Simon Zacharias Coblenz (1835 – 1910), their father, was a wine grower/trader and leading member of the local business community who inflicted a strict rule based upbringing on his motherless children.
[3][4] It appears that just as soon as her two children were old enough to be left unattended for more than a couple of hours she turned her attention to social and public work with a particular focus on feminist politics and on poverty relief.
Julius Bensheimer, Alice's husband, was a well-known local politician in Mannheim and a publisher who produced, among other publications, the left-liberal Neue Badische Landeszeitung (regional newspaper).
[2] In 1896 Bensheimer set up the "Caritas" women's organisation which undertook social work in the local Jewish communities, providing support for widows and orphans and creating otherwise unavailable education opportunities to the latter.
[6] It is likely that in 1897 Bensheimer was a founder member of the Mannheim "Vereinsabteilung des Vereins Frauenbildung – Frauenstudium", concerned with education for girls and established that year by her friend and fellow feminist activist Julie Bassermann.
Despite her national role in the BDF, she continued to be active in poverty relief in Mannheim, retaining membership of various welfare related local organisations and initiatives, and as a member of the Baden Women's Association ("Badischer Frauenverein").
Bensheimer was convinced that the shared interests of women were far above and outside the world of mere party politics, and she called for greater female involvement in social issues and in schools policy.