Through her Salon and the schools she founded, education reformer Eugenie Schwarzwald interacted with many of the representatives of Viennese Modernism, such as Adolf Loos, Oskar Kokoschka, Arnold Schönberg and Egon Wellesz. The outbreak of WWI forced Schwarzwald to turn her enterprising hand to new cooperative ventures aimed at maintaining the living standards and cultural expectations of Vienna’s educated middle classes during the war.

The story of her efforts is part of the history of the women’s movement and modern welfare provision in Austria, but also bears witness to the desperate situation of the Habsburg capital as the end of the Empire drew ever closer. The lecture is presented by Dr Deborah Holmes, Senior Lecturer in German and Head of Department at the University of Kent.