thumb| '''Elisabeth Friederike Rotten''' (15 February 1882, Berlin - 2 May 1964) was a Quaker peace activist and educational progressive.
== Life == As daughter to the Swiss couple Moritz and Luise Rotten, she attended the "höhere Mädchenschule Luisenschule" during 1888-1898, later studying at the Victoria-Lyzeum Berlin from 1904. In September 1906 she took the Reifeprüfung at the Kaiserin Augusta-Gymnasium Charlottenburg. She graduated in her studies in philosophy and German language and literature in Heidelberg, Berlin, Marburg and Montpellier. In Marburg she met with Hermann Lietz and Gustav Wyneken, which was vital to the future development of her thinking. In 1913 she published her PhD thesis under the title "Goethes Urphänomen und die platonische Idee" (Goethe's "Urphänomen" and the Platonic ideal) in Marburg.
In 1913 she began lecturing at the University of Cambridge on German literature. In 1914 she returned to Berlin and worked in the "Auskunfts- und Hilfsstelle für Deutsche im Ausland und Ausländer in Deutschland" with professor Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze. In the same year she co-founded the "Bund Neues Vaterland", later the "German League for Human Rights". In 1915 she travelled as a representative to the 1st International Women's Congress in The Hague and worked for the foundation of the "Internationalen Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit" (International Women's League for Peace and Freedom").
In 1922, together with Beatrice Ensor and Adolphe Ferrière she founded the New Education Fellowship, becoming its vice-chair for German-speaking countries and editor of its German-language journal, which eventually came to be called ''Das Werdende Zeitalter''.<ref>Brehony, K. J. (2004). "A New Education for a New Era: Creating International Fellowship Through Conferences 1921-1938." Paedagogica Historica 40(5 & 6): 733-755.</ref> From 1922 she was associated with the school farm, Schulfarm Insel Scharfenberg, begun by Wilhelm Blume in Berlin and was a frequent visitor to the Odenwaldschule founded in 1910 by the educational reformer Paul Geheeb.
In 1925, Rotten and Adolphe Ferrière became the first deputy directors of the International Bureau of Education (IBE), where they provided support to director Pierre Bovet.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002473/247329e.pdf|title=IBE In Focus: 90 years of excellence in education|last=IBE|publisher=UNESCO|year=2015|pages=22}}</ref>
She was also a friend of the anarchist, Gustav Landauer, who was Minister of Culture in the short-lived Munich Soviet (or “Council Republic”) of 1919 before being murdered after it was violently suppressed. From 1926 until 1932, Rotten shared the editorship of the journal ''Das Werdende Zeitalter'' with Karl Wilker, an exponent of social pedagogy who transformed the Lindenhof in Berlin. The title of this journal was inspired by that given to a collection of essays by Landauer, which his friend, the philosopher Martin Buber, published in 1921. In 1930, Rotten co-founded a school at Hellerau just outside Dresden, where a garden city was established shortly after 1900 as part of a reform movement advocating modern housing.<ref>Brehony, K. J. (2004). "A New Education for a New Era: Creating International Fellowship Through Conferences 1921-1938." Paedagogica Historica 40(5 & 6): 733-755.</ref> <!-- In 1919, she gave the much-admired speech at the International Conference on Education in Geneva on "The Attempts at a New Education in Germany". She was co-founder of the "Bund entschiedener Schulreformer". Until 1921, she was head of the educational department of the "German League of Nations" and from 1920 to 1921 she published the "Internationale Erziehungsrundschau" (as a supplement to the magazine "Die neue Erziehung"). In 1921, she became a co-founder of the World Alliance for Renewal in Education (New Education Fellowship) and Director for the German-speaking countries and - as the successor to the "Internationale Erziehungsrundschau" as the German-language organ of the World Federation - published the journal ''Das Werdende Zeitalter'' (from 1926 together with Karl Wilker). In 1922, she worked on the school farm Insel Scharfenberg (see [[Scharfenberg (Insel)]) in Berlin. In 1923, she participated in the foundation of the arts and crafts settlement on the Gut Kohlgraben near Vacha in the Rhön. Until 1923, she worked together with the English Quakers in the children's charity ([Quäkerspeisung]), and in 1930 she became a member of the Religious Society of Friends ([Quäker]). From 1925, she was co-director of the Bureau International d'Education in Geneva.
