Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky
Encyclopedia
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (January 23, 1897 – January 18, 2000) was the first female Austria
n architect
and an activist in the Nazi
resistance movement
. She is mostly remembered today for designing the so-called Frankfurt Kitchen
.
family in Vienna
. The daughter of a liberal-minded civil servant
whose pacifist
tendencies made him welcome the end of the Habsburg Empire
and the founding of the republic
in 1918, Lihotzky became the first female student at the Kunstgewerbeschule
(today University of Applied Arts Vienna
), where renowned artists such as Josef Hoffmann
, Anton Hanak
or Oskar Kokoschka
were teaching. Lihotzky almost did not get in. Her mother persuaded a close friend to ask the famous artist Gustav Klimt
for a letter of recommendation. In 1997, celebrating her 100th birthday
and reminiscing about her then decision to study architecture
, she remarked that "in 1916 no one would have conceived of a woman
being commissioned to build a house -- not even myself."
However, studying architecture under Oskar Strnad
, Lihotzky was winning prizes for her designs even before her graduation. Strnad was one of the pioneers of sozialer Wohnbau in Vienna at the time, designing affordable yet comfortable council housing for the working class
es. Inspired by him, Lihotzky understood that connecting design
to functionality
was the new trend that would be very much in demand in the future. After graduating, she, among other projects, worked together with her mentor Adolf Loos
, planning residential estates for World War I
invalids and veteran
s.
In 1926 she was called to the Hochbauamt of the City Council of Frankfurt am Main
, Germany
, by the legendary architect and city planner Ernst May
. May had been given the political power and financial resources to solve Frankfurt's housing shortage. He and Schütte-Lihotzky, together with the rest of May's assembled architectural staff, successfully brought functional clarity and humanitarian values to thousands of the city's housing units.
Lihotsky continued her work by designing kindergarten
s, students' homes, schools and similar community buildings. It was in Frankfurt that she met work colleague Wilhelm Schütte, whom she married the following year. In 1926 Lihotzky also created the Frankfurt Kitchen
, which was the prototype of the built-in kitchen
now prevalent in the western world. Based on the scientific research by U.S. management expert Frederick Winslow Taylor
and her own research, Lihotzky used a railroad dining car
kitchen as her model to design a "housewife's laboratory" using a minimum of space but offering a maximum of comfort and equipment to the working mother. The Frankfurt City Council eventually installed 10,000 of her mass-produced
, prefabricated kitchens in newly-built working-class apartments.
began to further deteriorate and unduly favour the political right
, Schütte-Lihotzky joined a team of seventeen architects, the "May Brigade", led by architect Ernst May
and including her husband and Erich Mauthner, also from Vienna. In 1930 they travelled to Moscow
by train. There the group of architects was commissioned to help realize the first of Stalin
's five-year plans
, for example by building the industrial city of Magnitogorsk
which, situated in the middle of nowhere in the southern Ural Mountains
, Russia
, on their arrival only consisted of mud huts and barracks: It was to have 200,000 inhabitants in a few years' time, the majority of them working in the steel
industry. Although the May Brigade was credited with the construction of 20 cities in three years, the political conditions were bad and the results mixed. May left Russia in 1933 when his contract was up.
With the exception of brief business trips and lecture tours to Japan
and China
, Schütte-Lihotzky remained in the Soviet Union
until 1937, when Stalin's Great Purge
made life there intolerable and dangerous as well. She and her husband moved first to London
and later to Paris
, France
. Also, in 1933 Schütte-Lihotzky had presented some of her work at the Chicago world's fair
, Century of Progress
.
In 1938 Schütte-Lihotzky, together with her husband, was called to Istanbul
, Turkey
, to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts, and to reunite with exiled German architect Bruno Taut
. (Unfortunately Taut died soon after their arrival.) Schütte-Lihotzky also designed kindergarten
pavilions based on the ideas of Maria Montessori
. On the eve of World War II
Istanbul was a safe meeting place for many exile
d Europeans, a common destination for exiled Germans, and the Schüttes encountered artists such as the musicians Béla Bartók
or Paul Hindemith
.
In Istanbul Schütte-Lihotzky also met fellow Austrian Herbert Eichholzer, an architect who at the time was busy organizing Communist
resistance to the Nazi
regime. In 1939 Schütte-Lihotzky joined the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) and in December 1940, of her own free will, together with Eichholzer, travelled back to Vienna to secretly contact the Austrian Communist resistance movement. She was arrested by the Gestapo
on January 22, 1941, only 25 days after her arrival. While Eichholzer and other "conspirators", who had also been seized, were charged with high treason
, sentenced to death
by the Volksgerichtshof and executed in 1943, Schütte-Lihotzky was "only" sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and brought to a prison in Aichach
, Bavaria
, where she was eventually liberated by U.S. troops on April 29, 1945.
