Ouderlijk huis Aletta Jacobs
Aletta Jacobs grew up in this house. At the time, the house was located on the Winschoterdiep. Now it houses a gallery.
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Noorderstraat 19
9611 AA Sappemeer Plan your route to Ouderlijk huis Aletta Jacobs
Aletta Jacobs grew up in this house. At the time, the house was located on the Winschoterdiep; young 'Letje' will have seen many a sturdy boatwoman sail past here. From an early age, Aletta wanted to become a doctor. She herself said: 'From the age of six I always declared with the utmost certainty that I wanted to become a doctor, just like Dad and Julius. At no time then or later did the thought occur to me that this would be difficult for a girl. How could it be? After all, at home no distinction of any kind was made between boys and girls'.
The Jacobs family was Jewish, although it was face...
Aletta Jacobs grew up in this house. At the time, the house was located on the Winschoterdiep; young 'Letje' will have seen many a sturdy boatwoman sail past here. From an early age, Aletta wanted to become a doctor. She herself said: 'From the age of six I always declared with the utmost certainty that I wanted to become a doctor, just like Dad and Julius. At no time then or later did the thought occur to me that this would be difficult for a girl. How could it be? After all, at home no distinction of any kind was made between boys and girls'.
The Jacobs family was Jewish, although the family was not strictly religious. Aletta went to an ordinary village school instead of the Jewish school. In the Jacobs family, the children were taught that it is good to be useful, to earn your own money and that it is important to get enough exercise. Aletta loved swimming, rowing, ditch jumping and skating. But she also liked crafts, making her own clothes and hats for her dolls.
After primary school, Aletta had to go to the 'young ladies' school': to learn good manners and handicrafts. There she also learned French expressions and a few words to impress during conversations. "I thought all this was very foolish. Wasn't it a sin to waste time with such trifles? I felt I was getting dumber by the day, so to speak," she says. Knitting was the least of her worries, she admits, because she could do that while reading a book. Unsurprisingly, Aletta only lasted a short time here. That this would be the end point gave her a headache; Aletta was literally sick of it. Could she never become a doctor, then?