Charlotte von Kirschbaum (June 25, 1899 – July 24, 1975) was a German theologian, and pupil of Karl Barth.
Charlotte von Kirschbaum was born in Ingolstadt. In 1916 her father died in the war. This induced her to be trained as a nurse. In 1924 she met Karl Barth personally and in 1929 moved in with Nelly and Karl Barth and their five children in Münster.
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After being invited by Barth to move into the Barth household, a kind of household of three relationship developed between Barth, Kirschbaum and Barth's wife, Nelly, which lasted for 35 years. The long standing relationship was not without its difficulties. "Lollo",[1] as Barth called the 13 year younger Charlotte, once wrote to Barth's sister Gertrud Lindt in 1935, where she expressed her concern about the precarious situation:
"The alienation between Karl and Nelly has reached a degree which could hardly increase. This has certainly become accentuated by my existence."[2]
The relationship caused great offence among many of Barth's friends, as well as his own mother.[3] Barth's children suffered from the stress of the relationship.[4] Barth and Charlotte took semester break vacations together.[5] While Nelly supplied the household and the children, Charlotte and Barth shared an academic relationship. She was the secretary and prepared his lectures.
For the sake of the work she learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. She also visited the philosophical lectures of Heinrich Scholz. She made an important contribution to the production of Barth's Church Dogmatics. In 1935 Barth moved to Basel. Charlotte followed into Switzerland. From there they supported the German Resistance.
In 1949 her theological book Die wirkliche Frau (The Real Woman) was published. It discussed the role of women.
In the early 1960s she came to be ill from a cerebral disturbance. She moved to a nursing home in Riehen, where she died ten years later. She was buried alongside Barth, where Nelly was also laid to rest.