Maria Kiene

Maria Kiene (8 April 1889 – 28 September 1979) was a kindergarten teacher who became the head of child welfare with the German Caritas association. She founded or co-founded socially focused institutions within the Catholic Church and exercised a decisive influence on the church's approach to operating kindergartens and to child welfare more generally.

Life Maria Sophie Thekla Kiene was born in Schwäbisch Hall, a small long-established town in the hilly countryside to the northeast of Stuttgart. She was the third of her parents' five recorded children. (1852–1919), her father, was a lawyer and politician of the Centre Party who towards the end of his career would serve in Stuttgart as Minister of Justice and president of the Württemberg regional court. The nature of her father's work meant that the family relocated several times while she was growing up. Maria was initially educated at home, but after the family moved to Ravensburg attended junior school in the town,

After war ended in the early summer of 1945, she sustained her commitment to educational qualification for kindergarten workers and youth leaders, and also in respect to recuperative and curative care. She also committed intensively to rebuilding and extending the kindergarten network.