The First World Congress of Jewish Women was held in Vienna, Austria, from 6 to 11 May 1923. [1] It brought together some 200 delegates from over 20 countries. Zionism was a prominent topic, while emigration to Palestine for Jewish refugees was discussed and strongly supported. [2]
Interest in international activities grew out of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) which was established in the United States at the end of the 19th century. It was followed by Jewish women's organizations in England and Germany. There was renewed interest after the end of World War I when delegates of the NCJW were sent to Europe to investigate the situation there. [3] It was therefore decided to bring together Jewish women from many different countries to a conference in May 1923 where they could "consider problems created by the war and lay constructive plans for working together". [4]
Supported by the Council of Jewish Women, local preparations for the congress were ensured above all by Anitta Müller-Cohen. [5]
Chaired by the Hungarian-born American Rebekah Kohut, the Vienna congress brought together delegates from over 20 countries. Held in the impressive premises of the Hofburg, the opening session was also attended by many illustrious local figures, including the Austrian president Michael Hainisch, the mayor of Vienna, the chief of police, as well as writers and politicians. [6] [7] Subsequent sessions were held in the Commerce Association's building (im Großen Saal des Kaufmännischen Gremiums). [5]
Among the speakers at the congress's opening session were Marianne Hainisch, founder of the Austrian women's movement; Zwi Perez Chajes, chief rabbi of Vienna; Regine Ulmann and Anitta Müller-Cohen from the women's movement; and Alois Pick, president of Vienna's Israelite Community. [7]
Speakers spoke in their own languages, mainly German and English but occasionally also French and Italian. Where necessary, interpretation was provided. Speaking on behalf of Vienna's Sephardic Community, Mazal Ovadia spoke in Hebrew, receiving wide acclaim. [5] There were some 200 congress delegates from Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Free City of Danzig, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Mandatory Palestine, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Representing international Jewish organizations, there were also women from Russia and Ukraine. [7]
The five main topics discussed over the conference's six day programme included "the duties of the Jewish woman within the community, the problem of refugees and orphans, the situation of homeless girls, aid for emigration, and support for Palestine." [6] There was lengthy discussion of how Palestine could serve as a sanctuary for European refugees who wished to relocate. [3] Among the speakers on the first days were Roza Pomerantz-Meltzer from Poland on grants for Jewish schools, Bertha Pappenheim from Austria on the need to protect Jewish girls from prostitution, and Dr. Korolik from Russia on the dreadful treatment of Jewish children in Russia. [5]
The discussions revealed the disastrous consequences for refugees and orphans who had been rendered homeless as a result of pogroms and persecution. When representatives from Eastern Europe described the fate of Jews in Russia and Ukraine, the effects on the participants were so distressing that the proceedings had to be interrupted for a few minutes. While there was no support for political action, it was suggested that, in line with the Balfour Declaration, Zionism could serve as a practical means of dealing with the suffering experienced by the Jews. [6]
There was unanimous agreement on the need for support to Palestine. In the words of one of the final congress resolutions: "It appears, therefore, to be the duty of all Jews to co-operate in the social-economic reconstruction of Palestine and to assist in the settlement of Jews in that country." [6]
A second World Congress of Jewish Women was held in Hamburg, Germany, from 3 to 6 June 1929. [8] [9]
The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress and World Zionist Organization (WZO), respectively. The World Zionist Organization elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency, including "determining the allocation of funds." The first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. Any Jew over age 18 who belongs to a Zionist association is eligible to vote, and the number of elected delegates to the Congress is 500. 38% of the delegates are allocated to Israel, 29% to the United States of America, and 33% to the remainder of the countries of the Diaspora. In addition there are about 100 delegates which are appointed by International Organizations affiliated with WZO.
The history of the Jews in Austria probably begins with the exodus of Jews from Judea under Roman occupation. There have been Jews in Austria since the 3rd century CE. Over the course of many centuries, the political status of the community rose and fell many times: during certain periods, the Jewish community prospered and enjoyed political equality, and during other periods it suffered pogroms, deportations to concentration camps and mass murder, and antisemitism. The Holocaust drastically reduced the Jewish community in Austria and only 8,140 Jews remained in Austria according to the 2001 census. Today, Austria has a Jewish population of 10,300 which extends to 33,000 if Law of Return is accounted for, meaning having at least one Jewish grandparent.
Rosa Sonneschein was the founder and editor of The American Jewess magazine. It was the first English-language periodical targeted to American Jewish women.
Roza Pomerantz-Meltzer was a Polish writer and novelist based in the city of Lviv. In 1922 she became the first Jewish woman to be elected to the Sejm, the Parliament of Poland, as a member of the Committee of United National Jewish Parties. A strong promoter of Zionism, she was an influential member of local Jewish women's organizations, especially the Koło Kobiet Żydowskich. She contributed to a number of local and foreign journals, writing in both German and Polish, and participated in international congresses.
Ernestine von Fürth, née Kisch was an Austrian-Jewish women's activist, a founding member of the "Neuen Wiener Frauenklub", chairwoman of the Austrian women's suffrage committee, and editor for the "Zeitschrift für Frauenstimmrecht" in Austria.
The Civic Workers' Party or Civic Labour Party was a minor political party active in the early phase of the First Austrian Republic. It was led by former imperial foreign minister of Austria-Hungary, Ottokar Czernin.
Bertha Braunthal was a communist politician in Germany from the party's creation in 1920 till her emigration to London in 1933. She was also a first-wave feminist.
