Käthe Mende

Käthe Mende was a German sociologist. Born into an Orthodox Jewish family, she gained a doctorate under the German economist Lujo Brentano. Most of her professional life was based in Berlin, where she engaged in social work. Mende has been described as a "pioneer of youth welfare services" by the historian Luise Hirsch. Her mother died when Mende was 18 years old. Following the insistence of her father, Mende was only later allowed to study at a Gymnasium after she had attended a traditionally female "Lehrerinnenseminar". Mende finally attended the University of Freiburg, Humboldt University of Berlin, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München during the time period 1897–1912. Her university subjects were politics, philosophy and law.

Mende obtained a doctorate degree with Lujo Brentano, graduating with a dissertation entitled "Münchener jugendliche Ladnerinnen zu Hause und im Beruf, auf Grund einer Erhebung geschildert". The doctoral dissertation was of a sociological nature and analysed the private and professional lives of young female shopkeepers in Munich. Today it is thought to be one of the earliest sociological analyses in Germany. In 1942, she was deported to the KZ Theresienstadt, from which she was freed in August 1945. While there she helped take care of the sickly. Mende immediately returned to Berlin and resumed working in social work, including for the US-American military's welfare office.

Works

Münchener jugendliche Ladnerinnen zu Hause und im Beruf, auf Grund einer Erhebung geschildert (1912) Das Vorkommen und Schicksal der Unehelichen unter den Juden in Deutschland. Vorläufige Ergebnisse einer Erhebung, Frankfurt 1936 Dreihundert Fälle der Jugendgerichtshilfe in Berlin-Neukölln 1948 und 1953, Hamburg 1958

Mende further wrote a 90-page memoir in 1950, which was discovered in 2018 in an archive in New York. She features in the bibliographical historical work "Wir Mendes".

Literature

Doris Bonk: Käthe Mende und ihr Beitrag für die jüdische Sozialarbeit, Munich 2003 Beate Bussiek: Mende, Käthe, in: Hugo Maier (author): "Who is Who der Sozialen Arbeit". Freiburg : Lambertus, 1998 ISBN 3-7841-1036-3, S. 390f. Mende, Käthe, in: Joseph Walk (author): "Kurzbiographien zur Geschichte der Juden" 1918–1945. Munich : Saur, 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4, S. 262 Hirsch, Luise: "From the Shtetl to the Lecture Hall: Jewish Women and Cultural Exchange" Bamberger, Max: "Wir Mendes"