Hedwig Wachenheim

Hedwig Wachenheim (August 27, 1891 in Mannheim – October 8, 1969 in Hanover) was a German Social Democratic politician and historian.

In 1816, her great-grandfather owned a house in the Lower Town, a district where traditional Jewish wholesalers lived.

Hedwig's father, banker and chairman of the Freedom Association and city councilor, died when she was seven years old.

Wachenheim grew up in upper middle-class, affluent circumstances in which it was unusual for women of her state were working or lower ran housework themselves.

[1] After embarking on an intensive friendship with the Reichstag member Ludwig Frank, whom she had met in 1912, Wachenheim joined the SPD in 1914.

[3] After the National Socialist seizure of power in 1933, she had lost her mandate in the state parliament and her position as a member of the government.