Salomon, Alice, 1872-1948

Alice Salomon earned her doctor diploma (Dr. phil.) as early as 1906 with a dissertation on unequal pay for equal jobs for men and women (‘Die Ursachen der ungleichen Entlohnung von Maenner und Frauenarbeit’). She received an honorary doctorate in medicine in 1932 on occasion of her 60th birthday. At the time she was given by the Prussian government a silver medal for her services in social welfare, and the Wohlfahrtsschule Pestalozzi-Froebelhaus was renamed “Alice Salomon-Schule".

Alice Salomon had been born Jewish of Jewish parents. She converted to the Lutheran church in 1914. When she returned from a trip to the United States to Germany in the spring of 1937 she was called for a lengthy interrogation by the Gestapo and was ordered to leave Germany within three weeks. She emigrated to England where she received her immigration visa to the United states (according to her passport). Her arrival in the USA was noted in the Herald Tribune and the New York Times. She received honors in the USA in 1939 and in 1942.

A collection of family data was started by Alice Salomon in 1933. A letter by a friend gives details about the Potocki family; Anna Potocka was Alice Salomon’s mother.

From the guide to the Alice Salomon Collection, 1877-1961, (Leo Baeck Institute Archives)