Amalie Sieveking

Amalie Wilhelmine Sieveking (25 July 1794 – 1 April 1859) was a German philanthropist and social activist who founded the Weiblicher Verein für Armen- und Krankenpflege (Women's association for the care of the poor and invalids).

[2] Particularly Rautenberg, who had made St. Georg, Hamburg a center of new piety, was of great influence in steering Sieveking (and others, including Wichern and Heinrich Matthias Sengelmann) towards charitable work and making her a deaconess.

[4] Regarding charity work for women, she noted: "In a great many cases, namely those of the upper class, household and other domestic responsibilities do not offer the female side of the family a sufficient arena for the sum of their energies.

[6] Already in 1840 Sieveking had declined the position of a superintendent of the Bethanien hospital [de] in Berlin, offered to her by Pastor Fliedner of Kaiserswerth.

[9] In 1836, Theodor Fliedner was influenced by Sieveking when he established the first Protestant hospital in Kaiserswerth, which evolved into a leading modern nursing school.

Florence Nightingale, the British nurse of Crimean War fame, was trained at Kaiserswerth and was influenced by the work of Sieveking.

[8] [9] A very pious person, Sieveking anonymously published tracts, Betrachtungen (Observations) and Beschäftigungen mit der heiligen Schrift (Considerations on Holy Writ).

[2] Her autobiography, titled Hanseatic Philanthropist, was reviewed by the poet Sophie Schwab, who found a "delightful resonance" in its Christian spirit.