Ten Life Histories

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"This book is an annotated translation into English of Zehn Lebensläufe Berliner Kontollmädchen und zehn Beiträge zur Behandlung der geschlechtlichen Frage (1905) [Ten Life Histories of Berlin Prostitutes under Police Control and Ten Contributions to the Management of the Sexual Question] by Dr. Wilhelm Hammer (1879-1940(?)). The author trained as a doctor in Freiburg and Berlin and worked as an assistant physician at the women's ward at the Berlin municipal homeless shelter in the Fröbelstrasse, where he recorded Ten Life Histories. Dr. Hammer wrote Ten Life Histories as a contribution to Grossstadt-Dokumente [Metropolis Documents], a sociological work in fifty volumes edited by Hans Ostwald (1873-1940) published between 1904 and 1908. In addition to its interest for prostitution research, Ten Life Histories sheds valuable light on aspects of cultural and social life in the German Empire of this period, particularly on the school system and the welfare institute and, more generally, on women's role in society at the time"--