In IHRE ERGEBENSTE FRÄULEIN, I go back to my origins: to Dillenburg, my place of birth. I spent the first 19 years of my life in this stolid, hard-working, bureaucratic town. Dillenburg is a town with a keen work ethic, which I got to know via my grandparents and uncles. While carrying out research on the history of Dillenburg, I come across the educationalist and botanist Catharina Helena Dörrien (1717–1795), a workaholic and woman of the Enlightenment.
She neither benefited from parental inheritance, nor was she married. Through her work, she was an independent woman.
Dörrien interested me immediately: How was it possible for a woman from the 18th century provinces to make a name for herself? She wrote books and plays, published essays she translated from French, taught children, carried out research and did drawings as a botanist. She said that work was good and thus set herself apart from the nobility. Dörrien clearly recognised that for women, personal freedom was based on work. She neither benefited from parental inheritance, nor was she married. Through her work, she was an independent woman.
In the film, the voice of Dörrien is mixed with that of the “Dillenburgischen Intelligenz Nachrichten” (The Dillenburg Intelligence News) – a weekly publication for local officials. A piece of luck for me: after two years of reading and carrying out research about this publication a “genre painting” gradually came into view before my eyes. What’s astounding are the relentlessly clear and oppressive, yet also progressive orders and bans issued by the high-ranking officials, who ruled like social “engineers”. By contrast, Dörrien’s words seem magical and possess a lyrical beauty Two mighty voices of almost unbearable dimensions. Simply entering this vortex of words and ideas creates an aesthetic experience.
Eva C. Heidmann
Translation: James Lattimer
