| First Name | Käthe |
|---|---|
| Family Name | Mende |
| Date of Birth | 02 December 1878 |
| Birthplace/Place of Residence | Frankfurt/Oder |
| Residence in „Heim Isenburg“ | - |
| Departure to | - |
| Profession | Political scientist, philosopher, lawyer |
| Deportation/Escape | Deported from Berlin to Theresienstadt ghetto in September 1942 |
| Date of Death/Place of Death | Survivor of ghetto Theresienstadt, died 1963 in Berlin |
The pioneer of the social work Käthe Mende scientifically worked on the files of illegitimate children from the Home of the Jewish Women’s Association from 1934 on the suggestion of Bertha Pappenheim. In connection with this work, she stayed several times at „Heim Isenburg“. The result of their research published in 1936 bore the title "An Investigation on the Occurrence and Fate of the Unmarried Among the Jews in Germany. Preliminary Results of a Survey."
Käthe Mende was born in 1878 in Frankfurt an der Oder. She was the youngest daughter of a Jewish banker. After the "Mittlere Reife" (middle maturity) and the female teacher's exams, she passed the Abitur as an external student at a high school in Berlin. Afterwards, she studied political science and philosophy in Freiburg, Breisgau, Berlin and Munich, and later also Jura. In Munich she promoted in 1912 with a dissertation on the situation of working girls ("Young people at home and at work, described on the basis of a survey"). This study is one of the first sociological studies in Germany.
After a long journey abroad Käthe Mende moved to Berlin. Since 1919, she had been a member of the executive committee of the youth welfare school of the Social Workers Union of Berlin. She worked as a youth advocate at the German center for youth welfare, and from 1923 onwards at the German Archives for the Youth Welfare and the editorial department of the magazine “Die Jugendfürsorge.”
In 1933, the national socialists sacked Käthe Mende from their offices. She then volunteered in various Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Women's Union and the Reich Association of Jews in Germany. In September 1942 Käthe Mende was deported from Berlin to the ghetto Theresienstadt, where she devoted herself to the care of the sick. Käthe Mende survived the Holocaust in the Theresienstadt ghetto. After the liberation, she returned to Berlin in August 1945, where she immediately became involved in social work. She worked in the welfare office of the US military government. Until 1949 as Managing Director of the newly founded Association for free and public welfare in the American and member of the German Association for Youth Courts and Court Aids
Käthe Mende died in 1963 in Berlin.
Source: Hugo Maier (Hrsg.): Who is Who der Sozialen Arbeit, Freiburg/Br. 1998, S. 390f.; Gudrun Maierhof, S. 338 f.: