Agnes von Zahn-Harnack

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Agnes von Zahn-Harnack
Agnes von Harnack, from a 1916 publication
Born(1884-06-19)19 June 1884
Died22 May 1950(1950-05-22) (aged 65)
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)Teacher
Writer
Women's rights activist
Parent

Agnes von Zahn-Harnack (19 June, 1884, Gießen – 22 May 1950, Berlin) was German teacher, writer and bourgeois women's rights activist.

Early life[edit]

She was the daughter of the theologian Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930) and Amalie Thiersch (1858–1937). She was born Agnes Harnack as it was only in 1914 that her father was awarded the hereditary title of nobility. She attended two girls' high schools in Berlin-Charlottenburg between 1890 and 1900. She earned a doctorate in 1912 with a thesis on German romanticism.[1]

Career[edit]

As a young woman, von Harnack was principal of a girls' high school. She wrote about German women in wartime for Current History in 1916.[1]

Zahn-Harnack was chairwoman of the Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine from 1931 to its dissolution in 1933, when they chose to break the organisation up rather than continue under the supervision of the Nazi regime.

Berlin memorial plaque for Agnes von Zahn-Harnack
Berlin memorial plaque for Agnes von Zahn-Harnack

Personal life[edit]

On 8 December 1919, Zahn-Harnack married Karl von Zahn (1877-1944) in Berlin, Germany. Zahn-Harnack's husband was a civil servant in the Weimar Republic's Ministry of the Interior.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b von Harnack, Agnes, "The Civil Work of German Women in War Times" Current History 5(October 1916): 97.