Amalie Seidel (21 February 1876 in Vienna – 11 May 1952) was an Austrian politician (

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

) and feminist. She was one of the first of her gender in the Austrian parliament. Born Amalie Ryba, she was the daughter of a locksmith. She was active in the working movement from the 1890s, and organised the first strike of female workers in Austria. She was also active in the women's movement and an editor of the paper ''Libertas''. In 1895 she married the engineer Richard Seidel, with whom she had two daughters, but the marriage did not last. In 1900, she became chairperson of the local women's committee and from 1902 chairperson of the national women's committee. In 1919, Seidel became one of the first eight women in the Austrian parliament, where she sat until 1934. She focused on children and health care, and especially the abuse of foster children by private foster parents, and worked closely to

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. After the coup of 1934, she was imprisoned for one month and lost her place in the parliament. However, she used her home for illegal meetings for socialist women, and in 1942, she married the Jew Sigmund Rausnitz in order to protect him from Nazi prosecution. She was briefly imprisoned after the

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in 1944. Her daughter Emma married

Karl Seitz Karl Josef Seitz (; 4 September 1869 – 3 February 1950) was an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party. He served as member of the Imperial Council, President of the National Council and Mayor of Vienna. Early life Seit ...

, the President of the National Council and

Mayor of Vienna This is a list of mayors and governors of Vienna since 1282. Vienna is the capital city of Austria. Since 1920, it has also been an Austrian state, with its mayor also doubling as the '' Landeshauptmann'' (governor or minister-president) of th ...

. Emma Seitz and Amalie Seidel-Rausnitz were cremated at

Feuerhalle Simmering Feuerhalle Simmering is a crematorium with attached urn burial ground in the Simmering (Vienna), Simmering district of Vienna, Austria. It lies at the end of an alley, directly opposite Vienna Central Cemetery's main gate. Description Opened on ...

, where also their ashes are interred.

Sources

* Edith Probst (Hrsg.): Die Partei hat mich nie enttäuscht. Österreichische Sozialdemokratinnen. Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, Wien 1989 *

Felix Czeike Felix Czeike (21 August 1926 – 23 April 2006) was an Austrian historian and popular educator. He was an author and partly also editor of numerous publications on the history of Vienna and was the director of the . His main work is the six-volume ...

: ''Historisches Lexikon Wien'' vol. 5. Kremayr & Scheriau, Wien 1997 {{DEFAULTSORT:Seidel, Amalie 1876 births 1952 deaths Politicians from Vienna Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians Members of the Constituent National Assembly (Austria) Members of the National Council (Austria) 20th-century Austrian women politicians Burials at Feuerhalle Simmering