, Bulgaria
, eventually returning to her native Vienna in 1947. However, her strong political views—she remained a Communist—prevented her from receiving any major public commissions in post-war Austria, despite the fact that innumerable buildings all over the country had been destroyed and had to be rebuilt (Wiederaufbau). Consequently, apart from designing some private homes, Schütte-Lihotzky worked as a consultant in China
, Cuba
and the German Democratic Republic. In 1951 she separated from her husband, Wilhelm Schütte.
Belatedly, her accomplishments were recognized by the official Austria. She received the Architecture Award from the City of Vienna in 1980. In 1985 she published her memoir
s, Erinnerungen aus dem Widerstand. Further awards followed, but, always true to her convictions, she refused to be honoured in 1988 by then Austrian Federal President Kurt Waldheim
on grounds of the latter's dubious wartime past. In 1995 she was one of a group of Austrian Holocaust survivors who sued
Jörg Haider
after, in a debate in the Austrian parliament on bomb attacks on Romanies, Haider had referred to Nazi concentration camps as "prison camps".
She celebrated her 100th birthday in 1997 dancing a short waltz
with the Mayor of Vienna
and remarking, "I would have enjoyed it, for a change, to design a house for a rich man."
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky died in Vienna on January 18, 2000, five days before her 103rd birthday, of complications after contracting influenza
. She was interred in an Ehrengrab
(memorial grave) at the Zentralfriedhof
, Wien-Simmering
.
The award-winning Australian singer, writer and director Robyn Archer
has written a play based on Schütte-Lihotzky’s life. Architektin, featuring Helen Morse
, Ksenja Logos, Craig Behenna, Duncan Graham, Antje Guenther, Michael Habib and Nick Pelomis, produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia
, and directed by Adam Cook, will have its world premiere season in the Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide, South Australia. Previews begin on 29 August 2008, with Opening Night on 2 September 2008.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and an activist in the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
. She is mostly remembered today for designing the so-called Frankfurt Kitchen
Frankfurt kitchen
The Frankfurt kitchen was a milestone in domestic architecture, considered the fore-runner of modern fitted kitchens, for it realised for the first time a kitchen built after a unified concept, designed to enable efficient work and to be built at low cost...
.
Training
She was born Margarete Lihotzky into a bourgeoisBourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
family in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. The daughter of a liberal-minded civil servant
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
whose pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
tendencies made him welcome the end of the Habsburg Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
and the founding of the republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
in 1918, Lihotzky became the first female student at the Kunstgewerbeschule
Kunstgewerbeschule
A Kunstgewerbeschule was the old name for an advanced school of applied arts in German-speaking countries. The first such schools were opened in Kassel in 1867 and Berlin and Munich in 1868 with other German towns following. They are now merged into universities....
(today University of Applied Arts Vienna
University of Applied Arts Vienna
The University of Applied Arts Vienna is an institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university status since 1970.-History:...
), where renowned artists such as Josef Hoffmann
Josef Hoffmann
Josef Hoffmann was an Austrian architect and designer of consumer goods.- Biography :...
, Anton Hanak
Anton Hanak
Anton Hanak is among the best known Austrian sculptors of the early 20th century. Hanak was born in 1875 in Brno and studied between 1898 and 1904 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. From 1907 his studio was at Langenzersdorf near Vienna, today the site of the Hanak Museum...
or Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.-Biography:...
were teaching. Lihotzky almost did not get in. Her mother persuaded a close friend to ask the famous artist Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
for a letter of recommendation. In 1997, celebrating her 100th birthday
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
and reminiscing about her then decision to study architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, she remarked that "in 1916 no one would have conceived of a woman
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
being commissioned to build a house -- not even myself."
However, studying architecture under Oskar Strnad
Oskar Strnad
Oskar Strnad was an Austrian architect, sculptor, designer and set designer for films and theatres. Together with Josef Frank he was instrumental in creating the distinctive character of the Wiener Schule der Architektur...
, Lihotzky was winning prizes for her designs even before her graduation. Strnad was one of the pioneers of sozialer Wohnbau in Vienna at the time, designing affordable yet comfortable council housing for the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
es. Inspired by him, Lihotzky understood that connecting design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
to functionality
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
was the new trend that would be very much in demand in the future. After graduating, she, among other projects, worked together with her mentor Adolf Loos
Adolf Loos
Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos was a Moravian-born Austro-Hungarian architect. He was influential in European Modern architecture, and in his essay Ornament and Crime he repudiated the florid style of the Vienna Secession, the Austrian version of Art Nouveau...
, planning residential estates for World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
invalids and veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
s.
