Making places visible where historical women personalities worked and lived - that is the aim of the "Frauenorte NRW" project of the NRW Women's Council. Bonn is now one of the first cities in North Rhine-Westphalia to be given women's places. The House of Women's History in Bonn and the Equal Opportunities Office of the City of Bonn, which applied in a cooperative partnership and were awarded the contract for four locations, have worked towards this. With a reception in the Old Town Hall and a tour of three of the four steles, the women's sites were officially inaugurated on Wednesday, 8 May 2024, by Mayor Katja Dörner and Equal Opportunities Officer Stephanie Clemens-Krämer as well as Bonn District Mayor Jochen Reeh-Schall together with representatives of Bonn women's organizations and other guests from politics and administration.
"It is important to raise awareness of women's achievements. It's good that six strong women from Bonn who stood up for equality and diversity early on have been given a prominent place in the middle of the city with the Women's Places and that the steles provide information about their work. It is also thanks to these women that gender equality was successfully enshrined in the Basic Law. Their courage, steadfastness and assertiveness are a role model for us in turbulent times," said Mayor Katja Dörner as she welcomed the guests to the Old Town Hall.
"We are very pleased that we now have four women's places in Bonn that commemorate such different women and their valuable commitment. They are all pioneering role models and the memorial steles help to make the social achievements of women more visible in Bonn's cityscape," says Stephanie Clemens-Krämer, Equal Opportunities Officer for the City of Bonn.
The personalities who stand for Bonn's "Women's Places NRW" are:
- Elisabeth Selbert (1896-1986) - one of the four "Mothers of the Basic Law" who pushed through the equal rights article in the Basic Law. Her stele stands on the square of the same name at the corner of Maxstraße and City Hall.
- Maria von Linden (1869-1936) - the first woman to be appointed professor in Germany and a natural scientist at Bonn University for more than 30 years. Her stele stands in the park in front of the Ernst Moritz Arndt House.
- Johanna Elberskirchen (1864-1943) - a fearless fighter for women's and gay rights. Her stele stands on Bischofsplatz next to the Old Town Hall.
- "Silent heroines" (1870 -2011): Frieda Mager, Sibylla Cronenberg and Katharina Bayerwaltes - the three women were named "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem memorial and documentation site in Jerusalem as they saved Jews* from extermination during the Nazi terror. The stele for these three women is also located on Bischofsplatz next to the Old Town Hall.
"Four women's sites in honor of six impressive women. This takes us a step further on the road to greater visibility for women in North Rhine-Westphalia," said Birgit Wehrhöfer, Head of the Equality Department at the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in her welcoming address. Sarah Gonschorek, representative of the board of the NRW Women's Council, added: "I am delighted that we can help women who have fought for freedom, equality and justice to be more visible with the Women's Places project."
Publicly effective locations for the steles
Gera Kessler from the House of Women's History in Bonn introduced the women's personalities to be honored at the reception in Old Town Hall. She and Dr. Ulrike Klens have worked on a voluntary basis with the Equal Opportunities Office to implement the Women's Places in Bonn. Over the past seven years, the House of Women's History has already produced four publications entitled "Bonn Women's Places". It has also been supported by the City of Bonn's Equal Opportunities Office. The volumes aim to tell the story from the perspective of women, to make the lives of special women from Bonn and the significance of these women for society, politics and culture visible. This has been the aim of the House of Women's History for many years.
The historical female personalities and their life's achievements are honored with steles and memorial plaques. These are financed by the NRW Women's Council and have a uniform design in red and pink with black and white portraits of the honorees for recognition value. Some of the steles could not be erected at the exact locations where the women worked for technical or monument protection reasons, so high-profile locations were chosen. The Office for the Environment and Urban Greenery was responsible for erecting the steles and plaques in the green spaces. The city museum and the city planning and civil engineering offices also supported the project.
After the Lord Mayor, the district mayor and the guests had inaugurated the first two steles on site at Bischofsplatz, they continued in the direction of the City Hall. There, at Elisabeth-Selbert-Platz on the corner of Maxstraße and Breitestraße, is another stele that draws attention to the square's namesake. "The mothers of the Basic Law were real fighters for a better republic. It's good that Bonn has erected a monument to them," said Bonn's district mayor Jochen Reh-Schall during a short speech at the stele for Elisabeth Selbert.
Further information and detailed portraits of the selected and other female personalities can be found at www.bonn.de/bonner-frauenorte. (opens in a new tab)
The "Women's places in NRW" project
The "Women's Places in NRW" project is run by the NRW Women's Council. It is funded by the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The patron is Equal Opportunities Minister Josefine Paul.
By the end of 2025, the NRW Women's Council wants to mark 50 places in NRW where historical women personalities worked and lived in order to make their contribution to NRW's history visible. The suggestions come from the population, the selection is made by the board of the Women's Council NRW on the recommendation of an honorary advisory board.
In three selection rounds to date, the board of the Women's Council NRW has selected 40 out of 50 planned women's sites on the recommendation of the advisory board. In October 2023, the first NRW Women's Place was inaugurated in Wülfrath together with Minister Paul. An overview of all the NRW women's locations appointed to date can be found here: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/karte/. (opens in a new tab) Further information can also be found at www.frauenorte-nrw.de. (opens in a new tab)