, Zitz maintained, in words that seemed appropriate to
that revolutionary period and probably reflected the prevailing senti-
ment, was not to play the man's role. Men were made to fight; they
were given strength and sharper reasoning. Women, she cautioned,
must not "step outside their femininity." Their "true calling" was to
work for the nation but in a "genuinely feminine way." Women could
prove themselves "great within their sphere" by being ready to sacri-
fice for, care for, and console those who were direct or indirect victims
of the spring uprising. Given the political and social environment in
1849 this was realistic and practical advice, which provided an oppor?
tunity for women to work effectively in public. This view also con-
formed to that of the leader of the democratic forces in Mainz, Franz
Zitz, who praised the Humanians for becoming involved in civic af?
fairs without ignoring their other obligations or "offending the concept
of feminine tenderness." It was within this framework that the Hu?
mania Association intended to work.19
Nevertheless, stepping into the arena of civic affairs at a time of crisis
forced the Humanians to leave their domestic spheres and face a series of

1861," Bonner Geschichtsbldtter 12 [1958]: 25, 26, 45; Meysenbug, Memoiren, 1: 172,
185-87). The question of contacts between female activists needs to be studied.
18. "Skizzen," pp. 33a, 35a, 107b, 112a, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.
19. Kasteler Beobachter, May 31,1849, newspaper clipping [Mainzer Tagblatt, n.d.], Zitz
speech [to prisoners and exiles, July 1849], Zitz speech to general assembly, June 1849,
Franz Zitz to Humania Association, Nov. 27, 1849, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; "Skizzen,"
PP- 33a, 35a, 107b, 112a, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.

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 Stanley Zucker 247
problems which tested their political talent, ingenuity, an
tion. One of the earliest issues with which they had to d
caused by the changing political fortunes of the insurgen
victory ofthe Prussian-led counterrevolution by July 184
en's group had to face the possibility of political repress
Kathinka Zitz admitted that some members, including on
board of directors, had resigned due to a rumor that the
list had fallen into the hands ofthe authorities. She herself
gated on a charge of lese majesty, the first of at least four
the Hessian and Prussian governments to silence her. The
sociation, thus, had to shift gears. Although in May she h
contributions for the purchase of weapons and spoken ofth
of the bourgeoisie," by June she stressed that the organiz
adhere strictly to the "path of legality." She emphasized t
ciation did not follow any political tendency but was a we
zation aiming to help the needy. She also claimed that the
olutionaries had only been trying to implement the legal
tional decisions ofthe Frankfurt Assembly. She was publicl
suppressed women's association in Mannheim because
from the correct path" by allowing itself to indulge in re
speeches. The Humania Association would not make the sa
"Our job," she wrote, "is to do good but not incite. If we d
ate from this path no one can find fault with us." As long
peared to be a general welfare organization there would be
problems. To stress the general humanitarian purpose ofth
association made contributions to German soldiers in Sch
stein, to the citizens of Mainz who suffered losses due to floo
the local poorhouse.20 In part due to this strategy, plus
Hesse, unlike Baden, was not under Prussian occupation,
Association was able to function successfully for over two
The defeat of the uprising, however, did impose a new
the Humania Association, which led to increasing interna
eventually to Kathinka Zitz's resignation in June 1850. Th

20. Zitz's speeches to the general assembly June, July 28, 1849; "V
Mitglieder der am 24. Mai 1849 in Mainz von Frau Kathinka Zitz gegrii
verein Humania" (ms), p. 1; "Erscheinungsbefehl" (ms), Nov. 7, 1849
contributions to aid those affected by the flooding and to the Mainz po
Wolf to Zitz, Jan. 21, [1850], all ofthe above in Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; Kaste
July 24,1849; "Skizzen," pp. 36a, 41a, 44b-48b, H7b-ii9b, Zitz Nachla

