Helene Demuth

Helena " Lina " Demuth ( born December 31, 1820 St. Wendel, Saarland, † November 4, 1890 in London) was the housekeeper of Jenny and Karl Marx.

Life

Helena was the daughter of a day laborer, baker and Ackerers Michael Demuth (1788-1826) and Mary Katharine Creutz (ca. 1792-1848 ). Her parents were married on 16 February 1808 in St. Wendel and had seven children, of which Helena was the fifth.

Helena Demuth came in 1837 as a maid in the house of the Governing Johann Ludwig von Westphalen in Trier. 1845 sent his wife Caroline von Westphalen Helena to support their daughter Jenny Marx to Brussels. As of May 1857, in addition worked their nearly fifteen years younger half- sister Anna Maria Creuz, called Marianne, in the household of the Marx family until her death in 1862. Helena Demuth of the Marx family followed in 1848 to Paris, 1848/49 to Cologne in 1849 after Paris and then in 1849 to his final exile to London. She was not only cook, but also a good friend of the children, which they called Nimmy. Occasionally, they also played chess with Karl Marx, who lost against them, such as Wilhelm Liebknecht said.

1851 gave birth to a boy Helena Demuth, gave the name of the Father, but not cheap. The little Harry Frederick Demuth ( born June 23, 1851 in London, † January 28, 1929 ibid ) ( Freddy called ) was placed in a London foster family named Lewis or Louis. Contrary to some claims in the literature Friedrich Engels recognized the paternity of Frederick not even Eleanor Marx called him her, half-brother '. Since it was incompatible with the ideas of Marx in the socialist movement that Marx should be " cheated ", all documents were withdrawn on Stalin's orders on January 2, 1934 as secret documents of research.

After Marx's death in 1883, Helen Demuth moved to Angel, which they henceforth ran the household. Together with him, they arranged Marx's historic estate and discovered the manuscripts for the second volume of Capital.

In October 1890 Helena Demuth ill with cancer and died on November 4. In her will, by November 14 they 1890bedachte her son Frederick, who inherited £ 95. At the request of Marx's daughters Eleanor and Laura Lafargue she was buried in the family grave of the Marx family in Highgate Cemetery. Engels gave a eulogy at her grave.

Entries in the autograph album of Jenny Marx

Helena Demuth wore at March 1, 1868 as follows in the autograph album of Jenny and Karl Marx daughter Jenny Longuet.

Helen Demuth

March 1st/68

Honors

According to her, the Helene Demuth - school was named in St. Wendel, which now, however, no longer exists. ( Artist: Kurt Tassotti ) 2012, an almost life-size bronze statue of Lina Demuth was in St. Wendel in memory in the local area in which they had their parents' house, situated.

Foray

In many books a photograph is shown, which purports to be Helena Demuth 1845. But there is no other photo of the Marx family known before 1860, this allocation was doubtful. As the photographer of this recording Eduard Schultz (1841-1913), was Plöckstraße 79 in Heidelberg, could not constitute Helena the photo. Rather, Engels was to bring his niece Mary Ellen Burns in 1875 and 1876 in Heidelberg, this on a girls' school. Therefore, this recording represents Mary Ellen Burns