Mary Westenholz

Mary Bess Westenholz, pen name Bertel Wrads, (13 August 1857 – 8 May 1947) was an influential Danish Unitarian, women's rights activist, writer and editor. She was the aunt of the author Karen Blixen, and is remembered for encouraging her niece to publish her first short stories.

Early life Born on 13 August 1857 at Mattrup, to the west of Horsens, Mary Bess Westenholz was the daughter of the estate owner and politician Regner Westenholz (1815–1866) and Mary Lucinde Hansen (1832–1915). Her maternal grandfather was the wealthy merchant and ship-owner Andreas Nicolai Hansen. After her father died when she was eight years old, her mother took care of the estate and the family. Together with her siblings, she was educated on the estate, spent a year in a finishing school in Switzerland in 1888, and also went on educational trips to Britain and Italy.

Unitarian involvement Thanks to her mother, Westenholz became interested in religion and women's rights. She was an active member of the Copenhagen branch of the Danish Women's Society. In 1895, using the pen name Bertel Wrads, she published the essay collection Fra mit Pulterkammer (English: From My Loft), discussing marriage, women's rights and national affairs.

Folketing incident

Like her brother Aage, Westenholz was deeply interested in defence matters. Partly as a result of delays in parliamentary progress on a defence bill and partly in connection with the Alberti scandal, on 19 August 1909, unnoticed she gained access to the Folketing where the speaker had just announced the appointment of Jens Christian Christensen as the minister responsible for defence. She snatched the speaker's bell, rang it vigorously and, pointing at the ministers' benches, declared: "Before you begin your work, you should know that in this chamber there is a man who has brought disgrace to Denmark. Here you sit, you Danish men, haggling about the country's rights and wrongs in your lust for power and self-indulgence, but it needs to be said from this rostrum that Denmark's women despise you and brand you as a bunch of unpatriotic hirelings who betray the honour of Denmark." This was the first time any woman had spoken in the Folketing.