Dorothea Grimm
{{Short description|Mother of the Brothers Grimm}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dorothea Grimm
| image = Dorothea Zimmer 1808.jpg
| image_upright = 0.75
| caption = 1808 portrait
| birth_name = Dorothea Zimmer
| birth_date = November 20, 1755
| birth_place = Kassel, Hesse, Holy Roman Empire
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1808|5|27|1755|11|20}}
| death_place = Kassel, Hesse, Germany
| resting_place = Altstädter Cemetery, Kassel
| spouse = {{marriage|Philipp Grimm|1783}}
| children = 9, including Jacob, Wilhelm, and Ludwig
| relatives = Ludwig Hassenpflug (son-in-law)
}}
Dorothea Grimm (née Zimmer; November 20, 1755 – May 27, 1808){{Cite book |last=Grimm |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1l5OAQAAMAAJ&dq=Dorothea+Grimm+mother&pg=PA888 |title=Teutonic Mythology |date=1883 |publisher=W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen |pages=xlviii |language=en}} was the mother to the "Brothers Grimm" Jacob and Wilhelm, and seven other children, including Ludwig Emil Grimm and Charlotte Grimm.{{Cite book |last=Stoll |first=Adolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BTVWtwAACAAJ |title=Dorothea Grimm, die Mutter der Brüder Grimm: zu ihrem Andenken an ihrem 100jähr. Todestag 1808, 27 Mai, 1908 |date=1908 |publisher=Gebr. Gotthelft in Komm. |language=de}}
Early life and family
Dorothea was born on November 20, 1755, in Kassel, Hesse, Germany, the daughter of Johann Hermann Zimmer, a Kassel city councilman and Anna Elisabeth Zimmer.{{Cite book |last=Grimm |first=Brothers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtcsDQAAQBAJ&dq=Dorothea+Zimmer&pg=PR18 |title=The Essential Grimm's Fairy Tales |date=2016-02-15 |publisher=Race Point Publishing |isbn=978-1-63106-171-4 |pages=xviii |language=en}}
On February 23, 1783, Dorothea married lawyer Philipp Wilhelm Grimm, with whom she had 8 sons and one daughter.{{Cite web |title=Grimm Brothers |url=https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html?iframe=true&width=100%25&height=100%25 |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=sites.pitt.edu}} Their children were as follows:{{Cite book |last=Snodgrass |first=Mary Ellen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oz0OAQAAMAAJ&q=Dorothea+Zimmer |title=Encyclopedia of Fable |date=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-026-0 |pages=147 |language=en}}
- Friedrich Hermann Georg Grimm (1783–1784)
- Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785–1863)
- Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786–1859)
- Carl Friedrich Grimm (1787–1852)
- Ferdinand Philipp Grimm (1788–1844)
- Ludwig Emil Grimm (1790–1863)
- Friedrich Grimm (1791–1792)
- Charlotte (Lotte) Amalie Hassenpflug, née Grimm (1793–1833)
- Georg Eduard Grimm (1794–1795)
File:Steinau_Brüder-Grimm-Haus_2016-04-10-12-06-37.jpg from 1791 to 1796]]
= Household and later life =
In 1791, the Grimm family moved to the town of Steinau an der Straße where Philipp had been named as a district magistrate.{{Cite book |last=Michaelis-Jena |first=Ruth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_3vDwAAQBAJ&dq=Dorothea+Zimmer&pg=PT22 |title=The Brothers Grimm (RLE Folklore) |date=2020-07-26 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-15596-9 |language=en}} During this period, they maintained a large house and servants, and were prominent members of the local community.{{Cite book |last1=Grimm |first1=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVgaAAAAYAAJ&q=Dorothea+Zimmer |title=The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm |last2=Grimm |first2=Wilhelm |date=1981 |publisher=Institute for the Study of Human Issues |isbn=978-0-915980-71-0 |pages=350 |language=en}} Dorothea took care of managing the household and raising their family,{{Cite book |last=Zipes |first=Jack |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VD4OAQAAMAAJ&q=Dorothea+Zimmer |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature: Dubo-Lowr |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514656-1 |pages=177 |language=en}} employed private tutors to visit the home, and sent their children to school for a classical education once they were of age.{{Cite book |last=Dollerup |first=Cay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQ1IAAAAQBAJ&dq=Dorothea+Zimmer&pg=PA3 |title=Tales and Translation: The Grimm Tales from Pan-Germanic narratives to shared international fairytales |date=1999-09-15 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-9975-8 |language=en}} A devout Lutheran, Dorothea instilled devout religious values within the household.Herbert Scurla: Die Brüder Grimm, Berlin 1985, pp. 14–16
