FrauenOrte im Land Brandenburg: Johanna Just Plaque

Take a look at this plaque on the wall of the Oberstufenzentrum “Johanna Just” in Potsdam. This inconspicuous piece of plastic, with its faded inscription, tells a story of remarkable ambition and unwavering dedication. The story starts with Johanna Just, a young woman whose vision for a more equitable world for girls led her to establish a school in 1889, together with her mother and sister. Their initial school was a refined establishment that provided young ladies with a year of training in every aspect of home management. Johanna’s ambition, however, went far beyond the traditional domestic skills. Just five years after their initial success, the school, which at the time was in Hirschgarten near Köpenick, relocated to Potsdam. In Potsdam, the focus shifted, with women being able to learn marketable skills in the household sector. Here they could train as seamstresses, laundresses, and housewives. They could also learn to be school teachers, as the school itself became a training ground for future teachers of girls. In 1904, a pivotal moment arrived, as the school was officially recognized by the Prussian state as a trade and commercial school for girls.
Johanna became its first headmistress. The new school, located on Berliner Straße 114/115, and which remains the location of the modern-day Johanna Just upper secondary school, boasted a cutting-edge curriculum that went beyond traditional subjects. The school embraced the practical with factory visits, internships, and the inclusion of physical education, mathematics, and grammar. As it grew, Johanna Just became a leading proponent of quality standards for girls’ education, and she was instrumental in establishing, in 1907, the first uniform regulations for the training of female trade teachers. The plaque is part of the FrauenOrte im Land Brandenburg project, a program that aims to raise awareness of the achievements of extraordinary women from the region. This simple plaque, therefore, symbolizes a powerful story. It serves as a tribute to Johanna Just who, in a time when women were still denied many basic rights, had the courage to dream big and to build a successful school dedicated to girls’ education and to a more equitable future for women.