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248 German Women and the Revolution of 1848
carried on a wide range of activities to aid the insurgents and their de-
pendents. Its income until June 1850 was 5,911 gulden, most of it (75
percent) derived from weekly dues and voluntary contributions. Addi?
tional sums were raised by lotteries, benefit concerts, poetry readings,
and by the Mainz Carnival Society. Expenditures equalled 5,837 gulden
and can be arranged into five main categories. The first clearly demon?
strated a sensitivity to the problems faced by women in wartime. Aid
was given to local women whose husbands or fathers were in exile or in
prison because ofthe revolt. These women received one half gulden per
week. In addition they were helped by special grants to meet mortgage
payments, to redeem pawned items, to obtain medical care for those ill
or pregnant, and to support a day-care center for children to enable
women to find employment. Support also went to refugees who "passed
through" Mainz, to released prisoners who returned to the city, and to
those imprisoned or in exile in such places as Landau, Zweibriicken,
Bruchsal, Rastatt, Mainz, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, and Strasbourg. Addi?
tional payments were made to a few specific individuals?wives or
widows of imprisoned or executed revolutionaries. The most promi?
nent of these was the wife of Gottfried Kinkel.21
The statements of accounts do not permit a detailed breakdown of
expenditures since support payments to local women, aid to refugees
passing through Mainz, and help to returning prisoners were lumped
together. This may have reflected the fact that some or many of those
supposedly traveling through Mainz were actually local people return?
ing surreptitiously to the city. Apparently the government permitted
the rank and file of the insurgents to return home if it were done
quietly. In any event, this was the largest expenditure, at least 42 per?
cent. Aid to exiles totaled 22 percent, to prisoners 6-7 percent, to
specific individuals 7 percent and overhead costs 8-9 percent. An?
other 11.5 percent was used to purchase clothing but its disbursement
was not specified. The accounts do offer evidence of increasing prob?
lems which the Humania Association and its founder had to face. There
was a steady decline in income. During the first three months the av?
erage monthly income was 643 gulden. From August 30, 1849, to
January 23, 1850, it dropped to 515 gulden, and from January 23

21. The best overview of expenditures is provided by the statement of account of

June 1850 contained in "Verzeichnis" (ms), last page, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; see also
Zitz's speeches, July 29, Sept. 2, Nov. 25, 1849, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; "Skizzen," pp.
41b, 110b, 115b, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.

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 Stanley Zucker 249
to June 16, 1850, it fell to 280 gulden. Although the ear
ofthe general assembly heard requests for additional contr
November 1849 Zitz had to acknowledge that the orga
longer had the income ofthe first months and that many
were so enthusiastic had "fallen by the wayside." She
"winds of adversity," and later the hard winter, for the d
port.22
Although it was natural that enthusiasm would wane, the decline in
membership and income seems attributable to other factors. Letters
poured in from individuals and groups each with his or her tale of mis-
fortune, most related to the revolution, some apparently not.23 They
raised a number of questions regarding whom to help and how to dis-
burse assistance. Should all Germans or only Mainzers and Rhenish
Hessians be helped; should money be funneled through refugee com?
mittees in Bern, Zurich, and Strasbourg or given directly to the refu-
gees; should certain individuals be singled out for support; and should
the association in fact become a general welfare organization? These
were questions for which the Humanians had no unified answer. And
Kathinka Zitz's priorities were not necessarily those ofthe membership.
One of the earliest points of disagreement surfaced only five weeks
after the association was founded. A letter signed by "several members"
asked that the weekly dues of three kreuzer be replaced by a monthly
one ofthe same amount.24 The writers claimed that since the majority
ofthe insurgents from Mainz had returned, the tasks ofthe organization
were reduced. Moreover, they indicated that as members ofthe work?
ing class they found the dues too high to remain in the organization
much longer. The same issue surfaced at least twice thereafter, and some
members even demanded their money back.25 This raises the question
whether social tensions within the association undermined it as they
helped to subvert the revolution. Zitz's response to the letter was to ac-
cuse the signers of not understanding the basic purpose ofthe organiza?
tion. She claimed that all Germans, and even Poles, who had suffered

22. Zitz's speeches, Nov. 25, 1849, Jan. 1850, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; "Skizzen," pp.
34a, ii2ab, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.
23. See "Skizzen," p. 116, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden, for the problem of dealing with
those who tried to pass themselves off as refugees.
24. The Democratic Association's dues were 6 kreuzer per month. In the Working-
men's Educational Club they were 6 kreuzer every two weeks.
25. "Mehrere Mitglieder" to Zitz, June 28, 1849, Zitz speeches, Oct. 28, Nov. 25,
1849, Feb. 24,1850, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz.

