Anna Edinger

Under the leadership of the physician and pioneering women’s rights activist, [[Aletta Jacobs]], a team of politically engaged women set about organising [[Women at the Hague |an international conference]] at [[the Hague]], to be conducted under the auspices of the movement then known as the [[International Alliance of Women |World League for Women’s Voting Rights (””Weltbundes für Frauenstimmrecht”” / IAW)]]. Despite the travel difficulties presented by [[World War I|a war]] in which most of the countries from which the delegates came (though not, in military terms, [[Netherlands in World War I|the Netherlands]]} were engaged, this Hague Conference was duly held between 26 April 1915 and 1 May 1915. According to the programme printed at the time the largest national delegation by far came from “Great-Britain and Ireland”, with 107 delegates listed. The British also sent two men, identified as “visitors”<!—Visitors from Gr.-Britain and Ireland…1. Rev. H. PERCY THOMPSON, Kippington Vicarage, SEVENOAKS, Gr. Br.2. Mr. F. W. PETHICK LAWRENCE, Hotel Seville, NEW-YORK—>. The second largest delegation came from [[German empire |Germany]], with 43 applicants to attend, and 31 partipants still listed in the programme when it was printed. 28 of these actually attended. Anna Edinger was one of them. The shared objectives of the conference delegates were to provide a forum for energetc protest against [[World War I|the war]] and to establish a set of binding principles for a new and better world order.<ref name=AElautUK/><ref name=InternationaalCongresVrouwen>{{cite web |url= http://www2.ub.gu.se/kvinndata/portaler/fred/samarbete/pdf/congores_varouwen.pdf |page=10 |title=Internationaal Congres van Vrouwen<!—INTERNATIONALER FRAUEN KONGRESS / CONGRES INTERNATIONAL DES FEMMES / INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF WOMEN—> |publisher=N. V. Concordia – Amesterdam |accessdate=9 December 2021}}</ref>

Under the leadership of the physician and pioneering women’s rights activist, [[Aletta Jacobs]], a team of politically engaged women set about organising [[Women at the Hague |an international conference]] at [[the Hague]], to be conducted under the auspices of the movement then known as the [[International Alliance of Women |World League for Women’s Voting Rights (””Weltbundes für Frauenstimmrecht”” / IAW)]]. Despite the travel difficulties presented by [[World War I|a war]] in which most of the countries from which the delegates came (though not, in military terms, [[Netherlands in World War I|the Netherlands]]} were engaged, this Hague Conference was duly held between 26 April 1915 and 1 May 1915. According to the programme printed at the time the largest national delegation by far came from “Great-Britain and Ireland”, with 107 delegates listed. The British also sent two men, identified as “visitors”<!—Visitors from Gr.-Britain and Ireland…1. Rev. H. PERCY THOMPSON, Kippington Vicarage, SEVENOAKS, Gr. Br.2. Mr. F. W. PETHICK LAWRENCE, Hotel Seville, NEW-YORK—>. The second largest delegation came from [[German empire |Germany]], with 43 applicants to attend, and 31 partipants still listed in the programme when it was printed. 28 of these actually attended. Anna Edinger was one of them. The shared objectives of the conference delegates were to provide a forum for energetc protest against [[World War I|the war]] and to establish a set of binding principles for a new and better world order.<ref name=AElautUK/><ref name=InternationaalCongresVrouwen>{{cite web |url= http://www2.ub.gu.se/kvinndata/portaler/fred/samarbete/pdf/congores_varouwen.pdf |page=10 |title=Internationaal Congres van Vrouwen<!—INTERNATIONALER FRAUEN KONGRESS / CONGRES INTERNATIONAL DES FEMMES / INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF WOMEN—> |publisher=N. V. Concordia – Amesterdam |accessdate=9 December 2021}}</ref>

The stresses of war had led to political polarisation in Germany as elsewhere, and the [[Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine|BdF]] refused to have anything to do with the [[Women at the Hague |Hague Conference]], arguing that participation would run counter to national duty. Her opposition to militarism seems to have been behind the BdF “internal politics” which as early as 1910 had cost Edinger her membership of the organisation’s national executive committee. Now the leadership decided that becoming involved in the Hague Conference was “unpatriotic” and thereby incompatible with BdF membership. What followed was a stark – and in terms of shared objectives potentially damaging – split in the German women’s movement, between the “middle-class” and “socialist” wings. The Social Democrat ladies suddenly rediscovered their “patriotism” and, in a development which both echoed and contrasted with the [[Burgfriedenspolitik|split within]] the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] itself, it was now the BdF’s “middle-class peaceniks”, such as Edinger, who were pushed into positions of opposition. By participating in the [[:nl:Vredesconferentie van Den Haag |1915 Hague Peace Conference]] Edinger was seen to have “boycotted” the call of the [[Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine|BdF]]. Edinger was also able to support the event with a large financial donation. When it was over she offered her report of the conference to [[Helene Lange]], in Lange’s capacity as president of the [[German Association of Female Citizens”” / ADF]] in order that it might be published in the ADF’s feminist periodical “Neue Bahnen. Blätter für soziale Arbeit”. Lange refused to print it, however, on the grounds that participation at the congress indicated a “not patriotic” attitude. This rigidly exclusionist approach was greeted by Edinger with incomprehension and exasperation: she was unable to comprehend hos it could be construed as “not patriotic” to participate in a conference that opposed a war that “nobody wanted”.<ref name=AElautUK/><ref name=AElautGK/><ref name=AElautMH/>