Dorothea encouraged her children to pursue an education and wrote to the government asking for special permission for her sons to be admitted to the University of Marburg, which was subsequently granted.{{Cite web |title=Brothers Grimm: Best Friends on the Fairy Tale Road |url=https://www.librarypoint.org/blogs/post/brothers-grimm |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=librarypoint.org |date=21 August 2018 |language=en-US}} Her sons developed their interest in German folklore during their time at the University, which grew into a lifelong dedication to collecting German folk tales.
In 1796, Dorothea's husband died from pneumonia at the age of 44. This caused great financial hardship for the family as they lost their household income, large house, and servants, and Dorothea relied heavily on her father Johann for financial support, as well as her sister Henriette, who was then the first lady-in-waiting at the court of William I, Elector of Hesse.{{Cite web |last=Zipes |first=Jack |title=The Forgotten Tales of the Brothers Grimm |url=https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-forgotten-tales-of-the-brothers-grimm/ |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=The Public Domain Review |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Grimm |first1=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gX-hNshMJEC&dq=Dorothea+Zimmer&pg=PA389 |title=The Annotated Brothers Grimm |last2=Grimm |first2=Wilhelm |last3=Grimm |first3=Wilhelm K. |date=2004 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-05848-2 |pages=389 |language=en}} Despite the moderate support she was provided, Dorothea lived in relative poverty for the rest of her life.{{Cite web |date=2022-09-01 |title=8 Fascinating Facts About the Brothers Grimm |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/brothers-grimm-facts |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=Mental Floss |language=en-US}}
Death
In popular culture
Scholars and critics including Alistair Hauke have written that Dorothea may have influenced the Brothers Grimm view of the concept of motherhood in high and "sacred" esteem, which influenced their decision to change the maternal villain character to a wicked stepmother instead of a biological mother in their later versions of Snow White and Hansel and Gretel.{{Cite web |date=2014-11-12 |title=Grimm brothers' fairytales have blood and horror restored in new translation |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/12/grimm-brothers-fairytales-horror-new-translation |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite book |date=2013-10-23 |editor-last=Alister |editor-first=Ian |editor2-last=Hauke |editor2-first=Christopher |title=Contemporary Jungian Analysis |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315812557 |doi=10.4324/9781315812557|isbn=9781317798897 }}
Dorothea is portrayed by Claire Bloom in the 1962 American fantasy film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, which received the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.{{Cite web |title=The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm {{!}} film by Levin and Pal (1962) {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Wonderful-World-of-the-Brothers-Grimm |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}
Dorothea is a character in Grimm's Last Fairytale, a 1999 novel by Haydn Middleton (St. Martin's Publishing Group).{{Cite book |last=Middleton |first=Haydn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81WOAwAAQBAJ |title=Grimm's Last Fairytale |date=2014-07-01 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4668-7482-4 |language=en}}
Dorothea is portrayed by Barbora Lukesová in the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm.{{Citation |title=The Brothers Grimm (2005) - IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355295/characters/nm0525656 |access-date=2022-11-19}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:18th-century German women
Category:19th-century German women
Category:18th-century Lutherans
Category:19th-century Lutherans
Category:People from Kassel (district)
Category:People from Kassel (region)