Helene Rothländer

Helene Rothländer (23 December 1890 – 1 July 1976) was a German teacher and politician (Catholic Centre Party, CDU). Directly before the cancellation of German democracy she served briefly as a member of the Prussian parliament.

She was released from the schools service in November 1933 because of her "political unreliability". Towards the end of 1944, she spent seven weeks in prison in Koblenz as a victim of "Aktion Gitter". She returned to regional politics after the war ended, and also undertook various senior roles in connection with the education system in the newly created federal state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate).

Biography Provenance and early years Helene Rothländer was born in Cologne, the eldest of her parents' eleven children.

Under National Socialism In January 1933 the National Socialists took power and lost no time in transforming Germany into a one-party dictatorship. On 24 February 1933, Rothländer attracted attention with a speech she delivered in the Koblenz city hall on behalf of the Catholic Centre Party, in connection with the forthcoming parliamentary election. She was uncharacteristically direct in her condemnation of what she termed the "Prussian-Protestant spirit of excess", and found herself in turn strongly criticised by (among others) the influential Protestant minority in Koblenz. On 12 March 1933, she was re-elected to the city council. A few months later, she lost her seat in July 1933 when the Centre Party effectively dissolved itself in the aftermath of the Reichstag vote on the Enabling Act of 1933. On 10 August, Rothländer lost her right to work in the public sector, effective from 30 November 1933. The decision was based on her "political unreliability" ("politischer Unzuverlässigkeit"), and it put an end to her teaching career. In April 1934 it became apparent that her attempt to reverse her dismissal had failed. Mindful that the teaching profession had been strongly infiltrated by committed Nazis, local military administrators began by sacking three-quarters of the school teachers, which created immense practical difficulties for those trying to run the schools.

Robert Geimer had not been able to complete his teacher training before the war, and on 27 April 1954 he enrolled at the Catholic Pedagogical Academy in Landau in order to complete his training and receive his qualification. Towards the end of his first term at Landau, the head of the academy came to give him some bad news. Under the special circumstances in which he found himself, he would not be able to obtain a teaching position in Rhineland-Palatinate. That was because the unsatisfactory circumstances of his marriage would make him unsuitable for teaching religious studies in Catholic or Interdenominational schools. Schools would be likely to recruit older and more experienced teachers instead. ("Ich muß Sie darauf aufmerksam machen, daß Sie unter Umständen keine Anstellung als Lehrer in Rheinland-Pfalz bekommen können, weil Ihnen die katholische Kirche wegen Ihrer Ehe nicht die Missio Canonica zur Erteilung des Religionsunterrichtes geben wird.) Für katholische Konfessionsschulen sind Sie deshalb wenig geeignet, und bei den Simultanschulen werden ältere und erfahrenere Lehrer bevorzugt."

Somehow the letter that Helene Rothländer had addressed to Robert Geimer found its way to the desk of Günter Markscheffel, the editor-in-chief of "Die Freiheit", a political magazine produced in Mainz by and for members the centre-left Social Democratic Party. The report that appeared in "Die Freiheit" was unrestrained. Robert Geimer was being invited to leave his home state of Rhineland-Palatinate after serving in the military and undergoing eight years as a prisoner of war in the Soviet camps. Rothländer's letter having been brought to the attention of the press, a media storm followed. Her immediate boss, the state's Minister for Education Albert Finck, attending a conference at Hanover, found himself ambushed by reporters.He attempted rather awkwardly to defend his "Regierungsdirektorin", while insisting that he had not yet seen the offending letter. But in the end, he was driven to defend himself with the explanation that his ministry sent out three or four hundred letters each day, there were bound to be some that were not quite as they should be: such things might happen in "the best of families". Invited at least to distance himself from the sentiments in Rothländer's letter, he refused to do so before having had the chance to discuss the matter with her. But of course, Geimer would be able to teach in Rhineland-Palatinate. "We are not so petty in our interpretation of the constitution. But you must understand that blame cannot attach to a woman who serves her home state with idealism". While the matter rumbled on, Robert Geimer took his letter across the Rhine to Wiesbaden where he was welcomed by the SPD Minister for Education in the neighbouring state of Hesse, who gave him every encouragement that if he found his career blocked in Rhineland Palatinate, he should send his papers to Hesse where he should expect a sympathetic response. In Koblenz, Albert Finck insisted with increasing vehemence and consistency that Helene Rothländer's letter contained a number of judgments and comments which were both incorrect and far beyond her authority. Available sources are silent on the subsequent teaching career of Robert Geimer, but just one year before her retirement Helene Rothländer had become a national figure.

Death Helene Rothländer died in Koblenz on 1 July 1976.

Awards and honours