Otto Felix Kanitz ( 5 February 1894, in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
; 29 March 1940, in Buchenwald) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n socialist, journalist and educator. He was also part of the 'Schönbrunner Circle' (
Schönbrunner Kreis).
Childhood
Kanitz was born as the third of four children of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents. After his parents divorced in 1902, the three sons stayed with the father whilst the daughter was adjudged to the mother. When the father converted to Catholicism and took a catholic wife, one year later, the sons were baptized as well, but soon given to an orphanage in order to not disturb their stepmother. Young Kanitz had five years of primary school and three years of secondary school before starting an apprenticeship.
Social activity
As soon as in 1911, he engaged in
Max Winter
Max Winter (June 29, 1903 – July 26, 1996) was a Minneapolis businessman and sport executive who helped found the Minnesota Vikings.
Biography
Winter was born in Ostrava, Austria-Hungary (modern day Czechia). He emigrated with his family and ...
's election campaign, and beginning in 1912 he gave speeches before youth groups. From 1916, he was active in the
Kinderfreunde movement where he was mentored by
Hermine Weinreb and
Anton Afritsch. Besides his involvement in the aforementioned movement, he prepared
matura
or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...
, wrote poems and theater plays and contributed to the ''Kinderland'' journal. In 1918, after his matura, he was employed by Kinderfreunde and started to study philosophy and pedagogy with
Wilhelm Jerusalem
Wilhelm Jerusalem (11 October 1854 in Dřenice – 15 July 1923 in Vienna) was an Austrian Jewish philosopher and pedagogue.
Biography
Jerusalem studied classical philosophy at the University of Prague and prepared a doctorate entitled "The I ...
who considerably influenced his development towards tolerance, whilst strongly opposing institutionalized religion and any misuse of power. His goal was to eradicate the 'Dienermentalität' (servant mentality) which he felt was a characteristic of those of the supposed lower-classes under the Habsburg Monarchy. He had the opportunity to realize practical educational reforms together with
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler ( , ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, family constellation and birth order ...
,
Max Adler,
Marianne Pollak,
Josef Luitpold Stern and
Otto Glöckel
Otto Glöckel (8 February 1874 in Pottendorf, Lower Austria – 23 July 1935 in Vienna) Socialism, social-Democracy, democratic politician and school-reformer during the First Austrian Republic. First Minister of Education during the First Aust ...
.
Kanitz was a proponent of the ''Kinderrepublik'', an anti-authoritarian education movement. After successfully running two such holiday camps in 1919, in
Gmünd, Lower Austria
Gmünd ( cz, Cmunt) is a town in the northwestern Waldviertel region of Lower Austria and the capital of the Gmünd district. The municipality consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Böhmzeil, Breitensee, Eibenstein, Gmünd'' and ''Grillenstein''. Si ...
(the only such project ever to operate in Austria, which housed a total of some 700 children), he was appointed director of Kinderfreunde's newly to be founded ''Schönbrunn school'':
When after the breakdown of the
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
Vienna's Vice Mayor Max Winter succeeded in getting a considerable part of
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...
to establish a school for educators and teachers and a children's home, it was under the condition that they would start a project within a time period of three days. Kanitz then moved in with 100 of the participants from the holiday camp.
Anton Tesarek was appointed director of the children's home in Schönbrunn Palace, while Kanitz was to lead the school. Meanwhile, Kranitz completed his PhD in 1922. Another one of his initiatives, a conference near Salzburg in 1922 with the co-founder of the German Kinderfreunde
Kurt Löwenstein, resulted in founding the
International Falcon Movement.
Second World War time
From 1932 to 1934, Kanitz was a member of the
Federal Council of Austria
The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat, ) is the upper house of the Austrian Parliament, representing the nine States of Austria at the federal level. As part of a bicameral legislature alongside of the National Council, it can be compared wit ...
. Kranitz's pamphlet ''Kämpfer der Zukunft'' was banned by the Nazi beginning with their first book burnings in 1933. He was one of the many socialist authors of the
inter-war period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
who were forced to move out of Austria after the 1934 anti-socialist crackdown. It is taken for granted that sooner or later he returned to Austria out of home-sickness. Being a Jew and a prominent socialist, he was taken into custody in November 1938 and sent to
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
where he is believed to have been executed.
A plaque dedicated to Kanitz has been placed on the back of the
Austrian Parliament Building
The Austrian Parliament Building (german: Parlamentsgebäude, colloquially ''das Parlament'') in Vienna is where the two houses of the Austrian Parliament conduct their sessions. The building is located on the ''Ringstraße'' boulevard in the f ...
in Vienna, and a street in Vienna's 23. district bears his name. Whether the grave with his name really contains his ashes is uncertain.
[As usually in such cases, his family was sent, by postal package, some ashes which were declared to be the deceased one's. The urn-grave is Nr. 76 in Section N, group 10 of Vienna's ''Heiligenstädter Friedhof'' since 9 April 2002.]
References
Primary and Secondary Literature
* Kanitz, Otto Felix: Kämpfer der Zukunft. Für eine sozialistische Erziehung. Vienna 1929. Herausgegeben von
Lutz von Werder. Frankfurt/M:
März Verlag 1970.
* Kanitz, Otto Felix: Das proletarische Kind in der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Jena 1925. Herausgegeben von Lutz von Werder. Frankfurt:
Fischer Taschenbuch
S. Fischer Verlag is a major German publishing house, which has operated as a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group since 1962. The publishing house was founded in 1881 by Samuel Fischer in Berlin, but is currently based in Frankfurt am Mai ...
1974. .
* Kanitz, Otto Felix: Schönbrunn. In: Die Sozialistische Erziehung (Wien) Jg.2 (1922) S. 259-265.
* Kanitz, Otto Felix: Zehn Jahre Kolonie Gmünd. In: Die Sozialistische Erziehung (Wien) 9.Jg. (1929) S.198.
*
Kotlan-Werner, Henriette: Otto Felix Kanitz und der Schönbrunner Kreis. Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft sozialistischer Erzieher 1923-1934. Wien: Europaverlag 1982 (Materialien zur Arbeiterbewegung 21).
*
Jakob Bindel (editor): 75 (Fünfundsiebzig) Jahre Kinderfreunde: 1908-1983; Skizzen, Erinnerungen, Berichte, Ausblicke.
Verlag Jungbrunnen, Wien-München 1983.
*
Herbert Gantschacher
Herbert Gantschacher (born December 2, 1956, at Waiern in Feldkirchen in Kärnten, Carinthia, Austria) is an Austrian director and producer and writer.
Education
1976 Gantschacher graduated on the second school in Klagenfurt. From 1977 to 198 ...
: Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse ARBOS 2007. Chapter 13 page 12 and chapter 14 page 6.
External links
WEB - Lexikon der Wiener Sozialdemokratieat www.dasrotewien.at Link to dasrotewien.at Profile of Otto Felix Kanitz
* https://web.archive.org/web/20081202065317/http://ifm-sei.org/c/show/24 History of IFM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanitz, Otto Felix
Austrian educators
Austrian socialists
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
Austrian Roman Catholics
Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust
Jewish socialists
Writers from Vienna
Austrian people who died in Buchenwald concentration camp
1894 births
1940 deaths
Austrian civilians killed in World War II
Austrian people executed in Nazi concentration camps
Jewish Austrian writers
20th-century Austrian journalists