In the organizer's words:

In 1919, the world looks to the constitutional Weimar National Assembly. The two sisters Marie Juchacz and Elisabeth Kirschmann-Röhl had long been fighting for women's right to vote.

In 1919, it was used for the first time and brought both women into parliament as SPD representatives for the Potsdam and Cologne-Aachen districts. Years earlier, they had already made a name for themselves as good speakers for the SPD.

Lydia Struck is a cultural anthropologist and great-grandniece of the two sisters. In her lecture, she asks: What motivated the two of them to become socially involved in the city of Cologne as a whole, in addition to Marie Juchacz's post as SPD women's secretary in the Upper Rhine Province district? What kind of articles does Elisabeth Kirschmann-Röhl write for the women's supplement Gleichheit and for the Rheinische Zeitung to change the everyday lives of women in the 1920s? Why are they involved in the Cologne homework center during the First World War? How do they organize their everyday lives between raising children and political work?

And what drove Elisabeth Kirschmann-Röhl to fight with all her might against the growing influence of the National Socialists as a Cologne city councillor (SPD) from the 1920s onwards?

The lecture offers insights and anecdotes from the eventful biographies of the women and is dedicated to their commitment. A subsequent discussion will provide an opportunity for exchange.

The lecture is part of the accompanying program to the exhibition "Pioneers of Change - the First Women's Movement in Cologne", of the Historical Archive with the Rheinisches Bildarchiv, which you can still see until 22 March 2026.

Price information:

Places are limited and participation is free of charge. Registration by e-mail to anmeldungarchiv@stadt-koeln.de or by telephone on 0221/221-24455 is required.