From Hamburg to Strasbourg: Some Remarks on Municipal Welfare Measures between the Late 18th and the Early 20th Century

The article is a short essay in social work history, strongly inspired by the two-volume book Geschichte der sozialen Arbeit (History of Social Work) by Wolf-Rainer Wendt (2017a, 2017b). From the many themes the German historian of social work discusses in this book I chose one which I consider particularly important. It is a path of institutional development in German urban policies leading from the assumptions of the Enlightenment humanism to modern welfare solutions. From the late 18th to the early 20th century particular poor relief policies were invented and implemented by authorities of fast developing cities in order to prevent the negative effects of mass poverty that accompanied large-scale industrialization. Subsequently, some of those inventions became part of the national legal system. The selection of the discussed problems however subjective is motivated by the hope to throw some light on the sources of contemporary welfare solutions in Central Europe and in Poland.

The article is a short essay in social work history, strongly inspired by the two-volume book Geschichte der sozialen Arbeit (History of Social Work) by Wolf-Rainer Wendt (2017a, 2017b). From the many themes the German historian of social work discusses in this book I chose one which I consider particularly important. It is a path of institutional development in German urban policies leading from the assumptions of the Enlightenment humanism to modern welfare solutions. From the late 18th to the early 20th century particular poor relief policies were invented and implemented by authorities of fast developing cities in order to prevent the negative effects of mass poverty that accompanied large-scale industrialization. Subsequently, some of those inventions became part of the national legal system. The selection of the discussed problems however subjective is motivated by the hope to throw some light on the sources of contemporary welfare solutions in Central Europe and in Poland.