Barbara Stambolis, ed. Cologne: SH-Verlag, EUR Restoring Paderborn's Women to History. In her introductory remarks, Petra Hensel-Scholz, the head of the Gleichstellungsstelle affirmative action office of the city of Paderborn, cites Otto's prophetic words as a justification for this volume of essays on the history of women in this medium-sized city in central Germany.
The volume's editor, Barbara Stambolis, who teaches history at the University of Paderborn, remarks in her introductory chapter that only two women--the nineteenth-century nun and philanthropist Pauline von Mallinckrodt, and the romantic poet Luise Hensel--have been acknowledged for their contribution to the city's history.
The many others who lived and worked in Paderborn have been overlooked by most historians. To restore these women to history is the purpose of the project--supported by various local organizations and by the Paderborn city government--which resulted in this handsomely produced volume.
It contains twenty articles, each by a different author, recounting various aspects of women's lives and activities in Paderborn during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Most of these articles focus on women in public life--in organizations, education, the arts, and politics. As Paderborn is a city with strong Catholic traditions, most female organizational activity was church-related.
Several authors recount the history of Catholic schools and organizations, including a school for girls in the Augustinian convent, the local branch of the Catholic Women's League Katholischer Frauenbund , Catholic youth groups, and social welfare agencies. These authors revise the conventional picture of the devout, submissive Catholic woman and stress the progressive, even emancipatory aspects of these women's work.