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250 German Women and the Revolution of 1848
due to patriotic activities deserved support.26 Nevertheless, there is
some evidence that class differences were a factor. Some individuals
who participated in the insurgency, according to Bamberger, came
from a "comfortable middle-class [bilrgerliche] background." And Phil-
ipp Wasserburg, who was closely connected to the Workingmen's
Educational Club, noted that it was the "masters" who marched off to
the Palatinate. This also seems to be the meaning ofthe "affair ofthe
chest." On one of her trips to refugee centers and prisons Kathinka
Zitz was asked by a leader ofthe Democratic Association to get hold of
a mysterious chest which had been left in Karlsruhe. The chest, which
was eventually confiscated by the Hessian authorities, contained docu?
ments indicating who was involved in or supported the uprising. As a
result two hundred people, "mostly prominent citizens from Mainz"
and other parts ofthe province, were arrested. The Humania Associa?
tion gave them support until they were released or acquitted. It appears
likely, then, that the more prominent insurgents were too compro-
mised simply to drift back to Mainz undetected. They, therefore, re?
quired more assistance, leading to resentment in other circles.27
Moreover, Zitz seemed to single out for special attention certain in?
dividuals or groups who tended to be politically prominent, educated,
or wealthy. She was particularly sensitive to the needs of the former
members of the Frankfurt Parliament. She viewed them as people of
refinement and education who had lost secure and comfortable exis-
tences because of their political beliefs and activities. Now they were
being "hunted like wild animals" and would be forced to start anew in
America (as her husband was soon to do). Funds especially designated
for them were sent to Bern.28 She also engaged herself on behalf ofthe
imprisoned democratic leader Gottfried Kinkel. Kinkel, from Bonn,
was the leader ofthe Democratic Association and the Artisans' Educa?
tional Association in that city, as well as a member ofthe Prussian par-

26. Zitz's speech, June 1849, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz.

27. Ludwig Bamberger, "Erlebnisse aus der pfalzischen Erhebung," in his Gesammeltc
Schriften, 3 (Berlin, 1895): 133; Philipp Wasserburg, "Umsjahr 1848," Mainzer Anzeiger,
Sept. 22,1897; "Skizzen," pp. 36b, 37ab, 44b, 45a, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden. Kathinka
Zitz was also interrogated but charges against her were dropped due to insufficient
evidence.
28. Zitz's speech, Nov. 25, 1849, Cart Vogt to Zitz, Nov. 16, 1849, Wilhelm Lowe
to Humania Verein, Jan. 8, Mar. 5, Apr. 19,1850, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; Paul Neitzke,
Die deutschen politischen Fluchtlinge in der Schweiz 1848-49 (Charlottenburg, 1926), pp.
58-60; "Skizzen," pp. 41b, 42a, 44ab, 45ab, 111b, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.

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 Stanley Zucker 251
liament. He was wounded and captured during the spring f
coming the most prominent political prisoner in Germany
Zitz was personally acquainted with the Kinkel family, an
approximately 220 gulden for them through concerts, poet
and special collections. This amounted to 3.75 percent oft
tion's expenditures. But even this was not sufficient. After 1,
had been raised for the family nationwide, she claimed that
suffice for the family's maintenance.29 Although support
kels had become a national cause in Germany, her special
raising relatively large sums of money for personal friend
have been accepted with equanimity by the entire memb
addition she betrayed a special interest in the needs of cert
such as the son of the owner of a champagne factory, fo
gathered six hundred signatures for a petition asking for his r
the son of a justice of the peace who was treated with "s
sideration."31
The issue of whom to support could not be separated fr
lated question of how to disburse payments. Initially Zitz
believe that she could personally pay out money during tri
centers and prisons. In June and July, before all ofthe fightin
she made extensive trips to the Palatinate, Baden, Switzer
France. Helped at times by local female democratic group
with the authorities and tried to distribute money, cloth
bacco goods. These trips however, were time-consuming,
disorganized (she admitted that during her July trip she h
money before finding a group of fifty-six Mainzers in Zur
parently left her open to the charge that she was squandering
funds on her journeys.32 The trips were probably necessar
were no central refugee organizations to manage the disb
aid.

