Therese Schlesinger


Therese Schlesinger, née Eckstein, was an Austrian feminist and politician.

Life

Therese Schlesinger was born in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire, on 6 June 1863 to an upper middle-class Jewish family. Among her siblings were the early psychologist Emma Eckstein, the writer Gustav Eckstein 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 with Nazi Germany in 1938, she fled to France. She spent the rest of her life in a sanatorium in Blois, 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 and participated in the 1894 on the Condition of Female Viennese Wage-Workers. At the end of 1897, she left the AÖFV and joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. Later, she joined the Federal Council, resigning on 5 December 1930.