Marianne Weber

Marianne Weber (born Marianne Schnitger; 2 August 1870 – 12 March 1954) was a German sociologist, women's rights activist and the wife of Max Weber. Life Childhood, 1870–1893 Marianne Schnitger was born on 2 August 1870 in Oerlinghausen to medical doctor Eduard Schnitger and his wife, Anna Weber, daughter of a prominent Oerlinghausen businessman Karl Weber. After the death of her mother in 1873, she moved to Lemgo and was raised for the next fourteen years by her grandmother and aunt. During this time, both her father and his two brothers went mad and were institutionalized. When Marianne turned 16, Karl Weber sent her off to fashionable finishing schools in Lemgo and Hanover, from which she graduated when she was 19. After the death of her grandmother in 1889, she lived several years with her mother's sister, Alwine, in Oerlinghausen. In 1891, Marianne began to spend time with the Charlottenburg Webers, Max Jr. and his mother, Helene, in particular. She became very close to Helene, who she would refer to as being "unaware of her own inner beauty". In 1893, she and Max Weber married in Oerlinghausen and moved into their own apartment in Berlin. Marriage, 1893–1920