From 1930 to 1934, she worked in the Gartenstadt Hellerau, among other things as co-founder of the State Welfare School Hellerau. During this time she also founded the Swiss Montessori Society together with Jean Piaget and was vice-president of the Association Montessori Internationale from 1937 until her death in 1964. In 1934, she emigrated to Switzerland, to Saanen in the Bernese Oberland. There, she continued her work with lectures, courses, publications and translations.
After 1945 she participated in the foundation of the International Pestalozzi Children's Village in Trogen, Canton Appenzell. In 1947, she worked as a lecturer at the Pädagogische Hochschule Berlin. In 1948, she was head of the "Office for Cultural Exchange" of the" Swiss Donation for the war-affected. Elisabeth Rotten also worked as a translator. -->
==See also== * List of peace activists
== Bibliography == * Dietmar Haubfleisch: ''Schulfarm Insel Scharfenberg. Mikroanalyse der reformpädagogischen Unterrichts- und Erziehungsrealität einer demokratischen Versuchsschule im Berlin der Weimarer Republik'' (=Studien zur Bildungsreform, 40). Frankfurt u.a. 2001. {{ISBN|3-631-34724-3}} <br/> [http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1999/0008/inhalt.html Inhaltsverzeichnis und Vorwort des Herausgebers der Reihe "Studien zur Bildungsreform"] * Dietmar Haubfleisch: ''Elisabeth Rotten (1882 - 1964) - eine (fast) vergessene Reformpädagogin''. In Inge Hansen-Schaberg (ed.): ''„etwas erzählen“. Die lebensgeschichtliche Dimension in der Pädagogik. Bruno Schonig zum 60. Geburtstag''. Baltmannsweiler 1997, S. 114-131. - Überarb. Ausg. unter Weglassung der Abb.: Marburg 1997: <br/> [http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1996/0010.html http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1996/0010.html] * Dietmar Haubfleisch: ''Elisabeth Rotten (1882 - 1964) - ein Quellen- und Literaturverzeichnis''. Marburg 1997. <br/> [http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1997/0010.html http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1997/0010.html] * Das Werdende Zeitalter (Internationale Erziehungs-Rundschau). Register sämtlicher Aufsätze und Rezensionen einer reformpädagogischen Zeitschrift in der Weimarer Republik. Zusammengestellt und eingeleitet von Dietmar Haubfleisch und Jörg-W. Link (=Archivhilfe, 8), Oer-Erkenschwick 1994; Auszug der Einleitung (S. 5-16) wieder in: Mitteilungen & Materialien. Arbeitsgruppe Pädagogisches Museum e.V., Berlin, Heft Nr. 42/1994, S. 97-99; Einleitung in leicht korr. Fassung u.d.T.: 'Dietmar Haubfleisch und Jörg-W. Link: Einleitung zum Register der reformpädagogischen Zeitschrift 'Das Werdende Zeitalter' ('Internationale Erziehungs-Rundschau')' wieder: Marburg 1996: <br/> [http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1996/0012.html http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1996/0012.html]
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{DNB portal|124382088|TYP=}} (1) * {{DNB portal|100865682|TYP=}} (2) * [http://paed.com/rotten Lebenslauf, ausgewählte Quellen und Literatur zu Elisabeth Rotten bei paed.com] * [http://www.frauenwiki.de/index.php/Elisabeth_Rotten Elisabeth Rotten im Frauenwiki] * [http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sonst/1996/0010.html Data] * {{BBKL|r/rotten_e|band=26|autor=Claus Bernet|spalten=1283-1310}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotten}} Category:1882 births Category:1964 deaths Category:Swiss Quakers Category:Converts to Quakerism Category:Swiss academics Category:German women writers Category:Swiss anti-war activists Category:Swiss educational theorists Category:Swiss Christian pacifists Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge Category:Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people