Brigitta Lange comes from Gummersbach, where she graduated from high school in 1977. Jürgen Domian and Hella von Sinnen, with whom she went to class and acted together, were part of her regular clique. Together with Hella von Sinnen, Brigitta Lange was involved in a women's group at her school, which ensured, for example, that Verena Stefan's feminist classic "Häutungen" (Skinning), published in 1975, was read in literature lessons.

The blurb reads:
"With unsurpassed accuracy, the author analyses heterosexual power relations and the conditions of residence that apply to women as colonized in the world of men. She defines belonging to a man as a learned addictive behavior that serves the interests of men. Women remain strangers to themselves and to each other. Step by step, Verena Stefan describes her escape from addiction and the beginning of lesbian love."

This book certainly played its part in Brigitta Lange's feminist awareness.

The New Women's Movement in the Federal Republic of Germany began in the early 1970s with the fight against the ban on abortion. Its further course was characterized by the emergence of various autonomous projects. The goals were a more consistent implementation of the principle of equal rights, self-determination over one's own body, the elimination of gender-specific roles in education, media and work, the end of male authority and domination over women, the abolition of repressive laws and the facilitation of personal self-realization.

At the end of the 1970s, women increasingly created their own spaces such as women's centers, advice centers, women's shelters, women's bookstores, women's cafés and health centers. They published their own newspapers and magazines, founded their own publishing houses and archives, organized their own exhibitions, concerts and film festivals.

In the cultural sector, there was a demand for the consistent inclusion of women's perspectives. In addition to the women's bookshops, numerous women's publishing houses were established. By the mid-1990s, there were a total of around 25 women's publishing houses and 30 women's bookshops in Germany. Feminist and lesbian literature from the new women's publishing houses was hardly represented in the usual book trade until then. Women writers were mercilessly underrepresented in the literary scene.

The range of women's bookshops included non-fiction and fiction, mainly by female authors, as well as feminist magazines. The main topics were feminist theory, biographies, lesbians, women's history, women and work, girls, psychology, health, spirituality, sexuality, violence against women, racism, National Socialism and the international women's movement. The women's bookshops also served as information and networking centers. They were places where feminist discussions and readings by women authors took place.

In the fall of 1977, Brigitta Lange began studying law in Bonn. She almost broke both her feet on the way out of the Juridicum, which she interpreted as a bad omen. After two semesters, she gave up her studies because she could no longer stand the atmosphere. She no longer wanted to hear from professors that it was "a waste of human capital to let women study because they would only get married and raise the children afterwards anyway".

On her first day in Bonn, Brigitta stormed into the Nora women's bookshop, which was located at Bornheimer Straße 92 at the time, full of energy and with a great desire to get involved in feminist causes. She hoped that this would bring her into contact with the women's movement in Bonn. Nora had been founded in June 1977 by Trudel Hesseler (bookseller) and Tina Pfeiffer (paralegal), who wanted to set up their own business.

The first German women's bookshop, Lillemore's, opened in Munich in 1975, followed two weeks later by Labrys in Berlin, the second women's bookshop. By 1977, there were already twelve women's bookshops in Germany, including Nora.

A loose "women's literature group", whose members included Herrad Schenk, Agnes Dudler and Heidi Baumann, supported Nora's beginnings in the background both ideally and financially. Brigitta Lange also joined this "women's literature group". There was also a circle of supporters who stepped in when one of the two full-time Noras was unavailable. Within a month, Brigitta Lange left her uncomfortable student digs and moved into the shared flat of one of the two Nora women. As a result, she often helped out at Nora.

From the very beginning, in contrast to other women's bookshops, e.g. in Berlin or Frankfurt, men were also allowed to enter the Nora women's bookshop. Although this contradicted the New Women's Movement's principle of establishing its own women's spaces through its projects, it was due to the fact that a women's bookshop in a medium-sized city like Bonn was also dependent on male customers for its survival. Nora stuck to this pragmatic principle despite a few bizarre appearances by men in the bookshop.

In March 1978, the two women, who had wanted to create jobs for themselves with Nora, had to admit that the women's bookshop could not secure their economic existence. As a result, a "collective" of around ten women, many of them students, formed to work half a day a week at Nora without pay. It was difficult to organize the processes in such a way that they remained transparent for the many employees. The "collective" met once a week to discuss the staffing of the store, ongoing operations and requests from other women's projects. In a flyer, the Nora women described themselves and their store as follows: "Our self-image fluctuates between 'avant-garde' of the autonomous women's movement and service business with unpaid female labor! We try to be more than 'just' a bookshop, we are above all a point of contact for women with all kinds of questions and problems."

The store in Bornheimer Straße was quite small. Due to a lack of financial resources and a limited range of women's literature on the market, the shelves were initially so empty that the books were placed sideways to make it look fuller. As more books were gradually added to the range, it became too cramped. Heating with a coal stove was also not ideal for the books. The decision was made to look for a new store.

