 Mindful that every individual had his own needs and potential, she took care to ensure that individually suitable employment opportunities were found.She was deeply influenced by her religious beliefs, and convinced that the sick and handicapped who were obliged to live out their lives on the fringes of society, were all loved by God, and she tried to give meaning to the lives of all those for whom she cared through the provision of appropriated education and work chances.Johanne Nathusius was born into a prosperous - some sources apply the adjective "aristocratic" - family, in Althaldensleben, a small town near Magdeburg in central northern Germany.