Professor Maria Wagner was born in Kosice, Czechoslovakia in 1920. She received her doctoral degree in 1944 from the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck, Austria. In August 1944, she married Eric Wagner. They had three children. She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1960 and became naturalized in 1966. She held various teaching positions in New Jersey and in 1967 joined the German faculty at Rutgers University. She was the chairperson of the foreign language department from 1978 to 1981. In 1980, she became a professor of German. She has published numerous articles and essays, both nationally and internationally, on Mathilde Franziska Anneke, feminism, and many other topics. In 1980, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt Am Main, published her book Mathilde Franziska Anneke.
Mathilde Franziska Giesler was born on her grandfather's estate in Westphalia in 1817, to Karl and Elizabeth (Huelswitt) Giesler. She married Alfred Tabouillot in 1836, at the age of 19. He treated her poorly and she managed to win a divorce decree from him a year later, retaining custody of their daughter, Fanny. In 1847, she married Fritz Anneke, a soldier and officer. Together they started the Neuen Kolnische Zeitung, later the Kolnische Frauen Zeitung, supporting women's rights in Germany. When Fritz was thrown into prison for subversive activities, Mathilde edited and maintained production of the newspaper by herself.
Fritz joined the side of the revolutionaries during the 1848 German uprising. Mathilde went into battle with him, serving as his mounted aide-de-camp. When the revolutionaries lost the 1848 German revolution, Mathilde and Fritz fled the country. They went first to Switzerland, then France, and finally to America where they eventually settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They had six children of whom only two (Percy and Hertha) survived.
In 1852, in Milwaukee, Mathilde began a newspaper (Die Deutsche Frauen Zeitung) supporting women's rights. She was the first woman to own, edit, and run a feminist newspaper in the United States. Mathilde and Fritz moved to New Jersey later that year, where Mathilde continued publication of the Frauen Zeitung. In 1858, the Annekes returned to Milwaukee.
Fritz got a job as a newspaper correspondent and was sent to Switzerland in 1859. In 1860, Mathilde and Mary Booth (wife of Sherman Booth) joined Fritz in Switzerland with their children. Shortly after their reunion, the Civil War broke out in America. Mathilde and her children stayed in Switzerland with Mary Booth, while Fritz returned to the United States and fought on the Union side. Mathilde supported her family by taking over Fritz's position as a newspaper correspondent. When the war was over, Mathilde and her children returned to the United States. In September 1865, Mathilde started the Toechter-Institut, a school for girls in Milwaukee. The school existed from 1865 until her death in 1884.
Mathilde's involvement with woman's suffrage led her to become good friends with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other prominent figures of the women's movement of the time. She drew in the support of the German American community and gave many speeches on women's rights around the country and at conventions. She died in 1884 at the age of 67.
