Maria Emhart

Maria Emhart (born May 27, 1901 in Pyhra ; † October 9, 1981 in Bischofshofen ) was an Austrian resistance fighter and politician ( SPÖ ).

Life

Maria Emhart grew up in a barracks settlement in Pyhra, St. Pölten district , as the eldest of five children of farm worker Marie Raps (née Kreutzner, 1883-1932) and railroad worker Johann Raps.

At the age of 17, she joined the Social Democratic Party, to which she was to be committed all her life. At the age of 20 Maria Emhart married the railroad worker Karl Emhart. Despite the divorce, which Karl Emhart was forced to in 1936 in the "Christian corporate state " in order not to lose his job at the Federal Railroad, they stayed together until Karl Emhart's death in 1965.

Maria Emhart's political activity began as a works councilor . On May 9, 1932, she was elected to the municipal council of St. Pölten in the last municipal council election in the First Republic . In February 1934 she took part in a leading position in the February fighting , was arrested for it and had to fear that she would be hanged, since martial law still applied. However, after 17 weeks, she was acquitted for lack of evidence.

After the arrest of her friend Rosa Jochmann in August 1934, Maria Emhart took over her leading position under the code name Grete Meyer with the Revolutionary Socialists , who were active underground after the Social Democratic Party was banned , but was betrayed and arrested again after the Brno Reich Conference. Together with Karl Hans Sailer , she stood on trial between March 16 and 24, 1936 with comrades who later became prominent such as Bruno Kreisky , Franz Jonas , Otto Probst and Anton Proksch as the second main defendant in the “ Great Socialist Trial”. The quote “Yes, I am an enthusiastic socialist” comes from this process . The death penalty demanded at the beginning of the trial could not be enforced because of weak witnesses. Instead, Maria Emhart was sentenced to 18 months ' imprisonment, but was released under the amnesty in July 1936.

After an American officer refused to work in community politics in Bischofshofen after the end of the war, she joined the SPÖ as the only female member of the Salzburg state party leadership on May 11, 1945 and was also the only woman in elected the Salzburg state parliament.

Maria Emhart was the first woman in Austria to be elected Vice Mayor in Bischofshofen on April 18, 1946, and held this office for the next 20 years. From March 18, 1953, she sat for the next twelve years in the National Council , where she first worked in the National Defense and Audit Office Committee, later in the Justice and Transport Committee. Because of a serious illness of her husband, she left the National Council in early 1965. Her husband died three months later.

Maria Emhart died on October 9, 1981 in Bischofshofen.

Honors

In 1977 Maria Emhart received the Decoration of Honor for Services to the Liberation of Austria
In 2018, the Maria-Emhart-Weg in Vienna- Donaustadt (22nd district) was named after her.

Web links

Maria Emhart on the website of the Austrian Parliament

Article in the Wiener Zeitung on May 27, 2001 on the occasion of Maria Emhart's birthday 100 years ago

Vocal portrait of Maria Emhart in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library (parliamentary debate )

Individual evidence

^ Maria (Marie) Emhart., Aktion Freie Kunst
↑ Otto Leichter : Between two dictatorships. Austria's Revolutionary Socialists 1934–1938. Europa-Verlag, Vienna et al. 1968; Peter Pelinka : Legacy and a new beginning. The Revolutionary Socialists in Austria 1934–1938 (= materials on the workers' movement. No. 20). Europaverlag, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-203-50795-1 .
^ Association of the History of the Labor Movement, Archives, Organizations, Folder 2, Pocket 3.
↑ Manfred Marschalek: The Vienna Socialist Process 1936. In: Karl R. Stadler (Ed.): Socialist Processes. Political justice in Austria 1870–1936. Europaverlag, Vienna et al. 1986, ISBN 3-203-50948-2 , pp. 429-490.
^ Documentation archive of the Austrian Resistance, E 193911/1; Wolfgang Neugebauer (Ed.): Resistance and persecution in Vienna 1934–1945. A documentation. Volume 1: 1934-1938. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-215-05506-6 , pp. 56, 58, 62-65, 68, 97-101, 109, 110 f., 120 u. 187.
↑ Thanks to resistance fighters. In: The New Reminder Call . Volume 30, No. 6 June 1977 (online at ANNO ).

personal data
SURNAME	Emhart, Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian resistance fighter and politician (SPÖ), member of the state parliament, member of the national council
DATE OF BIRTH	May 27, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	St. Polten
DATE OF DEATH	October 9, 1981
Place of death	Bischofshofen

[1] Maria (Marie) Emhart., Aktion Freie Kunst

[2] Otto Leichter : Between two dictatorships. Austria's Revolutionary Socialists 1934–1938. Europa-Verlag, Vienna et al. 1968; Peter Pelinka : Legacy and a new beginning. The Revolutionary Socialists in Austria 1934–1938 (= materials on the workers' movement. No. 20). Europaverlag, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-203-50795-1 .

[3] Association of the History of the Labor Movement, Archives, Organizations, Folder 2, Pocket 3.

[4] Manfred Marschalek: The Vienna Socialist Process 1936. In: Karl R. Stadler (Ed.): Socialist Processes. Political justice in Austria 1870–1936. Europaverlag, Vienna et al. 1986, ISBN 3-203-50948-2 , pp. 429-490.

[5] Documentation archive of the Austrian Resistance, E 193911/1; Wolfgang Neugebauer (Ed.): Resistance and persecution in Vienna 1934–1945. A documentation. Volume 1: 1934-1938. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-215-05506-6 , pp. 56, 58, 62-65, 68, 97-101, 109, 110 f., 120 u. 187.

[6] Thanks to resistance fighters. In: The New Reminder Call . Volume 30, No. 6 June 1977 (online at ANNO ).