Alice Salomon (1872-1948)


One of the principal founders of professional social work in Germany and the creator of German social work education. As a young social reformer and feminist leader in 1893, she helped establish the Girls' and Women's Groups for Social Aid Work, and in 1899 she cofounded the first one-year course in vocational welfare training, which in 1908 became a two-year training program. She was a leader in the development of social work as a profession for women and for men before, during and after World War I. She led the efforts to restore the nation after the war and fought the Nazi movement until being forced to emigrate in 1937. A leading German school of social work in Berlin bears her name.

(The Social Work Dictionary, Robert L. Barker, NASW Press)



page last updated on 27.10.2005