Citizenship in Action

On 18 May 1815, the newly established newspaper Der Orient oder Hamburgisches Morganblatt celebrated the achievements of Hamburg’s Frauenverein in a poem: ‘Yes, Bürgerinnen, Hamburg’s fine women, our warriors can depend on you, when they bleed for their Fatherland far from home.’ ¹ The term Bürgerinnen described the social status of members of Hamburg’s Women’s Association, most of whom were wives, sisters and daughters of prominent merchants and professionals from the republican city-state. The women who participated in such associations regarded their work as that of citizens; they collected monies to provision local soldiers, cared for them when wounded, supported their wives and orphans, and sheltered local war refugees and expellees. Motivated by patriotic allegiance to their city-state, by sense of duty to those who defended it, and by charity for those who suffered under the French occupation, these women practiced urban and social citizenship, even when denied formal political participation.