"The Danube Daughters": An app makes famous Regensburg women visible 

Created: 12/24/2021, 05:13 PM

Actress Rita Clermont is now standing in front of the Garbo cinema in Regensburg - at least virtually.

© Nadine Trautzsch

There are many monuments in Regensburg, but none for famous women from the city.

An app has now changed that - at least virtually.

Regensburg - On a memorial stone at the Jewish cemetery in Schillerstrasse, she is immortalized only as the wife of her husband Siegfried: We are talking about Dr. Paula Weiner-Odenheimer. Born in Karlsruhe, she lived in Regensburg * for many years, her daughter Eleonore attended the Albrecht Altdorfer High School here. Weiner-Odenheimer was one of the few women who was admitted to the doctorate with her 1914 dissertation "Professions of the Jews in Bavaria".

Until the Nazis came to power, Weiner-Odenheimer was active for the Jewish Women's Association in Regensburg.

She gave lectures on cultural and women emancipatory topics, organized musical evenings and finally took over the chairmanship of the Regensburg local group.

On the night of March 30th to April 1st, 1933, her apartment was finally stormed and searched by Nazi henchmen.

Paula Weiner-Odenheimer was still lucky: she was able to get to Palestine in safety with the help of a tourist visa in October 1933.

“Danube Daughters” brings visitors closer to famous Regensburg women

The activist owes the fact that her life is now accessible to a wider Regensburg public to the app “The Danube Daughters”.

As part of the accompanying program to the Bavarian state exhibition "Götterdämmerung II - The Last Monarchs" in the Museum of Bavarian History in Regensburg *, this app shows the life and work of strong Regensburg women in a time of social upheaval.

(By the way: Our brand new Regensburg newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the world cultural heritage city. Register here.)

Using augmented reality, statues of women can be made visible at seven stations in Regensburg's old town and their stories can be heard.

If you look through your mobile phone, you will see seven illustratively visualized monuments using the app, which tell of their lives and work.

"Danube Daughters": sculptor, political activist, actress ...

These virtual statues could already be seen on the “Day of the Invisible Monument” on September 13, 2020.

Now the stories of strong, invisible women are being made available to Regensburg visitors again - and now for a longer period of time.

The life stories of professional actresses were recorded.

You can now go on a city tour around the clock.

Seven large, red floor stickers show the locations.

In front of the oldest cinema in Regensburg, the Garbo Kino in Weißgerbergraben, the Regensburg actress Rita Clermont tells her life story.

At the Thon-Dittmer-Palais on Haidplatz is the virtual memorial of the socially committed worker Marie Höhne, behind it, in the so-called Fechthof, Toni Pfülf tells of how she became a political activist as a bourgeois woman and, among other things, fought for women's suffrage.

"Danube Daughters": An interactive city tour

In front of the House of Bavarian History, the statue of Margit von Valsassina commemorates her work as a sculptor and nurse.

By the way, she is better known as Margarethe Klementine von Österreich, Fürstin von Thurn und Taxis.

An invisible statue was dedicated to the teacher Elly Maldaque in Von-der-Tann-Straße.

Many consider her to be the first victim of the National Socialists in Regensburg.

The “Die Donautöchter” app can be downloaded free of charge from the App Store.

Then you can go on a city tour - and also the invisible statues of Dr.

Discover Paula Weiner-Odenheimer and Barbara Popp and hear their stories.

“Die Donautöchter” was developed by Markus Wolf and designer Nadine Trautzsch.

The two have been working together on various digital products for 13 years.

Trautzsch studied visual communication at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and is now dedicated to the fusion of traditional craft and digital, interactive possibilities.