29. Hans Kersken, Stadt und Universitdt Bonn in den Revolutionsjahren 1848-50 (Bonn,
1931); Leppla, "Johanna und Gottfried Kinkels Briefe," pp. 7-82; Zitz's speech, Feb.
24, 1850, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz.
30. A possible suggestion of this can be detected in Johanna Kinkel's letter to Zitz,
Dec. 25, 1849, Leppla, "Johanna und Gottfried Kinkels Briefe," p. 20; "Skizzen," p.
115b, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.
31. "Skizzen," pp. 44ab, 45ab, 111b, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden.
32. She was accused of using Humania funds to finance health-cure trips to Mannheim;
Zitz's speeches, July 29, Sept. 2, 1849, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz: "Skizzen," pp. 3ia-36a,
45b, 111b, n6ab, Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden; Kathinka Zitz, "Meine Ausweisung aus
Karlsruhe," Kasteler Beobachter, July 24, 26, 1849.

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252 German Women and the Revolution 0/1848
But at the end of July she announced that the Humania Association
was joining a central refugee assistance organization in Zurich. This
step, however, raised the extremely sensitive issue of making certain
that Mainzers and Rhenish Hessians received the funds. Here too, the
Humanians reflected the particularism within Germany which helped
subvert the revolution. There was very strong support within the asso?
ciation for the policy of aiding only those from the city or province.
Other areas of Germany that sent funds to Switzerland also wanted it
distributed to specific groups. Zitz promised the general assembly that
the money would be designated for disbursement to local people. Her
critics, however, remained unappeased, and she had to defend herself
against the charge that funds were being given to outsiders. There were
indeed complaints from Rhenish Hessians in Zurich that they were not
getting very much support from the refugee committee. Zitz's response,
that one could not be certain that specific individuals would get funds,
satisfied few, and pressure for a change in policy mounted.33 At the end
of October Zitz announced that money sent to Switzerland would no
longer go through the refugee organization but would be sent directly
to her husband, Franz, for disbursement. Even he found it difficult to
carry out the association's directives and had to apologize for distribut-
ing funds to outsiders.34
Kathinka Zitz was correct that unsettled conditions in the refugee
centers severely complicated the disbursement of funds. This was par?
ticularly true in Strasbourg, which was the largest center outside Swit?
zerland. The French authorities made it difficult for the refugees to re?
main in Strasbourg and tried to send them to inland cities. A secret com?
mittee was formed but due to expulsions did not function effectively.
Finally a committee of native Strasbourgers was formed under the guid-
ance of the former Frankfurt Assembly representative Franz Raveaux.
This made it possible for the Humania Association to send one hundred
gulden.35

33* Zitz speeches, July 29, Sept. 2, 1849, Franz Moritz Fourie (refugee) to Deutsche
Frauen, Sept. 1, 1849, Christian Starth (refugee) to Humania Verein, n.d., Bammarth
(refugee) to Humania Verein, Oct. 22,1849, Zitz, Nachlass, Mainz; "Skizzen," p. n6ab,
Zitz Nachlass, Wiesbaden; Neitzke, Die deutschen politischen Fluchtlinge, p. 59.
34. Zitz's speech, Oct. 28,1849; Franz Zitz to Humania Verein, Dec. 3,1849, Jan. 31,
1850, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; over the same issue Wilhelm Lowe apparently had to return
some money (Lowe to Humania Verein, Apr. 19, 1850, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz).
35. Franz Raveaux to the Democratic Association (Mainz) [Sept. 1849], Raveaux to
Zitz [early Dec. 1849], Dec. 27, 1849, Strasbourg Refugee Committee to Zitz, Oct. 3,

