Minna Lachs

Minna Lachs (born as Minna Schiffmann; 1907[1]–1993)[2] was an Austrian educator and memoirist.[3] She was born in Terebovlia, then known as Trembowla, in what was referred to as the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. The events of World War I prompted her family to leave for Vienna. Her father wished to distance himself from his Orthodox Judaism upbringing, while she initially felt a need to assert her Jewish identity more strongly. As part of that, she joined a Zionist youth organization, which ultimately led to an interest in Socialism and to meeting her husband.[4] Lachs graduated from the University of Vienna with a thesis on Karl Emil Franzos. She fled Austria for Switzerland due to the Anschluss and her memoir concerning the period was titled Warum schaust du zurueck.[5] She returned to Vienna after the war.[6] Lachs was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering, where her ashes are buried. A park in Vienna is named after her.[7]

  1. ^ (German) ORF bio
  2. ^ Thomas Maisel (2008). Scholars in Stone and Bronze: The Monuments in the Arcaded Courtyard of the University of Vienna. Böhlau Verlag Wien. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-205-78224-7.
  3. ^ (German) FemBio. Frauen-Biographieforschung
  4. ^ Jacqueline Vansant (2001). Reclaiming Heimat: Trauma and Mourning in Memoirs by Jewish Austrian Reémigrés. Wayne State University Press. pp. 15, 21–23, 32–33, 69–70, 75, 79, 83–85, 98, & 139–141. ISBN 0-8143-2951-9.
  5. ^ Center for Jewish History
  6. ^ Harriet Pass Freidenreich (21 June 2002). Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women. Indiana University Press. p. 261. ISBN 0-253-10927-2.
  7. ^ (German) Viennese government site