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German History in Documents and Images
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Emma's Store (1978)
In the 1970s, the women’s movement strove to create a separate women’s culture. The goal was to find spaces in which women could escape male domination and oppression and operate freely. Numerous women's shops, meeting places, and cafés were founded as a result. In the photograph below, members of a Frankfurt women’s collective stand in front of their communal store. Its name, "Emma's Store," is most certainly a play on the German term Tante Emma-Laden (Aunt Emma's Store), a colloquial designation for any small store that sells groceries and personal items. (The clothing, handicrafts, jewelry, and prints advertised in the window of this Frankfurt shop point to a product range beyond that of a traditional Aunt Emma's Store.) The store's name likely also refers to the magazine Emma, a political magazine for women founded by Alice Schwarzer in 1977. Photo by Abisag Tüllmann (February 1978).