Rita Bake

Rita Bake (born 16 January 1952) is a German economic and social historian. She has a degree in librarianship and is a prolific author. She was a founder in 2000/2001 of the "Garden of Women" ("Garten der Frauen") at the vast Ohlsdorf Cemetery on the edge of Hamburg.

Biography Rita Bake was born in Bremerhaven. She studied for a degree in librarianship at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. After that she moved on to the University of Hamburg where she studied Social and Economic History and Folklore along with Early and Pre-History. She concluded this phase of her education with a doctorate. The work for her dissertation concerned women's employment in the manufacturing sector in pre-industrial Germany. Among other roles she worked as a lecturer on the History of Women as part of the Women's Study and Research programme of University of Hamburg. She served between 2004 and the end of 2017 as deputy head of the agency. The agency publishes detailed information on social and regional history of Hamburg, also covering politics and political institutions. There has, during Bake's time at the agency, been an increased focus on women's history. The agency also designs and implements historically based city tours and exhibitions. At the time of the project launch Bake was asked about the gender separation implicit in the whole idea: "Are not all people equal, at least in death?". The question was one which Bake had evidently considered already: "Sadly, no. Because the achievements of women are often not adequately valued while they are alive, they will be forgotten even more quickly after death than in the case of men". 17 volumes had already appeared by September 2016.

In 2012 Bake developed Hamburg's first on-line databank of women's biographies. She continues to feed the databank with additional biographical material. In 2015 she instigated another on-line databank for the city, the so-called "Dabeigewesene Databank" which focuses on the experiences of those who lived through the Hitler years in Hamburg.

Recognition In 2009 Bake was the winner of "Hammonia 2009", presented by the Hamburg region Women's Council ("Landesfrauenrat") in recognition of her feminist political commitment.