Maria Müller-Lussnigg

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Maria Müller-Lussnigg (born January 1, 1914 in Vienna as Maria Lussnigg ; † November 30, 2012 ) was an Austrian actress , radio presenter and writer who mainly wrote books for children and young people. Her sister Wilhelmine "Willy" Lussnigg (1909–1986) was also an author of books for children and young people.

life and career

Maria Müller-Lussnigg was born on January 1, 1914 as the daughter of Robert (1877–1948) and Anna Lussnigg (1882–1974; née Sauerwald von Hochland) with the name Maria Lussnigg in Vienna. Her mother was a teacher at the primary school in Vienna-Favoriten and on November 6, 1908 married Robert Lussnigg, a devout Catholic who worked as a civil servant and musician. From 1925 to 1937, for example, he acted as director of the control office for the Lower Austrian provincial government and was also organist and regens chorus in St. Rochus in the third district of Vienna, Landstrasse . In addition, the court councilor and professor was a member of the Vienna Men's Choir Association and a member of KaV Norica Vienna in the ÖCV . Her maternal grandfather was Wilhelm Sauenwald Ritter von Hochland (1838–1908), an advisor and close confidante of Franz Joseph I , the Emperor of Austria . Her grandfather acted, among other things, as a reporter for Vienna at the Berlin Congress , which took place between June 13 and July 13, 1878 in Berlin , and was also the administrative director of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian state government. Her maternal grandmother was Leopoldine Sauenwald von Hochland (1856–1939; née Trittenwein), who first worked as a runner and later became a director in the upscale Spitzer fashion salon . On behalf of Ernestine Spitzer (1836 (?) - 1897; née Schlesinger) she regularly took the train to Paris to pick out particularly beautiful robes. She also dressed many aristocrats. From her grandmother Maria Lussnigg's grandmother there is said to have been an extensive correspondence as well as a literature, some of which is now considered lost. Around four and a half years before she was born, her sister Wilhelmine, called Willy, was born in 1909. She also worked in later years and shortly before her death as a children's and youth author and was significantly involved in the early development of the Catholic youth group in Austria .

At a young age, Maria Lussnigg received acting lessons from Baroness Margarethe Hedwig Gertrud von Königswarther-Formes (1869–1942) after passing her high school diploma ; her actual acting career began in 1933 when she made her debut at the Burgtheater in Vienna , where she was an apprentice , and then went to various German and Swiss theaters. For example, she was used at the Innsbruck City Theater , the St. Gallen City Theater , the Vienna Volkstheater or the Wiener Kammerspiele , where she is said to have convinced as a “youthful heroine and sentimentalist”. Before the Second World War , she worked as a speaker and presenter at Radio Wien , an early medium-wave station operated by Radio Verkehrs AG (RAVAG), the predecessor of ORF . Her husband Paul Müller fell victim to the war in 1943, whose last name she had also adopted and from then on had a double name. Paul Müller was a Berlin music teacher and organist and died on the Russian front in Stalingrad . With him she had the two children Volker Johannes Müller (* 1941), a later musician ( violist ) who worked as a Senator for Culture in Mainz , and their daughter Kristin Angelika Müller (* 1942), who later became professor of Romance studies at the University of Salzburg that she raised alone from now on . Even after the Second World War, Müller-Lussnigg worked again in the radio; this time from 1950 until its dissolution in 1955 at the US- controlled radio station in occupied post-war Austria Rot-Weiß-Rot . There she designed, among other things, the two series A word to mothers and children, listens .

In the 1950s in particular, she also appeared as a writer , mainly writing books for children and young people. This resulted in a close collaboration with Margh Malina (1923–2010), with whom she published numerous works. Various sagas were created with reference to the various Austrian federal states . Müller-Lussnigg's social and humanitarian commitment should also be emphasized; Among other things, she began working for Amnesty International at the age of 60, distributing leaflets, collecting donations and writing protest letters. Furthermore, she discussed cassettes with sophisticated literature for the audio library of the Austrian Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired until the end of the 1990s and the early 2000s . Until she was 97, she regularly attended a Latin course for senior citizens. Over the years, Müller-Lussnigg has received several honors and awards. Among other things, she received the Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria and, as one of the first women in the world, a New Year's Eve order awarded by the Pope . On May 21, 2002, the member of Amnesty International and the House of Peace was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna , which she received on November 4, 2002.

About a month before her 99th birthday, Müller-Lussnig died on November 30, 2012 in her hometown of Vienna, where she also spent her old age. Until recently she lived at Beatrixgasse 26 in Vienna's third district, Landstrasse.

Works (selection)

  • 1954: 1-0 for Fitschi. A novel for children (with Margh Malina )
  • 1954: 2 + 2 are not yet 4. A novel for children
  • 1955: God's grace on the Kahlenberg. Legend game (with Margh Malina)
  • 1955: The Kipfelspiel. Based on a legend about the making of the Wiener Kipferl in 1529 (with Margh Malina)
  • 1955: The brave maid. Legends game from Vorarlberg for the Christmas season (with Margh Malina)
  • 1955: The thing about the signature. Novel of a Confirmation with Obstacles (with Margh Malina)
  • 1955: The Korneuburg Pied Piper. Game about a Lower Austrian legend (with Margh Malina)
  • 1956: The nymph von Gleichenberg. Legends game from Styria (with Margh Malina)
  • 1956: The Unknown Singer's Play. Legends game from Upper Austria (with Margh Malina)
  • 1958: The edelweiss from the moon mountains or the gift of the moon princess. Game about a legend from the Dolomites

Awards and honors (selection)

Literature & Sources (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MARIA MÜLLER-LUSSNIGG HEIMGEGANGEN , accessed on October 27, 2017
  2. ^ Award for Maria Müller-Lussnig and Elisabeth Scheickl , accessed on October 27, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Müller-Lussnigg, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lussnigg, Maria (maiden name); Müller-Lussnig, Maria (different spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian actress, radio presenter and writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 2012
Place of death Vienna , Austria