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CHAPTER 5 Gendered Medical War Services in the “Curing” State A detailed set of notes published in English in 1891 introduced the various establishments af‹liated with the “Ladies’ Association” (the FrauenVerein ) in Karlsruhe to the English reading public.1 The broadsheet was designed to advertise the city as “an important center for the development of female art, industry and learning” and attract well-off British families or other foreigners who wanted to live abroad and educate their children. Assurances were given, too, that “comfortable” housing was available with respectable families and in boarding homes. The descriptions captured the educational and charitable aims of the Baden Women’s Association, couched squarely in the language of upperclass gentility and re‹nement. They highlighted the association’s formative role in the evolution of women’s continuing education in Germany and its acceptance of the “modern” educational needs of socially diverse women. And the use of select words such as “blessing” reproduced the of‹cial rhetoric of the basic humanitarian and bene‹cial impact of its philanthropic mission. It was an appropriate “face” to present to wealthy foreigners interested in sojourning in Karlsruhe for a while. Signi‹cantly, the portrait masked another face. Omitted from the description was the association’s wartime goals and the extensive preparations for war going on in peacetime. These war-related activities had become the central rationale for the women’s association after its enlistment in the German Red Cross in the 1860s. In anticipating war, however, the association appealed to the same humanitarian rhetoric that enveloped its philanthropic side, appending to it, however, a new language of medical science. The war face of the association, indeed, was a public persona, but 177 1. GK, Abt. 69, no. 1179, Karlsruhe Associations, 1891. one clothed by the players in the old, familiar veneer of care, now infused by the new promises of modern science and technology. This powerful combination of humanitarianism and science had underwritten construction of the Ludwig-Wilhelm Hospital in the Kaiserallee , which had opened in 1890, one year before the English communiqué. As central headquarters of the Baden Red Cross nurses and later the nurses’ aides, it was the main staging ground for many of the patriotic ceremonies and rituals that brought Duchess Luise together with the women’s association volunteers and personnel. To supplement the building fund that had been solicited from private donors over the past several years and a loan from the duchess, the women’s association had sought permission to arrange a lottery in 1889; its justi‹cation demonstrates the centrality of war services to its mission and the persuasive appeal of the argument with both of‹cials and the wider public audience. The secretary, who prepared the case, reminded the readers of all the association’s activities “in the public interest.” High on the list were the education and support of a nursing staff (Krankenp›egerinnen) and the administration of its own division for medical services (Section III, Krankenp›ege). Its activities included sending out nurses in times of natural disasters, often with little or no remuneration; providing free medical care to patients; and arranging for the theoretical training of rural nurses (Landkrankenp›egerinnen), who were given free room and board in its small clinic. But in the formulation, working for the “common good” meant, in essence, preparing for the national defense: “When it comes to the common good, let us stress above all the fact that our nurses are sisters of the Red Cross and the end goal of our whole enterprise is to train the largest number of nurses possible in case of war and keep them ready and prepared.”2 Section III was an integral part of a wider network of state and imperial organizations serving civilian war preparation. To meet the evolving medical needs of war in peacetime, the Baden association had bought land at a reasonable price (“thanks to the gracious support of the duke”) and was building its own hospital, which specialized in optometry and surgery in addition to serving as the central headquarters of the nursing institute. The hospital had a one-hundred-bed capacity, sixty for the patients and forty for the nurses and student trainees; in addition , several rooms were designated as bene‹ces and available as a temporary refuge to nurses who might become disabled or, later in their life, for their old age. 178 Staging Philanthropy 2. GK, Abt. 69, no. 1158, Bau des Ludwig-Wilhelm-Hospitals in der Kaiserallee...

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