The Kladovo Transport was an illegal Jewish refugee transport, started on November 25, 1939, in Vienna, the aim of which was to flee to Eretz Israel. As a result of an early freeze of the Danube, the refugees in the Yugoslav river-port of Kladovo had to overwinter. As 1940 progressed, they waited in vain for a sea-going vessel to continue their journey. In 1941, they had to move to the port of Šabac on the Sava, where they were caught by the Nazis. Only about 200 young people and a few adults could be saved or escaped on their own. The men of the transport were shot on 12 and 13 October by units of the Wehrmacht on the orders of General Franz Böhme. In early January 1942, the women were transferred to Sajmište concentration camp, where they were murdered between 19 March and 10 May 1942 in a gas van, by order of Herbert Andorfer.
Arthur Menachem Hantke was a jurist, lawyer and economist, one of the leaders of Zionist movement in Germany and one of the leaders of the Zionist fundraising organization Keren Hayesod.
Anitta Müller-Cohen born Rosenzweig (1890–1962) was an Austrian-born Jewish woman who emigrated to Tel Aviv, Palestine, in 1935. In Austria, she was a prominent social worker, politician and writer who became increasingly interested in Zionism. One of the leading members of Vienna's Jewish National Party, she organized and actively contributed to the First World Congress of Jewish Women which was held in Vienna in May 1923. At the American Jewish Congress in Chicago in 1925, she addressed the opening session. After emigrating to Palestine in 1935, she became a member of the Mizrahi Women's Organization, founded the Women's Social Service, and continued her welfare work which was mainly concerned with children and immigrants.
Regine Ulmann née Kohn (1847–1938), also known by her pen names Gertrud Bürger and Agnes Thai, was an Austrian school director, editor and feminist. An active member of the Jewish women's movement, in 1866 she was one of six women who founded the Mädchen Unterstutzungs-Verein, later becoming the director of the association's training schools for poor Jewish girls.
Sidonie Werner was a German Jewish schoolteacher and feminist based in Hamburg. She was active in the German League of Jewish Women which she founded in 1904, together with Bertha Pappenheim. In 1929, she organized the World Conference of Jewish Women in Hamburg.
Henriette May née Lövinson (1862–1928) was a German Jewish women's activist and educator. She is remembered, together with Bertha Pappenheim and Sidonie Werner, as a co-founder of Germany's League of Jewish Women in 1904.
Edith Saurer was an Austrian historian, university professor at the University of Vienna, scientific author, and publisher. She is regarded as a central cofounder and advocate of feminist historiography in Austria. She received the Käthe Leichter Prize, Gabriele Possanner State Prize, and the Golden Medal for her services to the State of Vienna.
The Allgemeiner Österreichischer Frauenverein was an Austrian women's organization for women's suffrage, active between 1893 and 1919.
Marie Lang was an Austrian feminist, theosophist and publisher. Born in 1858 in Vienna, Lang was raised in a liberal, upper-middle-class home. After divorcing her first husband in 1884, she married Edmund Lang and the two hosted an influential salon for politicians and intellectuals. Joining the women's movement toward the end of the 1880s, she quickly became an influential women's rights activist. In 1893, along with Auguste Fickert and Rosa Mayreder, she founded the Allgemeiner Österreichischer Frauenverein. In spite of provisions in Section 30 of the law governing associations, which prohibited women's political involvement, the three friends used their networks of influential politicians and intellectuals to press for legal changes in laws governing women and children's civil rights and in favor of women's suffrage. In 1898, she co-founded the women's journal Dokumente der Frauen, serving as its editor-in-chief until 1902.
Andreas Weißgerber, also known as Chanosch Ben Mosche Weißgerber, was an Austrian-Hungarian violinist.
Yella Hertzka was an Austrian women's rights and peace activist, school director, and music business executive. She began working in women's humanitarian and social improvement projects in 1900. Co-founding the Neuer Wiener Frauenklub in 1903, she served as its president from 1909 to 1933. From 1904 she participated in the international women's rights movements, supporting women's suffrage and pacifism. In 1919, she attended the Zürich congress of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She was a co-founder of the Austrian section of the WILPF, organized its 1921 Vienna Congress, and attended every international WILPF congress held between 1919 and 1948. She worked to free prisoners of war after World War I and during World War II helped those wanting to emigrate or oppose the draft.
Olga Misař née Popper was an Austrian peace activist, feminist and writer. From 1910, she was active in Austrian activities related to the women's movement and suffrage. In April 1915, she represented Austria at the International Congress of Women in The Hague. She later became a board member of the Austrian branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom while also participating in the central organization. For many years she was active in War Resisters' International (WRI) and in 1928 organized the second WRI Conference which was held in Sonntagberg, Austria. In April 1939, threatened by the Nazi regime, together with her husband and daughter, Olga Misař fled to Enfield near London where she joined the British branch of the International League for Peace and Freedom.
Helene Scheu-Riesz was an Austrian women's rights activist, pacifist, children's writer and publisher. In addition to supporting the Austrian women's movement, in November 1900 together with Yella Hertzka and three others she founded the Viennese Women's Club. She later became active in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, representing Austria at the organization's 1919 international congress in Zürich, the 1921 congress in Vienna and the 1924 congress in Washington, D.C. Scheu-Riesz took a special interest in children's literature, translating and writing books herself and founding the publishing house Sesam-Verlag in 1923. After the death of her husband, the Austrian intellectual and social democrat politician Gustav Scheu, as she was of Jewish heritage, in 1937 she moved to the United States. There she created the publishing house Island Press on the remote Ocracoke Island. She founded Open Sesame Inc. New York in 1949 to continue her philanthropic work of distributing world literature as a means of promoting internationalism and peace. In 1954, she returned to her house in the Hietzing district of Vienna where she spent the remainder of her life.
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