Frigga Haug

Frigga Haug, née Langenberger, was born in Mülheim, Germany, the daughter of parents who were both Nazis. Her father died fighting near Stalingrad, Russia, in World War II. From 1948, she attended the Luisenschule for girls in Mülheim and after graduating from high school in 1957, went to study in West Berlin. She studied sociology and philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin). In 1963, she interrupted her education to marry and had a daughter. Two years later, she remarried to philosopher Wolfgang Fritz Haug. She completed her degree in sociology in 1971, and earned a PhD in sociology and social psychology in 1976.
She became a research assistant at the Hamburg University of
Economics and Politics and rose to become professor of sociology. She was active in the women's movement in Germany and wrote nine books on women's politics. She joined the Socialist German Student Union (SDS) to protest the Vietnam War, and also developed a feminist perspective. Her work as writer and editor for the magazine Das Argument grew out of her opposition to nuclear rearmament. In 1988, she founded the book imprint Ariadne, which published exclusively crime novels written by women.