The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (Union of German Feminist Organizations) was a collective of bourgeois feminist organizations during the German Empire, founded in 1884. It grew substantially during the Weimar Republic, and was disbanded under the Third Reich, in 1933.
Contents |
The first large meeting took place in 1907 and gathered feminists Auguste Schmidt, Anna Schepeler-Lette, Anna Simson, Hanna Bieber-Böhm, Auguste Förster, Ottilie Hoffmann, Helene von Forster, Helene Lange, Betty Naue, Jeanette Schwerin and Marie Stritt.
The Nazi rise to power, in 1933, combined with the assertion of control over women's associations. These groups for communists or socialists were forbidden, and members were arrested or even assassinated in rare cases.[1] All associations were asked to turn in Jewish members, including the Union of Protestant Women, the Association for Home and Countryside, the Union of German Colonial Women, and the Union of Queen Louise.[1]. But soon, the majority of the organizations disbanded or chose among themselves to disappear, like the BDF which dissolved in 1933 to avoid being controlled.[2]. Some of the affiliated associations joined the Deutsches Frauenwerk.