Therese Schlesinger, née Eckstein (6 June 1863 – 5 June 1940), was an Austrian

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and politician.

Life

Therese Schlesinger was born in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire, on 6 June 1863 to an

upper middle-class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

Jewish family. Among her siblings were the early

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

Emma Eckstein Emma Eckstein (1865–1924) was an Austrian author. She was "one of Sigmund Freud's most important patients and, for a short period of time around 1897, became a psychoanalyst herself". She has been described as "the first woman analyst", who b ...

, the writer

Gustav Eckstein Gustav Eckstein (1875–1916) was an Austrian social democrat, and associate of Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. Kautsky was one of ...

and the polymath Frederick Eckstein. She married Viktor Schlesinger on 24 June 1888 and her daughter, Anna, was born a year later. The birth was very hard on Schlesinger with her right leg being partially disabled enough to force her into a wheelchair for several years. Her husband died on 23 January 1891. From 1905 she lived with her mother, daughter, sister Emma and brother Gustav until their deaths during the 1920s. Her daughter's suicide in 1920 profoundly effected Schlesinger. After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938, she fled to France. She spent the rest of her life in a sanatorium in

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

, where she died on 5 June 1940.

Activities

Beginning in 1894, Schlesinger became involved in the Austrian feminist movement, joining the General Austrian Women's Association (german: link=no, Allgemeiner Österreichischer Frauenverein (AÖFV) and participated in the 1894 Enquéte on the Condition of Female Viennese Wage-Workers (german: link=no, Enquęte zur Lage der Wiener Lohnarbeiterinnen). At the end of 1897, she left the AÖFV and joined the

Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs. "In the years to follow, Schlesinger appeared at the center of debates over the best way to win women to the cause of

Social Democracy 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 ...

. Her position was clear: the demands of trade union organizations did not extend to securing the political education of women and women’s voting rights, equally important demands as far as Schlesinger was concerned. Furthermore, if a new kind of solidarity were to be developed between people within the framework of a socialist project, it was first of all necessary to treat cultural questions pertaining to ‘everyday’ life and consciousness as political concerns." From 1919 to 1923, she served as a member of the National Council (german: link=no, Nationalrat). Later, she joined the Federal Council (german: link=no, Bundesrat), resigning on 5 December 1930.Hauch, p. 481

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlesinger, Therese 1863 births 1940 deaths Politicians from Vienna Jews from Austria-Hungary Jewish Austrian politicians Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians Members of the Constituent National Assembly (Austria) Members of the National Council (Austria) Members of the Federal Council (Austria) Austrian feminists Austrian activists Austrian women activists Jewish women activists Austrian women's rights activists Austrian socialist feminists Jewish feminists 20th-century Austrian women politicians Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss