Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel

Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel (July 25, 1926 in Herne - June 7, 2016) was a German feminist theologian, best remembered as the founder of the European Society of Women in Theological Research (ESWTR) in 1986. Her publications translated into English include Liberty, Equality, Sisterhood: The Women around Jesus, A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey, I Am My Body, and Rediscovering Friendship.

Life

Provenance and early years

Elisabeth Wendel was born at Herne, a large industrial town a short distance to the west of Dortmund. The entire surrounding region was at that time heavily dependent on mining. She was just 6 in 1933 when the Hitler government took power. Her parents were traditionalist nationalists who detested everything about National Socialism, but as far back as she could ever remember she understood that she must avoid repeating at school everything that was said at home. In 1934 her father died from illness and her mother relocated with the children to Potsdam, just outside Berlin. In 1936, by now aged 10, she found she had become a member of the Hitler Youth organisation after a leather-working club of which she was a member became subsumed into it. (Hitler Youth membership became mandatory at her school a year later.)