Dear Readers,
The pleasant though demanding task of Editor-in-Chief of our long-standing magazine Austrian Information comes with the job of any Director for Press and Information at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Women’s Suffrage in Austria: An Overview
The roots of women’s suffrage movement in general can be found in the 18th century: Olympe de Gouges, widely regarded as being the first champion of female suffrage, published her declaration of rights of the woman and the female citizen (Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne) after the French Revolution in 1791.
Women in Austrian Politics
Achievements in Austrian Gender and Social Policy
The 1970s in Austria: Times of Change
The 1970s in Austria were characterized by reform and change both within the Austrian society as well as the Austrian political system. A shift in traditional economic structures led to a greater prosperity and to the formation of a new middle class that exhibited a flexible and unpredictable voting behavior. A new civil society started to emerge.
“Lay Down Your Arms”
On 21 June 1914, just a few days before the deadly shots fired in Sarajevo set the final stage for World War I, Bertha von Suttner died in Vienna at the age of 71. Having become a well-known figure in the international peace movement after publishing the novel “Lay Down Your Arms,” she was spared not only from living through the horrors and killings of World War I which at its end left around ten million soldiers dead and many more injured, but also from discovering that her long and persistent fight for peace had been, at least as it seemed at that time, futile and pointless.
Lise Meitner (1878-1968)
The dramatic splitting of the atom - nuclear fission - was a discovery that changed our world. Yet few know that it was a woman physicist, the Austrian Lise Meitner, who discovered the power of nuclear energy soon after her dramatic escape from Nazi Germany. Ironically, Meitner’s research partner of thirty years, Otto Hahn, was the sole recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of fission - a “discovery” that Meitner had already interpreted in 1938, shortly after her forced emigration from Nazi Germany.
Ann Tizia Leitich
Austrian-Americanist, Journalist & Writer
Ann Tizia Leitich was born on 25 January 1896 in Vienna as the daughter of Emilie Schmidt and Professor Albert Leitich, a writer. After attending university, Ann Tizia was educated to be a teacher during the inter-war years in Vienna; her later fictional works with their autobiographical elements point to the fact that she suffered personally from the economic and political problems prevalent at that time in Austria.
Slawa Duldig Née Horowitz
Slawa Duldig Née Horowitz, Artist, Teacher, Inventor
While I was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts I often went to draw in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. At that time I met sculptor Karl Duldig who frequently joined me on Sundays. It happened [that] one May morning, a cold and rainy day, I armed myself with a big umbrella and muttered to myself ‘why on earth must I carry this utterly clumsy thing, can’t they invent a small folding umbrella which could be easily carried in a bag?’
Austrian Scientist of the Year 2013
Verena Winiwarter is the first environmental historian to receive the Austrian Scientist of the Year award, bestowed upon by the Austrian Club of Science and Education Journalists to honor Austrian scientists who put special effort into communicating with non-scientific audiences, thus contributing to a better public perception and understanding of scientific research.
Politician and Photographer
HEIDI VICTORIA
Heidi Victoria, an Austro-Australian dual citizen, has until recently served as the Minister for the Arts, Women’s Affairs and Consumer Affairs of the State of Victoria, Australia. In December 2014, she became Shadow Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Arts and Culture, and Aboriginal Affairs in Victoria.
