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The Women’s Movement in Wartime pp 211–226Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Transforming Utopia: The ‘League for the Protection of Mothers and Sexual Reform’ in the First World War

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Abstract

In February 1915, the ‘German League for the Protection of Mothers and Sexual Reform’ (‘Deutscher Bund für Mutterschutz und Sexualreform’) was due to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its founding, yet the outbreak of war had drastically changed the context in which the League had to work. The 1915 Business Report of the Berlin branch of the League reflects this change:

We had hoped to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the League in public, first and foremost by organising an international congress designed to demonstrate how the ideas that we are fighting for have spread to the rest of the civilized world. Until the outbreak of war, we could not have imagined that a world war would put a stop to our work … We have had to get used to coping even with this extraordinary situation, and we have adapted our work to suit the new circumstances.1 (Geschäftsbericht 1915: 1)

Keywords

  • Feminist Critique
  • Unmarried Mother
  • Unmarried Parent
  • Civilized World
  • Race Hygiene

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

I would like to thank the Humboldt-Stiftung for supporting my research for this chapter.

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Bibliography

Publications of the Bund für Mutterschutz and associates

  • Die Neue Generation (The New Generation) (1908–1932), Berlin: Deutscher Bund für Mutterschutz. Hereafter DNG (originally published as Mutterschutz, 1905–1907).

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Authors
  1. Peter Davies
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lancaster University, UK

    Alison S. Fell

  2. University of Leeds, UK

    Ingrid Sharp

Copyright information

© 2007 Peter Davies

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Davies, P. (2007). Transforming Utopia: The ‘League for the Protection of Mothers and Sexual Reform’ in the First World War. In: Fell, A.S., Sharp, I. (eds) The Women’s Movement in Wartime. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230210790_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230210790_13

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-28576-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-21079-0

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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