Elisabeth Röhl
{{Short description|German politician (1888–1930)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Elisabeth Röhl
| birth_name =
| image = Elisabeth Röhl 1919.jpg
| caption = Röhl {{circa}} 1919
| office1 = Member of the Landtag of Prussia
for Cologne–Aachen
| term_start1 = 10 March 1921
| term_end1 = 21 September 1930
| predecessor1 = Multi-member district
| successor1 = Multi-member district
| office2 = Member of the National Assembly
for Cologne–Aachen
| term_start2 = 6 February 1919
| term_end2 = 24 June 1920
| predecessor2 = Constituency established
| successor2 = Multi-member constituency
| birth_date = {{birth date|1888|08|22}}
| birth_place = Landsberg an der Warthe, Province of Brandenburg, German Empire
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1930|09|21|1888|08|22}}
| death_place = Cologne, Rhine Province, Weimar Germany
| occupation = Politician
| party = SPD
| parents =
| spouse = {{marriage|_____ Röhl|1907}}
{{marriage|Emil Kirschmann|1922}}
| children = 1
| relatives = Marie Juchacz (sister)
| alma_mater =
| nationality = German
}}
Elisabeth Röhl; née Elisabeth Gohlke (22 August 1888 – 21 September 1930){{Cite web |url=http://zhsf.gesis.org/ParlamentarierPortal/biosop_db/biosop_db.php?id=110542 |title=Biosop |access-date=2014-11-12 |archive-date=2014-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112112859/http://zhsf.gesis.org/ParlamentarierPortal/biosop_db/biosop_db.php?id=110542 |url-status=dead }} was a German politician, social reformer and women's rights activist. She served as a member of the National Assembly from 1919 to 1920, and as a member of the Landtag of Prussia from 1921 until her death in 1930.{{Cite web |url=https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/selectmaske.html?name=Elisabeth+R%C3%B6hl&geschlecht=&ort=&beruforg=&BERUF=&BERUFSFELDER%5B%5D=&KONFESSION%5B%5D=&WP%5B%5D=&PARTEI%5B%5D=&schlu=reichstag24&recherche=ja |title=Röhl (Cöln), Elisabeth |author= |date= |website=reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de |publisher=Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags |access-date=22 December 2024 |quote=}}
Her older sister was Marie Juchacz, with whom she collaborated politically. Her second marriage was to fellow politician Emil Kirschmann, as a result of which sources after 1922 generally identify her as Elisabeth Kirschmann-Röhl.
Life and politics
Elisabeth Röhl was born in Landsberg an der Warthe, the daughter of a carpenter called Theodor Gohlke and his wife Henriette. Her elder sister was Marie Juchacz. Their childhood was marked by rural poverty.{{cite web|author=Jennifer Striweski (Bonn)| url=http://www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de/persoenlichkeiten/J/Seiten/MarieJuchacz.aspx |title=Marie Juchacz (1879-1956), Begründerin der Arbeiterwohlfahrt|publisher=Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR), Cologne|date = 8 March 2013| access-date=12 November 2014}}
After successful completion of her education at the local school Röhl undertook an apprenticeship in dressmaking. She was active in the Association of Tailors and Dressmakers. During the First World War, Elisabeth Röhl worked, together with Anna Maria Schulte, Else Meerfeld and her sister, Marie Juchacz, with the "Home Work Centre" (Heimarbeitszentrale). This involved setting up sewing centres to give women the opportunity to work from home, along with other support for war widows and orphans. She was also a member of the so-called Food Commission (Lebensmittelkommission) which set up and operated soup kitchens.
