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‘A foolish dream of sisterhood’: Anti-Pacifist Debates in the German Women’s Movement, 1914–1919

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Gender and the First World War

Abstract

In 1914, before the outbreak of the First World War, the dominant discourse within women’s organizations was of the natural pacifism and the international solidarity of all women, especially among those who were working to improve their social, professional, and political situation.1 The women’s movement since the turn of the century had become increasingly international and even the German women, at first reluctant to cooperate beyond their own borders, had been drawn in.2 International congresses were held in Berlin in 1896, 1904 — at which the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) was founded, and 1912, with a further meeting planned there for 1915.3

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Notes

  1. For more on pre-war pacifism and internationalism in the women’s organizations, see S. Cooper (1987) ‘Women’s Participation in European Peace Movements: The Struggle to Prevent WWI’, in R. Pierson (ed.) Women and Peace: Theoretical, Historical and Practical Perspectives (London: Croom Helm), pp. 51–75

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  3. When asked to join the International Council of Women (ICW) in 1888, the leading German women’s organization at the time, the Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein (ADF), had refused, stating that ‘[i]n Germany we have to work with great tact and conservative methods’, but by 1897 the BDF, of which the ADF remained a leading member, was a member of the ICW and involved in international exchanges. Cited in U. Gerhard (1993) ‘“National oder International?” Frauengeschichte im Spiegel der internationalen Beziehungen der deutschen Frauenbewegung’, Ariadne, 24, p. 51.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds, UK

    Ingrid Sharp (Senior Lecturer in German)

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  1. Ingrid Sharp
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vienna, Austria

    Christa Hämmerle (Associate Professor of Modern and Women’s and Gender History) (Associate Professor of Modern and Women’s and Gender History)

  2. University of Bozen/Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy

    Oswald Überegger (Assistant Professor) (Assistant Professor)

  3. Department of History, University of Vienna, Austria

    Birgitta Bader Zaar (Assistant Professor) (Assistant Professor)

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© 2014 Ingrid Sharp

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Sharp, I. (2014). ‘A foolish dream of sisterhood’: Anti-Pacifist Debates in the German Women’s Movement, 1914–1919. In: Hämmerle, C., Überegger, O., Zaar, B.B. (eds) Gender and the First World War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137302205_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137302205_12

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-45379-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-30220-5

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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