Kirchner, Elise

Social worker

born: 15.11.1838 in Biebrich

died: 08.11.1922 in Biebrich

After training in Frankfurt, Kirchner worked as a governess in Belgium and France in the following years.

In 1865, she took over the management of a "Teaching and Educational Institution for Girls" with an attached boarding school in Biebrich. She was a member of the board of the "Kleinkinderbewahranstalt", which mainly cared for children of - often single - mothers who worked in the Biebrich and Amöneburg factories. In 1883, Kirchner took over the chairmanship of the Biebrich branch of the Vaterländischer Frauenverein. With his help, she created facilities for the care of women, mothers and orphans, which became exemplary for many other women's organizations. This also applied to the Nassau Teachers' Association, which she founded and of which she was chairwoman for many years.

In Biebrich, Kirchner encouraged the hiring of youth welfare workers and a baby nurse. She campaigned for improved maternity care and the establishment of a milk kitchen where preferential milk for babies could be obtained; it also had an associated advice center where mothers were treated and advised by doctors free of charge.

Kirchner recognized early on how important education and training was for the female part of the population. The Biebrich Housekeeping School, which she founded together with Luise Dyckerhoff in Amöneburg in 1889, served this purpose.

Kirchner belonged to the Progressive People's Party until 1918, but left when it declared its support for democracy after the war and switched to the German People's Party. In 1918, she decided to resign from all offices for reasons of age - among other things, she was a member of the Poor People's Commission, the local committee for war welfare and the committee for the care of surviving dependants. Kirchner also translated historical and educational works from English, French and Italian.

She died an honorary citizen of her home town, which had named a street in her honor in 1908.