File:Female MPs of MSPD Germany 1919.jpg (June 1, 1919)]]
On 6 February 1919 Elisabeth Röhl and her sister were two of the 36 women elected to the Weimar National Assembly.Walter S. G. Kohn (1980) Women in National Legislatures: A Comparative Study of Six Countries, p141 The national election, which had taken place on 19 January 1919 had been the first in Germany in which women had been entitled to vote.{{cite web|url=http://www.fes.de/archiv/adsd_neu/inhalt/stichwort/frauenwahlrecht.htm |author=Gisela Notz|title=19.01.1919: Frauen dürfen zum ersten Mal wählen |publisher=Friedrich Ebert Foundation |date=2009|access-date=13 November 2014}} On 16 July 1919 she spoke in the National assembly to demand the equalisation of the status and rights of illegitimate with those of legitimate children, and equivalent demands in respect of unmarried and married mothers.
She is quoted on the cover of E.D. Morel's Black Horror on the Rhine from a speech she made in the Reichstag: "We appeal to the women of the world to support us in our protest
against the utterly unnatural occupation by coloured troops of German districts along the Rhine."{{cite web|last1=Giladi|first1=Rotem|title=The Phoenix of Colonial War: Race, the Laws of War, and the 'Horror on the Rhine'|url=http://www.iilj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Giladi-Phoenix-of-Colonial-War.pdf|website=iilj.org/|publisher=Institute for International Law and Justice|access-date=23 October 2017}}
Unlike her sister, Elisabeth was not re-elected to what had now become the Reichstag at the next election, in June 1920. She sat as a member of the Prussian Landtag (regional parliament) between 1921 and her sudden death in 1930.{{cite web|author=Christina Rhein|url=http://www.awo-cafemarie.de/uber-uns/marie-juchacz/|title=Marie Juchacz|publisher=AWO Arbeiterwohlfahrt Region Hannover e.V., Hanover|date=2014|access-date=14 November 2014|archive-date=30 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430045936/http://www.awo-cafemarie.de/uber-uns/marie-juchacz/|url-status=dead}}
Family
Elisabeth Röhl was twice married and had a son by her first marriage. She married secondly, in 1922, Emil Kirschmann who was a member of the national Reichstag between 1924 and 1933.
Elisabeth's sister, Marie Juchacz, was devastated by Elisabeth's unexpected death.
:"...the constant comradeship with Elisabeth [was] the most powerful force in my life"
::Marie Juchacz
: “...das ständige kameradschaftliche Zusammensein mit Elisabeth [war] die am stärksten wirkende Kraft in meinem Leben.”
::Marie Juchacz
Elisabeth's sister, more than nine years her senior, was Marie Juchacz. They lived together in Berlin after moving there from the countryside in 1908 and when work commitments required Maria to relocate to Cologne her children stayed behind to be looked after by their aunt, Elisabeth.{{cite web |author=Aisheh Jouma |url=http://forge.fh-potsdam.de/~BiB/gruender/juchacz.pdf |title=Marie Juchacz - Parlamentarierin und Sozialpolitikerin war Begründerin der Arbeiterwohlfahrt und hatte eine bedeutende Rolle in der Geschichte der deutschen Frauenbewegung und im Kampf der Gleichberichtigung der Frauen. Sie war die erste Frau, die im deutschen Parlament das Wort ergriff.|publisher=Fachhochschule, Potsdam| access-date=11 November 2014}} A couple of years later it was Elisabeth who relocated, in order to join her sister in Cologne. The sisters were also closely aligned politically, and worked together on several political books during the 1920s. According to one source, following Elisabeth's death, which came suddenly and unexpectedly in 1930,{{cite web|author=Christina Rhein|url=http://www.awo-cafemarie.de/uber-uns/marie-juchacz/|title=Marie Juchacz|publisher=AWO Arbeiterwohlfahrt Region Hannover e.V., Hanover|date=2014|access-date=14 November 2014|archive-date=30 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430045936/http://www.awo-cafemarie.de/uber-uns/marie-juchacz/|url-status=dead}} her sister and widower married one another.
See also
References
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Category:People from Gorzów Wielkopolski
Category:Politicians from the Province of Brandenburg
Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
Category:Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic
Category:20th-century German women politicians
Category:German women activists