Ottilie von Hansemann

Ottilie von Hansemann (11 April 1840 in Koblenz – 12 December 1919 in Berlin) was a German women's rights activist, significant patroness of the women's movement in Prussia, and a champion for the right of women to attend German universities, to participate in university classes alongside their male cohorts, and to live in student residence halls built specifically for female students.

Ottilie's husband was a notable Prussian industrialist and manager of the Disconto-Gesellschaft, a large financial holding founded in 1851 and headquartered in Berlin, which in 1929 merged with Deutsche Bank.

At the turn of the twentieth century, German women's struggle for higher education focused on their being integrated into existing universities.

When German Culture Minister Ludwig Holle was unwilling to revise this exceptional paragraph, Ottilie withdrew her endowment offer to the university and instead invested the money in the construction of the Viktoria-Studienhaus (a student residence for women) on the former Berliner Allee (since 1957 Otto-Suhr-Allee) in the Charlottenburg neighborhood of Berlin.

[2] Opened in 1915, the Viktoria-Studienhaus was also referred to as Haus Ottilie von Hansemann, in honor of its royal patron (Crown Princess Victoria) and its largest donor, respectively.