Nora Kinsky

Norbertine Nora Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz and Tettau , married Countess Wilczek (born December 18, 1888 in Vienna , † March 26, 1923 in Witkowitz ) was an Austrian hospital - founder and Red Cross sister in World War I in Russia before and during the Russian Revolution .

Life

Nora Kinsky was the sixth of nine children of Octavian Zdenko Graf Kinsky (1844-1932) and his wife Georgine Ernestine Festetics von Tolna (1856-1934). She grew up at Karlskron Castle . “Curious about life outside the castle walls, she refused to marry one of her innumerable admirers” and founded a military hospital when the First World War broke out in 1914.

After the miserable conditions and high mortality in Russia's prisoner-of-war camps became apparent, the Russian tsarist family around Nicholas II initiated the so-called “sister trips” to observe and monitor the Hague Land Warfare Regulations . As one of these Red Cross sisters, the twenty-seven year old Nora Kinsky traveled through Siberia from 1916, accompanied by a Russian officer , in order to “point out human rights violations and alleviate the suffering of the soldiers”. One of her early entries in her diary read:

“I found five invalids , three of them one-eyed. Only three men were in prison. They were released in my honor. "

On her trip, the countess visited 16 prisoner-of-war camps and 15 work camps, helping with operations and other medical measures, sometimes under the most primitive circumstances. She met thousands upon thousands of prisoners of war from Austria-Hungary and the German Empire , including:

Otto Bauer , Austrian Social Democrat;
Béla Kun , the key figure in the Hungarian Soviet Republic;
Josip Broz Tito , later President of Yugoslavia;
Roland Freisler , Hitler's willing judge and executor;
Ernst Reuter , later mayor of Berlin;
Heimito von Doderer , Austrian writer
Jaroslav Hašek , Czech writer ( The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schwejk ).

"They were all caught up in the epochal upheaval of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and each drew their own" lessons "from it." Nora Kinsky wrote about Petrograd in her diary:

“There are big fights in Petrograd, all commoners are being killed. Poor people! It's still quiet here, but sooner or later there will certainly be tumults and fights ... Although I sometimes worry, I'm glad to be here because we have many sick people who are obviously grateful to have me. "

In the midst of the turmoil of the Russian Revolution, Nora Kinsky managed a dramatic escape; she returned home in the summer of 1918. She was married to Count Ferdinand Wilczek. In 1921 their daughter Georgina was born . Nora Kinsky died in 1923 giving birth to her second child. The child also died in delivery.

diary

The ORF wrote about the countess's diary in 2009: “Against the background of the Russian tragedy, the story of Nora Kinsky, whose travels through a country in disintegration and chaos intersects with the lives of prisoners of war and later celebrities, is definitely reminiscent of great literary models such as Doctor Zhivago . "

filming

The great niece of Nora Kinsky, Monika Czernin , documented the life of the "Red Cross Baroness" in 2007 as director and leading actress in a mixture of film scenes and historical original recordings and comments, which were made by historians such as Karl Schlögel , Hannes Leidinger , Reinhard Nachtigal and Georg Wurzer in their historical Context. Through this film documentation , "the so-called Plenny Archive of the Army History Museum in Vienna was made accessible to the public for the first time - a real treasure trove of unpublished photos, documents, drawings from the POW camps of the First World War."

literature

Monika Czernin: “I lived too short.” The story of Nora Countess Kinsky. List, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-548-60700-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p 3sat / ORF : The Countess and the Russian Revolution , TV documentary by Monika Czernin from 2007.
↑ http://genealogy.links.org/links-cgi/readged?/home/ben/camilla-genealogy/current+c-kinsky52905+2-2-0-1-0
↑ Nora Countess Kinsky: Russian diary. 1916-1918. Preface by Princess Gina von Liechtenstein , ed. by Hans Graf Huyn , Seewald, Stuttgart-Degerloch 1976, ISBN 3-512-00407-5
↑ Monika Czernin (director, leading actress): The Countess and the Russian Revolution , subtitle Nora Kinsky - The Red Cross Baroness , a documentary by Monika Czernin, Austria 2007.

personal data
SURNAME	Kinsky, Nora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Kinsky, Nora Countess; Kinsky von Wchinitz and Tettau, Nora Countess; Wilczek, Nora
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian noblewoman, Red Cross worker in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH	December 18, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vienna
DATE OF DEATH	March 26, 1923
Place of death	Witkowitz

[3Sat-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p 3sat / ORF : The Countess and the Russian Revolution , TV documentary by Monika Czernin from 2007.

[2] ttp://genealogy.links.org/links-cgi/readged?/home/ben/camilla-genealogy/current+c-kinsky52905+2-2-0-1-0

[3] Nora Countess Kinsky: Russian diary. 1916-1918. Preface by Princess Gina von Liechtenstein , ed. by Hans Graf Huyn , Seewald, Stuttgart-Degerloch 1976, ISBN 3-512-00407-5

[4] Monika Czernin (director, leading actress): The Countess and the Russian Revolution , subtitle Nora Kinsky - The Red Cross Baroness , a documentary by Monika Czernin, Austria 2007.