The stresses of war had led to political polarisation in Germany as elsewhere, and the [[Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine|BdF]] refused to have anything to do with the [[Women at the Hague |Hague Conference]], arguing that participation would run counter to national duty. Her opposition to militarism seems to have been behind the BdF “internal politics” which as early as 1910 had cost Edinger her membership of the organisation’s national executive committee. Now the leadership decided that becoming involved in the Hague Conference was “unpatriotic” and thereby incompatible with BdF membership. What followed was a stark – and in terms of shared objectives potentially damaging – split in the German women’s movement, between the “middle-class” and “socialist” wings. The Social Democrat ladies suddenly rediscovered their “patriotism” and, in a development which both echoed and contrasted with the [[Burgfriedenspolitik|split within]] the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] itself, it was now the BdF’s “middle-class peaceniks”, such as Edinger, who were pushed into positions of opposition. By participating in the [[:nl:Vredesconferentie van Den Haag |1915 Hague Peace Conference]] Edinger was seen to have “boycotted” the call of the [[Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine|BdF]]. Edinger was also able to support the event with a large financial donation. When it was over she offered her report of the conference to [[Helene Lange]], in Lange’s capacity as president of the [[German Association of Female Citizens|“Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein” / ADF]] in order that it might be published in the ADF’s newly launched feminist periodical “Neue Bahnen. Blätter für soziale Arbeit”. Lange refused to print it, however, on the grounds that participation at the congress indicated a “not patriotic” attitude. This rigidly exclusionist approach was greeted by Edinger with incomprehension and exasperation: she was unable to comprehend hos it could be construed as “not patriotic” to participate in a conference that opposed a war that “nobody wanted”.<ref name=AElautUK/><ref name=AElautGK/><ref name=AElautMH/>

Anna Edinger nahm an der Haager Konferenz teil und boykottierte damit den Aufruf des BDF. Mit ihr hatten sich weitere 43 Frauen aus Deutschland angemeldet. 28 Frauen gelang es, in das neutrale Holland einzureisen. Edinger unterstützte außerdem mit einem größeren Geldbetrag die Durchführung der Friedens-Konferenz. Nach Tagungsende bot sie ihren Tagungsbericht Helene Lange an, damit sie ihn in der von ihr (ADF-Vorsitz) seit 1915 herausgegebenen Zeitschrift „Neue Bahnen. Blätter für soziale Arbeit.” publiziere. Helene Lange lehnte dies mit der Begründung ab, die Teilnahme an der Tagung ließe auf eine „nicht vaterländische” Haltung schließen. Auf diesen rigiden Ausgrenzungsversuch reagierte Edinger mit Unverständnis und mehr als irritiert: Sie verstehe nicht, warum die Teilnahme als „nicht vaterländisch” bezeichnet würde, außerdem habe diesen Krieg kein Volk gewollt.

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Ursula Kern

Ursula Kern

Anna Edinger nahm an der Haager Konferenz teil und boykottierte damit den Aufruf des BDF. Mit ihr hatten sich weitere 43 Frauen aus Deutschland angemeldet. 28 Frauen gelang es, in das neutrale Holland einzureisen. Edinger unterstützte außerdem mit einem größeren Geldbetrag die Durchführung der Friedens-Konferenz. Nach Tagungsende bot sie ihren Tagungsbericht Helene Lange an, damit sie ihn in der von ihr (ADF-Vorsitz) seit 1915 herausgegebenen Zeitschrift „Neue Bahnen. Blätter für soziale Arbeit.” publiziere. Helene Lange lehnte dies mit der Begründung ab, die Teilnahme an der Tagung ließe auf eine „nicht vaterländische” Haltung schließen. Auf diesen rigiden Ausgrenzungsversuch reagierte Edinger mit Unverständnis und mehr als irritiert: Sie verstehe nicht, warum die Teilnahme als „nicht vaterländisch” bezeichnet würde, außerdem habe diesen Krieg kein Volk gewollt.

Nach Kriegsende engagierte sich Anna Edinger weiterhin für die Internationale in der „Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit”, ebenso blieb sie die Vorsitzende des „Verbands Frankfurter Frauenvereine”.

Nach Kriegsende engagierte sich Anna Edinger weiterhin für die Internationale in der „Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit”, ebenso blieb sie die Vorsitzende des „Verbands Frankfurter Frauenvereine”.

[[:de:Fritz Edinger |Fritz (1888–1942)]]

[[:de:Werner Lipschitz|Werner Lipschitz]]

[[:de:Marie Eleonore Pfungst |Marie Pfungst]]

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