Amalie Sieveking

Amalie Wilhelmine Sieveking (25 July 1794 – 1 April 1859) was a German philanthropist and social activist who founded the Weiblicher Verein für Armen- und Krankenpflege (Women's association for the care of the poor and invalids). She initiated employment and practical training for the poor, and promoted the building of affordable housing and hospitals. She is regarded as a forerunner of modern German social work.

Biography First society established by Amalie Sieveking, Stiftstraße 65, St. Georg, Hamburg Amalie Sieveking was born in Hamburg, the daughter of the Hamburg senator Heinrich Christian Sieveking (died 1809) and his wife Caroline Louise, née Volkmann (died 1799); her grandfather was also a senator. After her father's death she was taken in by her uncle's family, supported by a small senatorial pension, and cared for their invalid son. She took up the education of her nieces, and founded a school for girls, many of whom eventually became tutors to prominent families.

Sieveking decided as early as 18 to remain single, and vowed to create a religious order of charitable sisters. When cholera broke out in Hamburg in 1831, she volunteered to work as a nurse in the poorhouses. She advertised for other high-ranking women to join her, but none did, so she went alone. Soon she found herself in charge of the nursing staff. On May 23, 1832, with twelve other women, instead of a religious society she founded the Weiblicher Verein für Armen- und Krankenpflege, a pioneering diaconal benevolent society that aimed to help people help themselves by providing "material and spiritual assistance" to impoverished sick people and their families. Her autobiography, titled Hanseatic Philanthropist, was reviewed by the poet Sophie Schwab, who found a "delightful resonance" in its Christian spirit.

She died in Hamburg and is interred in the at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Trinity Church) in Hamburg-Hamm, in a mausoleum for the Sieveking and Chapeaurouge families that was built by her cousin Karl Sieveking and designed by architect Alexis de Chateauneuf. Legacy Her feastday in the Lutheran Calendar of Saints is April 1.

The Amalie Sieveking Hospital in Hamburg-Volksdorf is named for her; today it is part of the Albertinen-Diakoniewerk in Hamburg.

The Amalie-Sieveking-Haus in Radebeul, Saxony, houses a home for the elderly as well as the Saxon Diaconate.