Berta Rahm is an important inspiration for women writing architecture, especially through her publishing work, which she carried out under the title ALA Verlag (1966-1993). Pionierinnen und Pioniere is one of the books that she produced during that time. Edited and written with her colleague, Renate Möhrmann, the pioneers referred to in the longer title of the book are pushing the boundaries of human rights, freedom, and peace.

The choice of subjects included relatively unknown figures from Swiss and German history, perhaps because seven out of the list of eight people were women:

Mathilde Franziska Anneke (Renate Möhrmann)
Louise Aston (Renate Möhrmann)
Lily Braun (Berta Rahm)
Charles Brockden Brown (Berta Rahm)
Anna Göldi (Berta Rahm)
Fanny Lewald (Renate Möhrmann)
Louise Otto-Peters (Renate Möhrmann)
Alice Salomon (Berta Rahm)

I first came across the book in a vitrine at the Anna Göldi Museum in Ennenda. One of the remarkable qualities of the book that was apparent there, was the it included the first reappraisal of Anna Göldi’s story and significance in terms of human rights to be written by a women. Prior to that, various interpretations relevant to their times, from political journalism immediately after her conviction as a witch in 1782 and execution in Glarus, to romanticised accounts of her life in the 19th century, were all written by men.This chapter is interesting because, unlike the others, where the achievements of the subjects are examined, it is the process and example of Göldi, almost as a martyr, that is significant. A detailed account of her life, the issue of judicial murder, or capital punishment, and the legal and moral challenges to it, and an extensive bibliography are included.