ABSTRACT
For Frau Solmitz, the very foundations of her orderly world were crumbling.
Mechanically she followed her routine. She went to teach her class of girls as
usual on 6 November 1918. That evening, she sat down to write in her journal:
Today it has started in Hamburg. The mood among colleagues this morn-
ing is below zero. Some believe that revolution is imminent, others hope it
will all settle down . life is dreadful, everything unstable, no one knows what the next day will bring . disgust and abhorrence seize one’s throat . sorrow and apprehension for the shattered fatherland, indignation at the ‘Germans’ who have betrayed us.1
