The Woman in Service Anna Margaretha Zwanziger and the Domestic Economy of Trust

Anna Margaretha Zwanziger and the Domestic Economy of Trust

An unflinching examination of trust inside the private household.

In the early nineteenth century, Anna Margaretha Zwanziger moved quietly through respectable homes in the German states, working as a housekeeper in a world that relied on discretion, obedience, and trust. When illness and death followed her presence, private fear became public reckoning.

The Woman in Service traces Zwanziger’s life from childhood and guardianship through marriage, widowhood, and domestic labour, placing her actions within the fragile systems that shaped women’s lives and work. Rather than sensationalising crime, this book examines how ordinary households functioned, how trust replaced oversight, and how harm could remain unseen behind closed doors.