In June 1980, Nora moved to Wolfstraße 30. The "collective" hoped that this location in the middle of the old town, which was more convenient than the previous peripheral location, would also increase sales. It was also an advantage that the former bakery had a bakery behind it in addition to the sales room. The Lila Backstube women's café was opened in this room shortly afterwards. This created a space for private meetings for women. Due to a lack of other offers, many women often came to Nora's, taking Nora as their "second living room", which sometimes irritated new customers.

Women's literature was in vogue in the 1980s. It was attractive for many women in Bonn to work at Nora. In order to cope with the onslaught, a job interview was even introduced for newcomers in front of the entire "collective". Some applicants failed the interview. At times, there was also a freeze on admissions.

Brigitta Lange had been a member of the "Nora-Kollektiv" since 1978. In the meantime, she was studying art and English to become a teacher at the Bonn University of Education, although she had not actually intended to become a teacher. She had already gained professional experience during her studies, which she partly financed herself. Among other things, she worked as an office worker for the women's initiative October 6. It was mainly SPD women who were active here and who were disappointed after the federal elections on October 5, 1980 that hardly any women entered the government. Nora regularly presented a selected range of books, a "book table", at the annual federal congresses of the Women's Initiative October 6, as she did at many other women's events held in Bonn.

Brigitta Lange brought her full power to the bookshop work for more than ten years. She also took on unpopular tasks such as VAT returns and bookkeeping. Eventually, she became so interested in these financial matters that she trained as a tax assistant in Cologne after completing her studies. She then worked for an auditing and tax consultancy firm for a year and a half, until she got fed up with being torn between bosses fighting each other. After a year at another firm in Bonn, she spent a few years at the feminist magazine Emma, where she was responsible for "everything to do with figures, statistics and accounting".

The women's bookshop not only sold books, but the "Nora-Kollektiv", led by Brigitta Lange, also organized numerous readings. Because the crowds were sometimes so large, they had to move to larger rooms. For example, when the two well-known feminist authors Cheryl Benard and Edit Schlaffer were invited to give a lecture, the event was quickly moved to the "Harmonie" hall in Endenich with room for more than four hundred visitors.

The "collective" had extensive discussions. There were often heated arguments. According to Brigitta Lange, internal disputes were "exacerbated by a youthful narrow-mindedness that did not accept other opinions and had no idea about the culture of debate". Conflicts were the order of the day: some women wanted others to leave because they were not feminist enough. Lesbian and heterosexual women did not feel recognized by each other. The Noras had different ideas about their commitment and way of working in the women's bookshop: One faction only wanted to be involved with Nora to a limited extent, as long as it was fun. The other faction, to which Brigitta Lange belonged, had the ambition to do more to move Nora forward. When this last dispute escalated, other women's projects in Bonn were brought in to settle the dispute. Although the "Nora collective" - according to Brigitta Lange - "lurched from one crisis to the next" and there was a considerable turnover of staff alongside some long-standing employees, the volunteers nevertheless secured Nora's existence for a good decade.

In June 1987, the Nora women's bookshop celebrated its tenth anniversary with a lavish party in the Lila Backstube, which had moved from the rear building at Wolfstraße 30 to the Frauenmuseum in 1985. The highlight of this event was the cabaret written by the "collective" and performed by the Nora women. The individual scenes ranged from the vision of "Nora unlimited as a global corporation" to the gloomy prospect of "Nora only open on Saturdays" and an exemplary "collective session" in which the individual Nora women sent each other to the afterlife. The performance ended to thunderous applause from the many women who attended the anniversary.

Another highlight was a women's culture week in Bonn in April 1988 in the "Brotfabrik", which was organized by the women's projects Nora, Lila Backstube, Lila Lotta and the Frauenbildungswerkstatt. Brigitta Lange helped organize the literary events. Ingeborg Boxhammer took care of the film screenings. The theater program included performances by the feminist women's choir "Die Rheintöchter", of which Brigitta Lange was later a member from 1991 to 2018.

For Brigitta Lange, Nora was an opportunity to play an active role in spreading feminist ideas. Her aim was to "get things moving in the minds of women (and men, who perhaps needed it more)". Today, she admits self-critically: "At least the women who came to Nora had already got on the bus; we probably never reached the many others who would have had to be carried to the bus stop."

Personally, the Nora women's bookshop and its surroundings were like a family to her. She felt at home here. The fact that she could openly present herself as a lesbian here and meet other lesbians played a big part in this.

Lesbians were disproportionately involved in the New Women's Movement - as they had been in the First Women's Movement. The "Nora collective" mostly consisted of lesbian women. Lesbians did a huge amount of work in the women's movement. As personal relationships with each other were of existential importance to them, a close cohesion developed within and between the women's projects. Lesbians regularly showed solidarity with the heterosexuals in the fight against Section 218, which was less explosive for them. Conversely, they were often let down by the straight women when it came to the fight against discrimination based on their sexual orientation.

