Women's life in Magenza
With our historical works, we also commemorate (mostly long forgotten) female personalities who were born, lived and worked here or died here. They include women from all areas of society and, of course, Jewish women from Mainz.
Brochure: Women's life in Magenza
“Women’s Lives in Magenza” – A reissued brochure from the Women’s Office offers insights into the lives and fates of Jewish women and girls in Mainz
Magenza, the Jewish Mainz, has always had a strong female presence, and 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany also means 1,700 years of Jewish women’s lives in Germany.
To mark this commemorative year of 2021 and January 27, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism, the Women’s Office of the State Capital of Mainz has completely revised and reissued the publication “Women’s Lives in Magenza,” which first appeared in 2010.
Spanning 100 pages, the brochure features over 70 portraits of Jewish women and girls from the Mainz Women’s Calendars since 1991, along with texts on the history of Jewish women in the city.
This biographically oriented journey through time spans from the 14th century to the 20th century. It ranges from Bruna, a learned woman from the late Middle Ages, to Ellen Berta Marxsohn, who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of 13.
They held many professions—they were singers, musicians, writers, doctors, lawyers, housewives, students, and much more.
For some of the women and girls portrayed, their religious affiliation was important and a defining part of their identity; for others, it played no role. And yet, regardless of the era in which they lived, their lives were decisively shaped by the fact that they came from Jewish families, identified as Jewish, or were viewed as Jewish by others.
A large portion of the portraits is dedicated to the women and girls murdered under National Socialism or driven into exile, yet even the stories of those who lived in a different era were not free from antisemitism.
Reinhard Frenzel, who served as a teacher at the Frauenlob Gymnasium and researched the life stories and fates of many Jewish students at the Höhere Mädchenschule, is the author of a whole series of personal portraits. Additional biographies were written by Eva Weickart, director of the Women’s Office. The publication also includes texts on the history of Jewish women by Martina Trojanowski, also of the Women’s Office.
The brochure is available free of charge upon pickup in the foyer of the Stadthaus Große Bleiche (Große Bleiche 46/Löwenhofstraße 1, 55116 Mainz). The brochure can also be mailed upon receipt of 1.55 euros in stamps.
It is also available for download here for anyone interested:
Exhibition: They lived next door
"They lived next door: Jewish women from Mainz persecuted under National Socialism" is the title of the exhibition jointly organized by the Women's Office and the City's Cultural Office, which was opened by Mayor Michael Ebling at 6 p.m. on January 22, 2015, in the City Hall Gallery and ran until March 21, 2015. The national and international day of remembrance on January 27 commemorates the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of this event.
The main focus of the events in Rhineland-Palatinate was the persecution of women under National Socialism. The Mainz exhibition addresses this topic in a special way. For 25 years, biographies of persecuted and murdered Jewish women from Mainz have been included in the calendar "A Look at Mainz Women's History." Forty-nine biographical memories from 25 years of women's calendars were now the focus of the exhibition in the Rathausgalerie.
Especially for the exhibition and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Cultural Office has also compiled a photo documentation of the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) laid so far for female victims of National Socialism in Mainz. On many sidewalks in Mainz, the stumbling stones are a reminder that the women, men, girls, and boys persecuted under National Socialism once had a home, that they lived next door.
A new edition of the brochure "Frauenleben in Magenza" (Women's Lives in Mainz) has also been published to coincide with the exhibition opening. Published by the Women's Office, the brochure offers a broad biographical and historical overview of the lives and work of Jewish women in Mainz.