The German Movement against Female Genital Mutilation and Four Jewish Foremothers

In Germany, Dr. Marion Hulverscheidt credits four Jewish women with mothering the movement against female genital mutilation: Dr. Herta Haas (1907–2007), Fran Hosken (1920–2006), Hanny Lightfoot-Klein (1927–) and myself, Tobe Levin (1948–). Hitler forced the first three to flee Europe; I, born postwar, chose to live in Germany as a scholar of the Holocaust period and activist against FGM. Since 1977, when a movement against excision arose in Germany, I have seen Jewish women worldwide playing a significant role. This article explores possible reasons why. Although conclusions remain elusive, I wish to draw attention to a Jewish advocacy that has not yet been the subject of academic inquiry. When asked why they tenaciously confront a monstrous wrong and human rights violation that maims an estimated 200,000,000 women worldwide, these four women’s answers are similar and seemingly derived from Jewish ethics: the belief that what we do can improve the world and spare little girls lasting pain.