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Hirsch, Jenny

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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German authoress and advocate of women's rights; born Nov. 25, 1829, at Zerbst, Anhalt; died March 9, 1902, at Berlin. After the death of her parents she lectured in her native town at the ducal high school for girls, and was empowered by the authorities to open a private school. In 1860 she was called to Berlin to assist in editing "Der Bazar," a journal for women. She retained this position until 1864, after which she devoted herself exclusively to an independent literary career.

Jenny Hirsch's work naturally led her to take an active interest in all movements for the advancement of her sex. She attended the first women's congress ("Frauentag") in Leipsic, from which sprang the Allgemeinee Deutsche Frauenverein; and she was among the first to join the Lette-Verein, a society founded to assist women in supporting themselves, and whose history she published in 1891 under the title "Geschichte der 25 Jährigen Wirksamkeit des Lette-Vereins." For seventeen years she devoted her literary activity to the interests of the society, and was its secretary until 1883. Thenceforward she lived quietly in Berlin.

Of the works which Jenny Hirsch published some appeared under her own name, and some under pseudonyms. Her writings include: "Die Hörigkeitder Frau" (2d ed., Berlin, 1892), a translation of John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of Women"; "Fürstin Frau Mutter: Historische Erzählung," Dresden, 1881; (under the pseudonym "L. Arenfeldt") "Befreit," Berlin, 1882; "Der Väter Schuld," 1882; "Schwere Ketten," 3d ed., 1884; "Die Erben," 1889; "Schlangenlist," 1891. From 1870 to 1881 she edited the "Frauenanwalt," the organ of the Frauenbildungsverein, and from 1887 to 1892 was one of the editors of the "Deutsche Hausfrauen-Zeitung."