Laura Witte
Born
Laura Elisabeth Theodore Roth

April 16, 1869
Brooklyn, New York
DiedNovember 15, 1939
Rostock, Germany
Other namesGerman suffragette and women's rights advocate
SpouseFriedrich Carl Witte (1864–1938)
Parent(s)Johannes Roth (1837-1894) and Jane (Bean) Roth (1841-1901)

Laura Witte (April 16, 1869 — November 15, 1939) was an American who became a women’s rights activist and suffragette in Germany during the early 20th century.

Formative years

Born on April 16, 1869, in Brooklyn, New York, Laura Elisabeth Theodore Roth was the eldest daughter of Johannes Roth (1837–1894), a cotton merchant, and his wife, Jane (Bean) Roth (1841–1901). A sister of sculptor Frederick Roth (1872–1944), Laura Witte was also the aunt of politician Annemarie von Harlem (1894–1983).[1][2]

Hoping to improve her education, she traveled to Germany to the community of Bremen, where her family had a home, and to Rostock, where her uncle Friedrich Roth resided. While in Germany, she met Friedrich Carl Witte (1864–1938), a German chemist, whom she married on June 7, 1892, and with whom she had five children: Johanna (born c. 1893), Friedrich (born c. 1895), Siegfried (1897–1961), Elisabeth (born c. 1903), and Carl August (born c. 1908).[3]

Sometime after 1908, Witte became a volunteer in early childhood education centers and also actively began lecturing about the need to create equal rights for women while campaigning on behalf of the Mecklenburg State Association for Women's Suffrage.[4]

By 1915, she was serving on multiple boards of directors, including the Association for Social Aid Work.[5]

After becoming a member of the German Democratic Party, Witte was appointed to chair the party's women's group in 1919. That same year, she addressed the chapter of the German Democratic Party located in Bad Doberan. Speaking about "Woman in the new Germany,” she reflected on the status of women who had been granted the right to vote in 1918, and advocated equal pay for women.[6]

Death

Laura Witte died in Rostock, Germany on November 15, 1939.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Beese, Marianne. “Research on the Women's Movement and on Women's Studies in Rostock,” in Women's Studies in Rostock: Reports from and about Female Academics, Kersten Krüger (ed.), in Rostock Studies on University History, Vol. 9, pp. 16 and 35. Rostock, Germany: University of Rostock, 2010. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)
  2. ↑ von Brühl, Christine. Gerade dadurch sind sie mir lieb: Theodor Fontanes Frauen (roughly translated: It is precisely because they are dear to me: Theodor Fontane's women). Aufbau Digital, September 14, 2018.
  3. ↑ Beese, Marianne. Family, Women's Movement and Society in Mecklenburg 1870–1920: Situation of Women and Female Résumés: Laura Witte (1869–1939), Anna von Maltzahn (1856–1895), p. 120. Rostock, Germany: University of Rostock, 1999. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)
  4. ↑ Beese, Family, Women's Movement and Society in Mecklenburg 1870–1920, pp. 135, 137, 217. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)
  5. ↑ Beese/Krüger, Women's Studies in Rostock: Reports from and about Female Academics. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)
  6. ↑ Beese, Family, Women's Movement and Society in Mecklenburg 1870–1920, pp. 137, 217, 277-296, 373-375. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)
  7. ↑ Beese/Krüger, Women's Studies in Rostock: Reports from and about Female Academics. (Citation translated from the Laura Witte article on German Wikipedia.)
  • Letters to and from Laura Witte, in Witte Family Correspondence, in Rostock City Archives. Archive Portal: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, retrieved online May 10, 2021.
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