Obvious

A hundred years ago, Alice Salomon founded an academy for social work in Berlin.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an extraordinary person helped lay the foundation for today’s social work. She – yes, she was a woman, which was not unusual for a change maker at that time, but still rare – at some point realized that the social changes of early industrial mass production and fragmented urban structures needed action. So she got right to work. And that pretty much describes her character and her way of working: Get things done.

Well ahead of her time, Dr. Alice Salomon envisioned and worked on many of the issues that are now part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Ending poverty, better health for all, quality education, gender equality, sanitation as a basic right, decent working conditions, reduced inequality, responsible consumption, and sustainable communities. In fact, you might even recognize her with an early version of ‘Think global, act local’, as the economist and historian noted, for example, that with limited resources, it makes no sense to buy goods from far away, but rather to stay local with the production and consumption of goods. And she thought that a state should basically function like a good family household, where decisions and investments are based on transparency, needs and fairness. Which is pretty much the essence of all sustainability – on both a large and small scale. Like her colleague and friend, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, she believed that peace and international cooperation would be a common denominator in achieving these goals.

The German Academy for Women’s Social and Educational Work, founded in 2025, provided a place for women to receive a solid education or improve their basic skills for work in institutions such as schools, welfare, or other areas of social work. The academy also offered courses for nurses and mothers. Lecturers included not only experts in social work, but also leading scientists and philosophers such as Albert Einstein, Carl G. Jung, Ernst Cassirer, Romano Guardini, and Eduard Spranger. An open mind and a good education are the keys to social justice and change. That’s what Alice Salomon and her colleagues believed.

Sadly, the school she founded had to be closed by its founders after only eight years in order to protect its teachers and students from persecution by the totalitarian regime then in power in Germany. And Alice Salomon had to leave her home country shortly thereafter, under a threat to her life, because the local standards of community and public life had become too distant from her work and ideals.

But no matter the social or political circumstances, she went on to continue her work in another place, just as she had before. To get things done. Because social work is one of the vital services needed in all modern societies. No point arguing about the obvious.

Well ahead of her time, Dr. Alice Salomon envisioned and worked on many of the issues that are now part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Ending poverty, better health for all, quality education, gender equality, sanitation as a basic right, decent working conditions, reduced inequality, responsible consumption, and sustainable communities…. Like her colleague and friend, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, she believed that peace and international cooperation would be a common denominator in achieving these goals.

Side Notes

• Based on Alice Salomon’s work and legacy, there is now a university in Berlin that bears her name. The Alice Salomon University of Applied Science is run according to the highest ethical standards and is open to everyone regardless of gender, nationality or cultural background.
• For more background, see the coordinates at ‘O’ like Obvious on the [InfoByteSized] page.
• Tomorrow, March 8, we celebrate the annual International Women’s Day.