Marianne Weber

Marianne Weber, (born Marianne Schnitger on 2 August 1870 in Oerlinghausen, died 12 March 1954 in Heidelberg), sociologist, women's rights activist and wife of Max Weber.

Marianne Schnitger was born on 2 August 1870 in Oerlinghausen to medical doctor Eduard Schnitger and his wife Anna Weber, daughter of a prominent Oerlinghausen businessman Karl Weber. After the death of her mother in 1873 she moved to Lemgo and was raised for the next fourteen years by her grandmother and aunt. During this time, both her father and his two brothers went mad and were institutionalized. When Marianne turned 16, Karl Weber sent her off to fashionable finishing schools in Lemgo and Hanover, from which she graduated when she was 19. After the death of her grandmother in 1889, she lived several years with her mother's sister Alwine in Oerlinghausen.

In 1891, Marianne began to spend time with the Charlottenburg Webers, Max, Jr. and his mother Helene in particular. She became very close to Helene, who she would refer to as being "unaware of her own inner beauty." In 1893 she and Max Weber married in Oerlinghausen and moved into their own apartment in Berlin.

During the first few years of their marriage, Max taught first in Berlin, then, in 1894, at University of Heidelberg. During this time, Marianne pursued her own studies. After moving to Freiburg in 1894 she studied with leading neo-Kantian philosopher Heinrich Rickert. She also began to engage herself in the women's movement after hearing prominent feminist speakers at a political congress in 1895. In 1896, in Heidelberg, she co-founded a society for the circulation of feminist thought. She also worked with Max to raise the level of women students attending the university.

In 1898, Max suffered a psychological collapse, possibly brought on after his father's death, which happened shortly after Max confronted him regarding abuse of Helene. Between 1898 and 1904, Max withdrew from public life, moving in and out of mental institutions, traveling compulsively and resigning from his prominent position at University of Heidelberg. During this time, their roles reversed somewhat; as Max worked toward recovery and rested at home, Marianne attended political meetings, sometimes until late at night, and published her first book in 1900: Fichtes Sozialismus und sein Verhältnis zur Marxschen Doktrin ("Fichte's Socialism and its Relation to Marxist Doctrine").

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