Hedwig Bleuler-Waser

Bleuler-Waser was born on 29 December 1869 in Zurich.[1] Bleuler-Wase married Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler.[2] The two met while campaigning for the abstinence movement.[3] The couple did not frequent Church and followed the ideas of the Enlightenment.[4]

In 1901 she met Auguste Forel, a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, and at his suggestion, she founded the Swiss Federation of Abstinent Women.[1][5] She chaired the Federation as president until October 1921.[6] Together with her five children, she ran social events at the hospital her husband worked at, including serving afternoon tea.[7]

In 1907, Bleuler-Waser graduated from the University of Zurich, becoming one of the few women to receive her doctorate.[8] While at the University of Zurich she established lasting friendships with Marie Baum, Ricarda Huch and Marianne Plehn.[9] After completing her doctorate, she taught at the Höhere Töchterschule in Zürich.[6]

During World War 1, Bleuler-Waser and Else Züblin were involved in the construction of alcohol-free soldiers' offices.[10] In the winter of 1917, she started women's education courses in Zurich.[1] For most of the time Bleuler was working in Burghölzli, between 1898 and 1927, the family lived together in an apartment outside the clinic. The apartment was also home to a secretary and junior doctor.[4] From 1919 until 1937, she led the German-Swiss Ortsgruppenvereinigung (Local chapter of Association).[1]

The following is a list of selected publications:[11]

• J.G. Lavater (1894)
• Ulrich Hegner: ein Schweizer Kultur- und Charakterbild (1901)
• Weihnachtsspiele (1910)
• Die Dichterschwestern Regula Keller und Betsy Meyer (1919)
• Lenzbub kommt (1920)
• Engelchens Erdenjahr : Weihnachtsspiel in fünf Bildern (1926)

• Find a Grave