Writing the Nation and Europe. The Political Journalists Else Frobenius and Anna Siemsen, 1914-1950

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Angelika Schaser
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 185534962

Two biographical studies will explore the political and professional opportunities and limitations in the careers of the pioneering journalists Else Frobenius (1875-1952) and Anna Siemsen (1882-1951) between 1914 and 1950 from a gender history perspective. The example of these two women allows us to analyze the life courses and options of two politically active German female authors/journalists in the first half of the twentieth century, as well as to acknowledge the common ground and differences in their development. The two women were roughly the same age and shared a similar social background and upbringing in the educated middle class. Both left behind a large body of work and sought to change the social and political order. Though they shared comparable institutional positions, the two women had opposite ideological orientations. While Frobenius worked in nationalist and later Nazi contexts, Anna Siemsen developed socialist and pacifist concepts of Europe. The aim of the research project is to study the two women¿s lives, published work and autobiographical texts, thereby contributing to the fields of women¿s and gender history, the history of communication, twentieth-century European history and the political history of culture.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants