Martha Pauline Catharina Voß-Zietz (23 July 1871 – 8 December 1961) was a German conservative, women's rights activist, suffragist, nationalist and writer. She founded the German Union for Women's Suffrage, co-founded and was the chairwoman of the Association of German Housewives' Associations and joined the German Fatherland Party.
Biography Voß-Zietz was born in 1871 in Hamburg, German Empire, and had family roots in Eutin. While visiting family in Eutin, she met Friedrich Voß and they married.
In 1899, Voß-Zietz founded the liberal Women's Welfare Association (). In 1902, she founded the German Union for Women's Suffrage (). She gave lectures on women's suffrage in Eutin.
In 1912, Voß-Zietz was a board member of the German Women's Congress () in Berlin. In 1915, Voß-Zietz was co-founder and the chairwoman of the Association of German Housewives' Associations () [de], known as the Reich Association of German Housewives' Associations (RDH) from 1924.
During World War I, Voß-Zietz worked as a consultant for the War Food Office, under the auspices of the Prussian War Ministry. She published articles with advice for housewives so that they could cope with wartime economic changes. She gave talks on wartime nutrition and budgeting.
Voß-Zietz joined the German Fatherland Party (, DVLP), founded in 1917. She was critical of the women's committee of the German National People's Party (German: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP).
After the German defeat in World War I, Voß-Zietz wrote articles for the newspapers Der Tag and Deutsche Zeitung, covering topics such as loyalty to the fatherland, preserving the concept of "German honour" and demanding the return for the territories of Danzig (now known as Gdańsk) and Upper Silesia to Germany. She encouraged women to read about how the ancient Teutons had pushed their exhausted menfolk back towards their enemies.
By 1922, Voß-Zietz had beco me more politically right-wing and was known for being antisemitic. She joined the newly founded German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation (, DVSTB).
In the 1920s, Voß-Zietz praised Benito Mussolini, the totalitarian dictator of Fascist Italy from 1922, for his work to restrict the import of foreign foods, writing "how can a responsible citizen not wish for a man like Mussolini, who ends with a strike of the pen the import of bananas and teaches Germans to eat German apples?"
Voß-Zietz died on 8 December 1961 in Bad Schwartau, Germany, and was buried in Eutin.
References
External links
Photograph of Voß-Zietz at the German Digital Library