The second ASSIST Women’s Walk
About Women Who Have Made a Difference Throughout Ulm’s History
For the second year in a row, female ASSIST senior consultants welcomed female students to walk in the footsteps of strong and independent women in Ulm’s history.
ASSIST Senior Consultant Erla began the event by presenting the medieval community of beguines. This community of women worked in healthcare and social services, playing an important role in Ulm for 600 years. At the next stop, Gudrun recounted the story of Anna Essinger. Born in Ulm to a Jewish family, Anna became the director of a liberal private boarding school near Ulm. Realizing that the Nazi regime would not tolerate her liberal approach to teaching, Anna organized an escape to England for all her students and teachers as early as October 1933.
Elisabeth introduced Agnes Schultheiß. Born in Danzig, Agnes was a student in Oxford, UK, and became involved with suffragists. After moving to Ulm, Agnes became actively involved in local politics. At Hans-und-Sophie-Scholl-Platz, Sabine spoke about the brave Sophie Scholl. From a young age, Sophie and her brother organized peaceful resistance against the brutal Nazi regime. They were betrayed and murdered by the regime in 1943.
Erla had another exciting story to tell. Long before women were permitted to enroll in universities, a woman from Ulm became Germany’s first recognized doctor. Her name was Agatha Streicher, and she lived in the sixteenth century. Lastly, the group gathered by the „Metzgerturm“ to hear the story of the Ulm butchers‘ wives, who protested for the right to work alongside their husbands and as their widows.
