Randalierende Lehrerinnen'

From "Fie, devil" to "Bravo, bravissimo".

It was a sensation that even the New York Times reported: After the massive male "no" vote on women's suffrage in Switzerland in the referendum of February 1, 1959, the teachers of the Basel Girls' High School went on strike in unison - "in protest against the renewed disregard for Swiss women's right to citizenship. The strike teachers received invective and praise, cakes, flowers and a toy carpet beater. In the (then still six) Basel newspapers, fierce letters from readers raged. The editorial statements were unanimously negative in the bourgeois papers and just as unanimously positive in the left media. The Association for Women's Suffrage invited to a sympathy rally. Most of the parliamentarians in Basel severely rebuked the teachers; their warmest defender was the husband of one of the ringleaders.

What was that time - 14 years after the end of the war, 12 years before the breakthrough of women's suffrage in 1971? Starting from the 50th anniversary celebration at the Leonhard Gymnasium, the book lets contemporary witnesses from the camp of female teachers and students have their say. Historical contributions on voting rights, school and women's history, old and new photos as well as illustrations of documents from that time and a CD with radio broadcasts allow informative and amusing insights into a historical episode of which Basel can be proud.