Johanna Volk memorial at Hof Haulle

Intention of the memorial
The memorial is intended to honor and pay tribute to the self-sacrificing work of the midwifery profession. It is intended to express gratitude for the fact that there were people like Johanna Volke who struggled to make the world a better place. It is also an expression of the fact that by remembering such exemplary people, a little more understanding for the older generations - especially for many women and their life's work - is awakened in the younger ones.

History of origin
A bronze sculpture of the well-known local midwife Johanna Volke was suggested by the then pastor Christian Casdorff back in 2012 in the parish newsletter in connection with the naming of the Johanna Volke Family Center. In 2015, local heritage officer Volker Kneisel promoted this idea in the parish's culture committee with a preliminary sketch by student Julia Joester. (Fig. 1)

The municipality provided a certain amount of funding and the rest was financed by donations, so that the local heritage curator was able to start looking for specific artistic designs. Three local artists from the Soest area and an artist from Witten were found who submitted designs or models within the envisaged budget.

At a meeting of the Culture Committee at the beginning of 2017, all political groups unanimously decided in favor of the model presented by Michael Düchting (Fig. 2) and its detailed justification. In the meantime, some citizens had suggested dedicating the planned monument not just to a single midwife, but to all representatives of this meritorious profession.

Johanna Volke herself had emphasized in a letter of thanks for the award of the Federal Order of Merit in 1960 (in the Soest district archive): "I am particularly pleased because at the same time the self-sacrificing work of my profession, which serves the health of the people, is appreciated and honoured." This idea was to be expressed in the inscription at the base of the monument.

Artistic execution
For the artist Michael Düchting from Soest, the theme of remembrance is of great importance. "Sometimes it is monuments in public spaces such as the memorial to the war dead in Geseke (2001) or the peace memorial in Altenhellefeld (Sundern 2009). (...) a joint memorial for prematurely or stillborn children at the Osthofen cemetery in Soest (2007)." (Düchting)

Idea and project determine the material. The result is a bronze sculpture on a pedestal made of Anröchte green sandstone. Further information: www.bildhauer-michael-duechting.de

The structure
The lower base is formed by a block top made of Anröchte green sandstone. These so-called block points bear this name because they are actually quarried as tapered blocks. The artist has laid such a block point with a length of approx. 260 cm, a width of approx. 90 cm on the wide side and a few centimetres on the pointed side flat. In height, the top measures approx. 70 cm, i.e. about seat height.
The edges have been deburred and rounded, and the naturally rough surfaces of the stone have been smoothed in suitable places. You can and should sit on the stone in warm temperatures.
On the broad side of this stone is a bronze sculpture of Johanna Volke. She is accompanied by her three typical companions: the bicycle, the shepherd's dog and the midwife's bag on the carrier. The figure measures approx. 60 cm in height. Immediately in front of the figure, footprints and wheel tracks are indicated in the stone.
At the other end of the block top, a small stone, again Anröchte green sandstone, is placed on the surface. This shows the images and silhouettes of the places that Johanna Volke so often visited on her way to the Soest Börde: half-timbered houses, lush deciduous trees, the spires of the churches in Weslarn, Bad Sassendorf and Lohne. This deliberately small stone symbolizes the vastness and distance of the midwife's journeys.
Johanna Volke often set out to help people and be there for them. Only by bicycle, often at night, were these paths long and oriented towards the visible spires.
The viewer of this memorial is not standing in front of a towering monument, he is standing in front of a memorial to an energetic and courageous woman and is invited to think about her life and work; he is invited to sit on the stone with her.
To explain the memorial, a recessed inscription surrounds the top of the block: "For life - Johanna Volke - 1892-1963 - Midwife in the community of Bad Sassendorf"

Biography of midwife Johanna Volke
She worked as a midwife from the early 1920s until 1961. In four decades, until three years before her death, the respected midwife assisted around 1800 women who had recently given birth at home in Bad Sassendorf and the surrounding villages in her district and provided countless consultations before and after.
From time immemorial until the middle of the 20th century, children were generally born at home, especially in the villages. Fortunate was the community that had a skilled midwife on site. Mrs. Volke saved many women's and children's lives with her skill and experience.