In the 1980s, the Nora women's bookshop was a nucleus for new initiatives. The emergence of the women's magazine Lila Lotta was partly due to the monthly Nora newsletter initiated by Brigitta Lange with book tips, information on new publications and events, which was sent out by post via a fixed distribution list. A "women's peace group" in Bonn, which Brigitta Lange was also involved in setting up, emerged from Nora-related activities. The "AG Frauenforschung der Universität Bonn", founded by Marianne Krüll, was actively supported by Nora women. Brigitta Lange founded the Nora-Frauenverlag publishing house specifically to publish the lectures given as part of the "Studium Feminale" lecture series at Bonn University. Nora-Frauenverlag published "Alma Mater & Konsortinnen" in 1984 and "Studium Feminale: Vorträge 1984/85" in 1986. Both volumes bear witness to the beginnings of feminist research in various disciplines. Brigitta Lange herself gave a lecture on the realistic image of women in the crime novels of Dorothy Sayers. The lecture, based on her dissertation, is printed in the first volume.

Crime novels in general! Brigitta Lange currently says about herself: "Ever since I discovered Dorothy Sayers in the Gummersbach public library at the age of thirteen, I was lost to 'serious' literature. I still enjoy reading crime novels to this day and am happy when I discover a new method of murder." So it wasn't too far-fetched for her to write a crime novel herself. This made her part of the feminist avant-garde. In 1988, Frigga Haug launched the Ariadne crime series, which set out to publish crime novels about women and lesbians. Until then, the crime genre had been dominated by men - often macho men - as investigators. A crime story like the one created by Brigitta Lange was unthinkable in the mainstream at the time.

The last phase of the Nora women's bookshop was heralded in 1991 with the move to more attractive premises in Breite Straße. In the early days, the women's bookshop was still run by the "Nora-Kollektiv" to some extent. Once a month, "Sunday matinées" were held by the Noras themselves, at which new publications were presented, feminist classics were read or other interesting books from the range were presented.

Over time, however, signs of dissolution became apparent. Some women left the "collective" because they no longer had time due to their jobs or because they moved away from Bonn. And there were no new women to take their place. So the last resort was to privatize the women's bookshop again, i.e. to hand it over to two women who had previously been active in the "Nora collective" and who wanted to live off the income. Although Nora's financial starting position was somewhat more promising than before, it soon became apparent that the women's bookshop was not generating enough to secure the jobs of the two women. They had to give up for good in 1995.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Brigitta Lange and Ursula Hilberath, who had long been active at Lila Lotta, decided to set up their own bookshop. Ursula Hilberath had completed her dissertation in art history and Brigitta Lange had realized during her work for Emma that although she enjoyed working with books and magazines, she was missing the exchange with the "end consumers", the customers. From her experience with Nora, Brigitta Lange knew that the targeted selection of a suitable location was crucial to the success of the project.

In Mülheim an der Ruhr, in the growing and flourishing district of Saarn, the Hilberath & Lange bookshop finally opened in a former butcher's shop on September 1, 1993. The establishment of a women's bookshop was unthinkable in this environment, but even in a "field, forest and meadow bookshop" a lot could be achieved.

In the 29 years of its existence, Hilberath & Lange made a significant contribution to the cultural enrichment of the city of Mülheim. For this commitment, the two founders were awarded the German Bookstore Prize in 2015, 2018 and 2020. They write on their website: "We love putting creative and innovative ideas into practice. The 'Saarner Bücherfrühling', which we initiated and played a key role in organizing, has been held annually since 1995 and our diverse events in the autumn are also very popular with the public."

After two very challenging years with Corona, Hilberath & Lange finally found a successor after a thorough search and sold the bookshop. The employees will be taken on. The final handover took place on September 1, 2022.

Brigitta Lange now lives with her wife, whom she met in 1998, with whom she got married in 2006 and whom she married in 2019. She has no new projects planned for her upcoming retirement. She is looking forward to finally having time to read new crime novels, among other things!

I know Brigitta Lange from our time together in the Nora women's bookshop and have found her to be a determined, energetic and creative woman with a penchant for British humor. I find it admirable how she has managed to harmonize her passions, strengths and interests over the course of her life: Her feminism, her lesbianism, her enthusiasm for culture and literature, her penchant for the stage and cabaret, her penchant for independence. She succeeded because she tried things out and unwaveringly pursued the realization of her own ideas with a certain sense of reality.

The rights to the above text are held by  Haus der FrauenGeschichte Bonn e.V. (opens in a new tab)

• Interview with Brigitta Lange. 29.04.2022.
• Manuela Maaß: The new women's movement of the 1970s in Germany. March 2011. https://www.uni-muenster.de/NiederlandeNet/ nl-wissen/geschichte/70er/frauenbewegung.html (accessed 25.05.2022).
• Rosemarie Nave-Herz: The history of the women's movement in Germany. Bonn 1997. online version (accessed 30.05.2022).
• Chronicle of the new women's movement, 1975. FrauenMediaTurm - Feminist Archive and Library (retrieved 25.05.2022).
• Ingeborg Boxhammer: Chronicle of lesbian women and activities in Bonn. https://www.lesbengeschichte.org/Pdfs/pdfs_material_deutsch/lesbisches_leben_in_bonn_boxhammer.pdf (accessed 14.06.2022).