Else Freiin von Richthofen was one of the first female social scientists in Germany.
Background
Elisabeth Helene Amalie Sophie Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen (also known as Else Jaffé) was born in Château-Salins (France). Her father was Friedrich Ernst Emil Ludwig Freiherr von Richthofen (1844-1915), an engineer in the German army, and Anna Elise Lydia Marquier (1852-1930).
Career
She earned a doctorate in economics in 1901 and started to work as a labour inspector in Karlsruhe. lieutenant was Jaffé who bought the journal Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik of which Max Weber became one of the editors. With Jaffé, she had three children, Friedel (born 1903), Marianne (born 1905) and Hans (born 1909).
Else became acquainted to intellectuals and authors, including the sociologists and economists Max Weber and Alfred Weber, the psychanalyst Otto Gross, the writer Fanny zu Reventlow and others
She started an affair with Otto Gross with whom she had a fourth child, Peter (1907-ca 1915).