• 1892 - On March 21, she is born Johanna Eweler in Großdornberg near Bielefeld. She is the first child of a journeyman blacksmith and a day laborer.
• 1898 - She loses her mother at the age of 6. Perhaps at the birth of another child. She now has three younger brothers.
• 1904 - When Johanna is 12 years old, her father dies. We only know the dates, but not the causes of death. What happens to the orphans is also a mystery.
• 1912 - The next known document is Johanna Eweler's marriage certificate to Dietrich Volke from Bad Sassendorf. It describes her as a maid of honor in Weslarn (a neighboring village of Bad Sassendorf, now part of the larger municipality). Married by Pastor Weise in Bad Sassendorf (wedding motto: "Bear one another's burdens").
  They probably move into the small half-timbered house of Henriette Volke's mother-in-law "Im Spring". There, the day laborer had raised four sons as a single mother, all of whom had worn "the emperor's coat".
• 1912 - Her first child, her son Diederich Volke, is born on June 6.
• 1914-1915 - Two more daughters (Else and Johanna) are born.
• Until 1918 - We do not know how the Volke couple fared during the terrible First World War, for example during the winter of hunger in 1917. Did the shunting driver Volke have to go to war? Was Johanna perhaps able to work as a helper in a military hospital that was set up in the children's convalescent homes in Sassendorf? Or was she already beginning her training as a midwife?
• 1920 - In October, she began working as a midwife. (Letter from the district director establishing the Order of Merit in 1959)
• 1923 - Son Herbert is born, who dies in Russia in 1943 during the Second World War.
• 1925-1933 - Johanna was certainly helped in her profession by the changed political conditions in the Weimar democracy, which offered women the right to vote and greater opportunities for emancipation.
• 1938 - Husband Dietrich, who had been ill for a long time, probably marked by the war, died after being retired. In addition to her small widow's pension, Johanna can make good use of her small income as a midwife, as her flock of children has grown to include three more daughters by 1931. Else, her eldest, is now 17 years old. She looks after her younger siblings during the midwife's frequent work commitments.
• Until 1945 - Johanna has to deal with the stricter laws on so-called racial hygiene. In order to continue working as a midwife, she had to undergo new examinations and provide proof of her Aryan identity in 1940. In the carefully completed questionnaire, she provides evidence of her ancestors from the Bielefeld area. They were craftsmen, day laborers, all simple people.
• Contemporary witnesses report that Johanna helps women deported during the war who are forced to work for farmers in the Soest Börde. Even though this could result in severe punishments, she also helped these women when they became pregnant. There is no evidence that she reported "hereditarily ill" children, as she would have been obliged to do under the "racial laws" during the National Socialist dictatorship.
• 1959 - At the age of 67, she is forced to give up her work as a midwife for the communities of Bad Sassendorf, Lohne and Heppen for health reasons.
• 1960 - Midwife Volke receives the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the District Administrator of the district of Soest Blume, awarded by the Federal President. (Fig. 3)
  From the citation: "In almost four decades of self-sacrificing work, she has assisted in around 1700 - 1800 births - an annual average of around 45 births - and provided countless consultations. It should be noted that in the rural district assigned to her, distances of 3-4 km had to be covered by bicycle in all weathers and at all times of the day and night. Mrs. Volke carried out this personal commitment over the many years without regard for herself or her own large family (7 children) - always keeping her responsible duty in mind, always willing to help worried expectant mothers and young families - and thus made a significant contribution to the general public."
• Johanna Volke died on August 19, 1963.

Literature on Mrs. Volke and other midwives in the district of Soest
The material available in the Soest district archive on the Volke midwife only begins in 1940
Hilde Niemöller, Verborgener Segen, Heimatkalender des Kreises Soest 1965, p. 105
Maria Peters (Bad Westernkotten) Kinder, Küche, Karriere, Emanzipation auf dem Lande vor über 100 Jahren, in: Heimatblätter 2008, pp. 4-6 (in Kreisarchiv Soest)
Ernst H. Wulfert, Ein Menschenleben - ein Leben für die Menschen - Teil 1 und 2 in: Unsere Kirche 36 and 47 from 2012
Rotraut Grün, Ein Leben für das Leben, Soest Anzeiger from 24.12.2013
Volker Kneisel, Ein Denkmal "Für das Leben", in: Jahrbuch Westfalen 2019, published by Westfälischer Heimatbund, Münster 2018, pp. 193-197

Illustrations:
(1) The Johanna-Volke monument on Hof Haulle (18.03.2019)
(2) First drawing by student Julia Joester
(3) The 1st model by Michael Düchting . Model by Michael Düchting
(4) The revised model by Michael Düchting
(5) Presentation of the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon by District Administrator Blume 1960
(6) Excerpt from Johanna Volke's letter of thanks
(7) Mrs. Volke in the early 1940s at the age of around 50 (baby in her arms: Helmut Spork, born 4.6.1941, source: Helmut Spork family, Meckenheim)