Partner Clara Willdenow
Queer Places:
Seefeldstrasse 21, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland
Kreuzstrasse 44, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland
Feldeggstrasse 12, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland
Pauline Bindschedler (1856 - May 15, 1933) was a Swiss activist, editor, and household manager whose life bridges upper-middle-class Zurich society and early European lesbian and queer history.
Born in Zurich in 1856, she was the third daughter of Friedrich Rudolf Bindschedler (1819–1892) from Männedorf and Anna, née Tauber (1831–1890) from Fürth, Augsburg. Growing up in a sheltered, upper-middle-class environment in Zurich's Weinplatz district, she shared her childhood with three sisters—Emma, Ida, and Maria Elisabeth—and two brothers, Johann Rudolf and Arnold Wilhelm. Often nicknamed "Ännchen" and described within her family as an "enfant terrible," Pauline occupies an intriguing outsider position in the Bindschedler family history, where her exact year of death was historically omitted from the family tree and her exact literary counterpart remains a subject of debate among researchers who question whether she inspired the character of Lotti Turnach in her sister Ida Bindschedler's famous youth novels.
Until 1897, Pauline lived closely with her sister, the well-known youth author Ida Bindschedler. When Ida temporarily relocated to Augsburg in 1897 to live with her friend Emma Wachter—where she wrote the books that made her famous—Pauline remained in Zurich. Following subsequent changes in living arrangements and Ida's eventual death in 1919, Pauline carefully managed her sister's literary estate, overseeing the posthumous publication of Ida's final novel, Die Leuenhofer.
Professionally and socially, Pauline was actively engaged in Zurich's intellectual and feminist circles. She served as secretary and actuary for the Zurich section of the Swiss Women's Association, the "Fraternité," writing association news for its monthly journal, Die Philanthropin.
Beyond her public and literary work, Pauline is documented in Swiss lesbian history archives and projects, such as Lesbengeschichte, for her long-standing domestic partnerships and alternative life paths. From 1900 onward, she shared a home at Seefeldstrasse 21 with Dr. Clara Willdenow, a physician and aesthete from Bonn who had come to Zurich to study and subsequently opened a medical practice near Bellevue as a general practitioner specializing in gynecology and obstetrics. In 1904, communist activist and social worker Mentona Moser joined them, and by 1905 the three women moved to an apartment at Kreuzstrasse 44, which became a vibrant hub hosting a constant flow of intellectual guests from Switzerland and abroad.
Mentona Moser described Pauline in her memoirs, Ich habe gelebt, as a small, frail lady with sparse gray hair, expressive gray-blue eyes, and a painful yet graceful line around her mouth, characterizing her as a self-sacrificing, kind, cheerful, and mischievous companion who capably managed the household. Pauline Bindschedler and Clara Willdenow remained dedicated partners for 31 years until Clara's death on April 7, 1931. Pauline survived her partner by two years, passing away on May 15, 1933, at Feldeggstrasse 12 in Zurich. Like her sister Ida, Pauline was cremated, though her final resting place remains unknown.
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