Postage stamp: Women of German History - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1987 - 120 Pfennig

With »Women of German History« the Deutsche Bundespost replaces the series »Industry and Technology« begun in 1975/76. The new series is intended to help raise awareness of women's achievements in society. Dr. Elisabeth Selbert, lawyer and notary, was born on September 22, 1896 in Kassel and died in her hometown on June 9, 1986. She was the second of the four daughters of the judicial guardian Georg Rohde and his wife Elisabeth. After visiting the Volks-, Mittel- and Höher Handelsschule, she first worked as a foreign correspondent and then became a post-graduate candidate in the telegraph service. Her later husband Adam Selbert gave the impetus that she became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany as early as 1918. Soon after, they were elected to the parish council of Niederzwehren, today's district of Kassel. She married in 1920. The two sons were born in 1921 and 1922. As an external student, she passed the matriculation examination in 1926, ie at the age of 30, and immediately afterwards began to study law in Göttingen and Marburg. The husband, the parents and an unmarried sister supported her progress. After just six semesters, she completed her legal traineeship and subsequently did her doctorate on the subject of "Marriage disorder as a reason for divorce". She was 80 years old when this guideline became law. Elisabeth Selbert was admitted in 1934 by many lucky circumstances as the last woman to the bar. Her husband had been dismissed in the same year as a "public enemy" from the communal service and later even temporarily in the concentration camp. She was under Gestapo supervision. Her law practice burned down during the bombing raid on Kassel. Immediately after the end of the war Elisabeth Selbert worked as city councilor of her hometown Kassel. As a member of the Hessian Constituent Assembly she campaigned as constitutional lawyer in all constitutional issues; For 12 years she was a member of the Hessian state parliament; For 10 years she worked in the narrower party executive of the SPD. The highlight of her political work saw Elisabeth Selbert in the participation in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1948 she was appointed to the Parliamentary Council. Again, as in the case of the Hessian Constitution, she was forced to negotiate in a special way for the rights of women. She had witnessed the multiple oppression and discrimination of women in her law practice. In a then undoubtedly extraordinary way, she was committed to formulating paragraph 2 of Article 3 of the Basic Law "Men and Women are Equal". Elisabeth Selbert wanted to move away from the almost meaningless equality article from the Weimar Constitution, which had not been able to move the established patriarchy. After two unsuccessful votes in the Parliamentary Council, she managed to mobilize the political women in the country. The tendency for approval grew. On May 23, 1949 came with the promulgation of the Basic Law and the unrestricted equality principle in force. Elisabeth Selbert has emphasized again and again in her last years that it will be a long way before this constitutional principle has penetrated into all phases of our existence. In addition to her fight for the rights of women, her concern was again and again our parliamentary democracy, the party democracy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Maintaining and strengthening it was also the reason for Elisabeth Selbert's repeated appeal to women and young people to work in democratic parties. Participation in parties was a necessity for them to secure democracy in our country. (Text: Ruth Selbert, Kassel)