The publications of
Count Rumford inspired Pauline to put into practice her ideas on the state organization of the poor relief. She believed the cause of poverty and begging in her country was mainly to be found in the Lippe national character with his penchant for
laziness and idleness. From the scientific literature on poor relief available to her, she gathered that real improvement could only be achieved through labor, voluntary or otherwise, and not through financial handouts. Inspired by this, Pauline continued the policies introduced by her late stepmother-in-law
Casimire of Anhalt-Dessau, (1749–1778), in accordance with the socio-political beliefs of their time. Among the institutions founded by Pauline were a
vocational school (1799), a
day care center (1802), the
hospital (1801–1802), the voluntary
workhouse (1802). An
orphanage already existed since 1720, and a
teacher training college had been founded in 1781. She grouped these six institutions under the term
nursing homes and housed them in a former convent. They formed the nucleus of today's
Princess Pauline Foundation in Detmold. The nursing home claimed that they could provide assistance "from the cradle to the grave". It was considered unique and was often visited by foreign guests, who praised especially the day care center. The services were, however, only available to residents of Detmold. The people liked Pauline mainly because of her social institutions. The integrated charitable institutions were viewed as a model at home and abroad and were visited by foreign delegations, most of them British. Her care for the poor was evident. She relieved the famine in the years 1802 to 1804, by creating granaries. She was personally responsible for the softening the impact of military activities, such as quarterting and positioning of troops. She was also responsible for the improvement of the infrastructure of the country. She built new roads and introduced street lighting in Detmold, using 26 oil lamps. She did not build any important monuments herself, but the construction of the neo-classical houses on the avenue in Detmold began during her reign. She initiated the merger in 1819 of several existing collections of books into a
public library. Today's
Lippe State Library at Detmold is a direct continuation of this library.
Vocational School In the summer of 1798, Pauline had turned to the social tasks. There was great poverty in Lippe and the Princess accepted that this was due to a lack of education of the population. Many parents did not send their children to school out of economic necessity, instead letting the children work or beg. Simon Ernst Moritz Krücke, the inspector of the teacher seminary, was Pauline's closest advisor on social questions. He recommended the establishment of a
vocational school; children should learn the theoretical knowledge but also practical skills.
Leopold I agreed and the new school was opened in the
orphanage at Bruchtor in Detmold. There, Krücke taught the children of poor people together with the orphans. Legally, the school became equivalent to an elementary school. Some of the lesson was filled with practical work. Among the practical skills taught was knitting. The Princess visited knitting classes and gave small rewards to the children. The knitted goods were sold and the children received a part of the proceeds. This was meant to counter the objections of the parents, who would rather send their children to beg. A year later, the school was handed over to the country during a school festival. It was officially inaugurated on 28 June 1799. Sixty children who had not attended school before this school began, showed the knowledge and skills they had acquired in that year. Nevertheless, problems continued with parents who sent their children to the field in summer, to herd cattle or gather ears of corn, or sent them begging during the Christmas season. Economic conditions were harsh; the parents' income was never secure; the economy was evolving into a money economy and this made it difficult for them to do without the money earned by their children even seasonally.
Day care center Pauline worried about the welfare of small children, whose parents had to leave the house for work during the day. She read in a Paris newspaper of an initiative by
Joséphine de Beauharnais, the wife of
Napoleon Bonaparte, who was still
First Consul of France at that point in time. In Paris, however, only unmarried mothers were allowed to use the center, while in Detmold, the offering was also to married couples, if they both had to work. A circular from Princess Pauline Detmold ladies with the title ("Proposal to transplant is a Parisian fashion to Detmold") is viewed as a starting point for the creation of a day care center: Pauline used the circular to find educated ladies willing to supervise the center one day each week, for free. The princely house would finance the center. Older girls from the vocational school and the orphanage would look after the children and be trained to care for them. In 1801, Pauline purchased a suitable building for the institution: the so-called "Schwalenberg Court" on Süsterstraße (now called Schülerstraße) in Detmold. The first
day care center opened on 1 July 1802. The building was a three-story noble court; it was demolished at the end of the 19th century. The "Gymnasium Leopoldinum" (a secondary school, which still exists) developed from a school that was already housed in the building when Pauline bought it. The day care center was soon imitated all over Germany. The city of Detmold, however, saw the project as a royal hobby and provided no financial support. Up to 20 children were cared for in the first years. They were required to have been ''weaned from their mother's breast of'' and no older than four years of age. Four-year-old children, it was believed, could stay at home alone or accompany their parents in the gardens or the fields, until they were old enough to go to the vocational school. The child-care institution was open from 24 June until late October when the harvest and garden work were completed. Based on a report published by
inspector Krücke in 1813, the center was open from 06:00 to 18:00 or 20:00. In the morning adolescent girls from the orphanage and older pupils from the vocational school would wash the children and put on a clean shirt and woolen jackets. On weekends, the clothing worn during the week was washed. The clothes were donated to the children when center closed at the end of the season. Pauline mostly financed the center using her own money, and the rest was paid out of the hospital fund. She managed to find twelve wealthy middle class women willing to act as supervisors. They had to record certain events in a journal, so that the princess was always well informed. == Napoleon and Pauline ==