Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women (Modern Jewish Experience) [Hardcover]

Harriet Pass Freidenreich (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Modern Jewish Experience | Publication Date: June 21, 2002

Female, Jewish, and Educated presents a collective biography of Jewish women who attended universities in Germany or Austria before the Nazi era. To what extent could middle-class Jewish women in the early decades of the 20th century combine family and careers? What impact did anti-Semitism and gender discrimination have in shaping their personal and professional choices? Harriet Freidenreich analyzes the lives of 460 Central European Jewish university women, focusing on their family backgrounds, university experiences, professional careers, and decisions about marriage and children. She evaluates the role of discrimination and anti-Semitism in shaping the careers of academics, physicians, and lawyers in the four decades preceding World War II and assesses the effects of Nazism, the Holocaust, and emigration on the lives of a younger cohort of women. The life stories of the women profiled reveal the courage, character, and resourcefulness with which they confronted challenges still faced by women today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Freidenreich (Temple Univ.) details the lives of 460 Jewish women who attended German or Austrian universities between 1900 and the Nazi Era. Predictably intelligent and assertive, these mostly middle-class women sought intellectually challenging, economically secure, and socially responsible lives. Also predictably, they encountered pervasive antisemitism and, after 1933, the Nazi dictatorship, impacting them publicly and privately—indeed, often cruelly shortening or warping their existence. Despite untold hardships, many persevered to become successful in exile, but at considerable costs to their families and themselves. Including both well-known and comparatively obscure women, this study focuses on specific stages in their experiences: childhood, university years, professional development, career and/or family, political involvement, Nazi persecution, and, for the fortunate, life after 1945. Learning about them is both frightening and inspiring. Freidenreich's meticulous combing of archival and secondary sources, her personal contacts with many of these women and their families, and her carefully constructed descriptions and analysis make this a powerful, moving account. Its persuasive argument, statistical tables, photographs, detailed scholarly citations, and comprehensive bibliography will stimulate general readers and scholars to further questions and research. Highly recommended for both public and university libraries with holdings in women's and/or European history." —D. R. Skopp, Plattsburgh SUNY, Choice, November 2002

(D. R. Skopp, Plattsburgh SUNY Choice 2002)

"... a meticulously researched work." —Austrian History Yearbook

(Austrian History Yearbook )

About the Author

Harriet Freidenreich is a native of Ottawa, Canada. She received her undergraduate education at the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. from Columbia University. As Professor of History at Temple University in Philadelphia, she teaches a wide range of courses in women's history, Jewish history, and European history. She is the author of The Jews of Yugoslavia, Jewish Politics in Vienna, and various articles on Central European Jewish women in the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (June 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253340993
• ISBN-13: 978-0253340993
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,720,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Letter to the Author of Female, Jewish, & Educated, July 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women (Modern Jewish Experience) (Hardcover)

I have finished reading your latest book and it has certainly fulfilled what it promised. I learned a great deal from it about the women whom you chose to discuss in your work, about the issues which moved them, about the problems which they had to struggle against and about the historical background of their lives. It also confirmed a suspicion of mine, namely that anti-Semitism was a lesser obstacle than bias against women. So many of the women you write about are fascinating characters and have led colorful lives. I found your presentation lively, entertaining, your scholarship thorough and most impressive. You also show remarkable empathy toward these women.

4.0 out of 5 stars Meeting our Foremothers, March 27, 2003

By 

Beverly Friend "Executive Director China Juda... (Lincolnwood, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women (Modern Jewish Experience) (Hardcover)

Transcending two strikes against them, being Jewish, and being female, a group of Central European Jewish university women of the early 20th century -- who often opted not to marry -- defied conventional expectations when they sought personal self-fulfillment in higher education and then invaded traditional male professions. In a clear, fascinating work, Harriet Freidenreich breaks new ground in her examination of the ramifications of religion and gender in a relatively new research field: Jewish Women's History. The text structures around life cycles and personal in experiences tracking these pioneers as they overcame significant obstacles. Freidenreich skillfully weaves primary sources, incorporating highly revelatory material from personal interviews, questionnaires, published and unpublished memoirs, enhanced by the haunting faces of the subjects in 20 pages of photographs. Some of the women, like Hanna Arendt, became famous. Others, less well known, still made significant contributions. Reading this highly intelligent, scholarly work about our professional foremothers -- intended for educated women to learn about educated women -- provides a most gratifying experience!