Berta Fanta

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Berta Fanta (née Sohr ; born May 19, 1865 in Libochowitz , Austria-Hungary ; † December 18, 1918 in Prague , Czechoslovakia) was a pioneer of the women's movement.

Life

Berta Sohr came from a wealthy Jewish family and attended a school for higher daughters in Prague. In 1884 she married Max Fanta , who had been appointed a pharmacist by his mother-in-law Emilie and who invented the Fantaschale. The family moved to Prague to the “Zum Einhorn” house on the Old Town Square , where their children Else (1886–1969) and Otto Fanta (1890–1940) were born.

Together with her sister Ida (1868–1931; married friend ) she began studying philosophy at the German University in Prague , among others with Anton Marty . She was initially enthusiastic about Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy , but then turned to the works of Franz Brentano . Together with her sister, she was also involved in the Women's Progress Association , which promoted the emancipation of women.

From around 1907 she set up a bi-weekly circle of philosophers in the Prague Café Louvre on Ferdinandstrasse. At the same time, she organized the unofficial Fantakreis in the drawing room of her house on Tuesday evenings . Around 1906/07 she began to study theosophical writings and joined the Czech Theosophical Society. During this time she met Rudolf Steiner . With Mathilde Scholl , she initiated the founding of an anthroposophical society in Prague in 1912 .

When the First World War broke out, Oskar Pollak and Samuel Hugo Bergman moved in and their husband became a paramedic and lived temporarily in Vienna. The war had shaken her confidence in European civilization and she wanted to travel to Jerusalem with her daughter Else and her son-in-law Samuel Hugo Bergmann. However, she lost consciousness after a stroke.

literature

  • Wilma Iggers: Women's life in Prague: ethnic diversity and cultural change since the 18th century . Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-98759-4 , pp. 165f. (on-line)
  • Jutta Dick, Marina Sassenberg (ed.): Jewish women in the 19th and 20th centuries. Lexicon on life and work. Reinbek 1993, ISBN 3-499-16344-6 .
  • Georg Gimpl: Because the floor itself is on fire: From the Prague salon of Berta Fanta (1865–1918) . Vitalis, Fürth 2001, ISBN 3-934774-97-0 . ( Review )
  • Else Bergmann: family history . Manuscript, Tel Aviv, late 1940s. Excerpt in: Albert Lichtblau (Ed.): As if we had belonged . Vienna: Böhlau, 1999, pp. 397–417

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Berta Fanta in the database Women in Motion 1848–1938 of the Austrian National Library
  2. ↑ a b Tomas Zdrazil: Berta Fanta . Short biography from the Kulturimpuls research center, accessed on May 4, 2016.
  3. ^ Zedlitz: New Prussian Nobility Lexicon. Leipzig 1839, p. 103.
  4. ↑ mjwein.net ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mjwein.net
  5. ↑ Albert Lichtblau : As if we had belonged . Böhlau, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-205-98772-5 , p. 81.
  6. ↑ founded by the wife of Ernst Rychnowsky and Professor Winternitz
  7. ^ Else Bergmann: Reminder for FK
  8. ^ Letter from Max Brod to Franz Kafka dated December 20, 1918
personal data
SURNAME Fanta, Berta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sohr, Berta (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Women's rights activist in Austria-Hungary
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Libochovice
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 1918
Place of death Prague