Das Dienstfräulein auf dem Bahnhof. Frauen im öffentlichen Raum im Blick der Berliner Bahnhofsmission 1894-1939 by Astrid Mignon Kirchhof

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Review of Das Dienstfräulein auf dem Bahnhof Frauen im öffentlichen Raum im Blick der Berliner Bahnhofsmission 1894-1939 by Astrid Mignon Stuttgart.pdf (416.52 KB)
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Date
2012-09
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Central European History, Vol. 45, No. 3 (September 2012), pp. 567-569
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https://hdl.handle.net/2022/23369
Abstract
"As thousands of young people streamed into Berlin to find work, opportunity, and adventure, new concerns arose about dangers awaiting them, especially the young women who could be drawn into prostitution. In her new monograph, Astrid Kirchhof studies an important Berlin institution for assisting these migrants, the Protestant Church's Berlin train station mission. Her research tackles fascinating contradictions in gender ideology. Mission volunteers bridged the spheres of private womanly care for others with their practical work in the very public train stations. The ability of elite women to exercise power and autonomy--and train station missionaries had connections with myriad other social service agencies--depended in part on the continuation of the old stories of the brutal dangers facing single woman alone in the big city." "Although additional contextual material would have enriched this study, this book still provides a welcome investigation of an important institution within the complex of Berlin social services. Kirchhof is closely attentive to the roles of class and status hierarchies and the way that these factors shaped women's potential autonomy. Kirchhof also provides evidence that adds to the existing scholarship that shows the limits of the ideology of "separate spheres." This book should be of interest to scholars of central European gender, urbanization, migration, philanthropy, and welfare institutions."
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Bahnhofsmission Berlin--Book reviews, Station Mission Berlin--Book reviews, Social action, Social service, Railroad stations, Women--Services for--Berlin (Germany)
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