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 Stanley Zucker 253
The issue which precipitated Kathinka Zitz's resignation a
cerned the problem of disbursing aid. Early in 1850 she entr
business manager, Josephine Kaufmann, with authorizing sup
ments. The latter, in Zitz's view, so exceeded her authority
consequence the president and six members ofthe board of di
signed on June 16, 1850. Precisely what precipitated the resi
not known. It may have been related to the issue of wheth
mania Association should actually become a general welfare
tion to help the needy and thus see its basic purpose diluted. Zit
that after her resignation Humania Association membershi
from over sixteen hundred to several hundred before the or
expired due to a lack of further contributions. Nevertheless, it r
in existence until September 1851, and a note in Louise Otto
zeitung suggests that it died a natural death when it had no furt
to accomplish. By the end of 1850, only 150 of 11,000 refu
mained in Switzerland. And the major trials ofthe Mainz pa
in the spring uprising had already been held.36
The Humania Association lasted two years and four month
one to evaluate it? It must certainly be considered a success, and
sents an important achievement during the Revolution of 184
members represented nine percent of the entire female pop
Mainz. The association managed the collection and distribut
proximately 6000 gulden to hundreds if not thousands of nee
It adjusted to the changing political atmosphere in the summ
by carefully redefining its purpose and expressing its sentim
tiously. Moreover, the Humania Association must not be view
ly as the creation and creature of Kathinka Zitz. Although the re
membership remains shadowy there was clearly a broad base
participation. The disputes over policy and tactics are eviden
And the association's continued existence even when the orig
lus, Kathinka Zitz, was no longer involved testifies to the com
and the ability of its membership. The fact that over sixtee

i849> Zitz's speech, Nov. 25, 1849, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz. On the policy o
government toward the refugees see Otto Wiltberger, Die deutschen politische
in Strassburg von 1830-1849 (Berlin, 1910), pp. 74-83.
36. "Verzeichnis" (ms), pp. 1-2, Zitz Nachlass, Mainz; Kathinka Zitz, "Ein
rende Worte zu dem Streite iiber die arme Frau in der goldenen Luft," Mainz
Jan. 15, 1850; Frauenzeitung reports of Oct. 26, Dec. 7, 1851, cited in
Deutsche Frauenbewegung, 2: 71-72; Neitzke, Die deutschen politischen Fluchtl

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254 German Women and the Revolution 0/1848
women formally joined an organization, probably the first one to which
they ever belonged, should be considered an act of unusual political
courage. It was also possible to get six hundred signatures on a petition
to the Badenese authorities requesting leniency for a prisoner. These ef-
forts plus the existence of women's associations in more cities than pre?
viously known should significantly alter our evaluation of the role of
German women in the mid-nineteenth century.
It can be argued, of course, that most ofthe women involved were
not, at least in a modern sense, consciously feminist or perhaps even "re-
luctant feminists" in thought. Nevertheless, they could be labeled "un-
intentional feminists" who, to use the old anarchist phrase, carried on
propaganda by deed. Although historians have been slow to uncover
these organizational activities, they could not have failed to have had an
impact on the thousands of women in Mainz and other German cities
who took part in them or knew of them. The revival of the feminist
movement in the 1860s should be seen in the context of 1848. It is not
possible at this stage of research to document the degree to which parti?
cipants in the Revolution of 1848 played active roles in the later cam?
paign for women's rights. But some of them at least did, such as Louise
Otto-Peters (by then the widow of August), Emily Wiistenfeld, and
other women connected with the Hamburg college for women. Mal-
wida von Meysenbug may have opted out of direct participation in the
later movement, but her ideas about female emancipation did not
change. Other German women carried on their emancipatory efforts in
America.37 And last, the women of Mainz mirrored the social tensions
and particularism which were important elements ofthe Revolution of
1848.
Thus, by investigating the Humania Association we have learned
something about the experiences of German women in the mid-nine?
teenth century; we have a more complete picture ofthe German revolu?
tion; and we can perhaps conclude that women's history fits into the
broader pattern of German history between 1848 and 1871.

37- Sanford, "Origins of German Feminism," pp. 136, 139; Meysenbug, Memoiren,
1: 172, 176; Carl Wittke, Refugees of Revolution (Philadelphia, Pa., 1952), pp. 66-67;
Adolf Zucker, The Forty-Eighters (New York, 1950), pp. 109,153-54.

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