Main Content

Alix Westerkamp – pioneer and role model

The name patron of our mentoring programme, Alix Westerkamp, who was born on 14 July 1876, is one of the great pioneers and role models for women in the world of science. After graduating from high school in 1899, she applied for admission as a law student at the University of Marburg in June 1900 – eight years before the University of Marburg regularly admitted women to study. Alix Westerkamp’s application was also rejected by the competent ministry in Berlin – despite support from the university and law faculty. Alix Westerkamp nevertheless attended the lectures as a mere “listener” and was later able to win Marburg legal philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Traeger as her doctoral supervisor. Her Ph.D. procedure was successfully completed on 3 September 1907, which makes Alix Westerkamp the first female Doctor of Law in Germany. The topic of her doctoral thesis is “Muß sich der zur strafrechtlichen Verschuldung erforderliche Bewusstseinsinhalt auf die rechtliche oder sittliche Bewertung der Handlung erstrecken? Dogmengeschichtliches und Dogmatisches.”

Beside her studies, Alix Westerkamp was actively involved in the women’s rights movement. Among other things, she was a founding member of the “Association of Studying Women” in Marburg (1906) and in 1907 she took over the management of the legal protection office for women in Frankfurt am Main. She died in Ulm on 1 March 1944 at the age of 67.

Alix Westerkamp – We stand on your shoulders!