Housing work
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, by the legendary architect and city planner Ernst May
Ernst May
Ernst May was a German architect and city planner.May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during Germany's Weimar period, and in 1930 less successfully exported those ideas to Soviet Union cities, newly created under Stalinist rule...
. May had been given the political power and financial resources to solve Frankfurt's housing shortage. He and Schütte-Lihotzky, together with the rest of May's assembled architectural staff, successfully brought functional clarity and humanitarian values to thousands of the city's housing units.
Lihotsky continued her work by designing kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
s, students' homes, schools and similar community buildings. It was in Frankfurt that she met work colleague Wilhelm Schütte, whom she married the following year. In 1926 Lihotzky also created the Frankfurt Kitchen
Frankfurt kitchen
The Frankfurt kitchen was a milestone in domestic architecture, considered the fore-runner of modern fitted kitchens, for it realised for the first time a kitchen built after a unified concept, designed to enable efficient work and to be built at low cost...
, which was the prototype of the built-in kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
now prevalent in the western world. Based on the scientific research by U.S. management expert Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants...
and her own research, Lihotzky used a railroad dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
kitchen as her model to design a "housewife's laboratory" using a minimum of space but offering a maximum of comfort and equipment to the working mother. The Frankfurt City Council eventually installed 10,000 of her mass-produced
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
, prefabricated kitchens in newly-built working-class apartments.
Wartime
When the political situation in the Weimar RepublicWeimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
began to further deteriorate and unduly favour the political right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
, Schütte-Lihotzky joined a team of seventeen architects, the "May Brigade", led by architect Ernst May
Ernst May
Ernst May was a German architect and city planner.May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during Germany's Weimar period, and in 1930 less successfully exported those ideas to Soviet Union cities, newly created under Stalinist rule...
and including her husband and Erich Mauthner, also from Vienna. In 1930 they travelled to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
by train. There the group of architects was commissioned to help realize the first of Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's five-year plans
First Five-Year Plan
The First Five-Year Plan, or 1st Five-Year Plan, of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a list of economic goals that was designed to strengthen the country's economy between 1928 and 1932, making the nation both militarily and industrially self-sufficient. "We are fifty or a hundred...
, for example by building the industrial city of Magnitogorsk
Magnitogorsk
Magnitogorsk is a mining and industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Population: 418,545 ;...
which, situated in the middle of nowhere in the southern Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, on their arrival only consisted of mud huts and barracks: It was to have 200,000 inhabitants in a few years' time, the majority of them working in the steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
industry. Although the May Brigade was credited with the construction of 20 cities in three years, the political conditions were bad and the results mixed. May left Russia in 1933 when his contract was up.
With the exception of brief business trips and lecture tours to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Schütte-Lihotzky remained in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
until 1937, when Stalin's Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
made life there intolerable and dangerous as well. She and her husband moved first to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and later to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Also, in 1933 Schütte-Lihotzky had presented some of her work at the Chicago world's fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
, Century of Progress
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
.
In 1938 Schütte-Lihotzky, together with her husband, was called to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts, and to reunite with exiled German architect Bruno Taut
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut , was a prolific German architect, urban planner and author active during the Weimar period....
. (Unfortunately Taut died soon after their arrival.) Schütte-Lihotzky also designed kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
pavilions based on the ideas of Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
. On the eve of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Istanbul was a safe meeting place for many exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
d Europeans, a common destination for exiled Germans, and the Schüttes encountered artists such as the musicians Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
or Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
.
In Istanbul Schütte-Lihotzky also met fellow Austrian Herbert Eichholzer, an architect who at the time was busy organizing Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
resistance to the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
regime. In 1939 Schütte-Lihotzky joined the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) and in December 1940, of her own free will, together with Eichholzer, travelled back to Vienna to secretly contact the Austrian Communist resistance movement. She was arrested by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
on January 22, 1941, only 25 days after her arrival. While Eichholzer and other "conspirators", who had also been seized, were charged with high treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by the Volksgerichtshof and executed in 1943, Schütte-Lihotzky was "only" sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and brought to a prison in Aichach
Aichach
Aichach is a town in Germany, located in the Bundesland of Bavaria and situated just northeast of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Aichach-Friedberg. The municipality of Aichach counts some 20,000 inhabitants. It isn't far from the motorway that connects Munich and Stuttgart, the A8....
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, where she was eventually liberated by U.S. troops on April 29, 1945.
After the war
After the war, she went to work in SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, eventually returning to her native Vienna in 1947. However, her strong political views—she remained a Communist—prevented her from receiving any major public commissions in post-war Austria, despite the fact that innumerable buildings all over the country had been destroyed and had to be rebuilt (Wiederaufbau). Consequently, apart from designing some private homes, Schütte-Lihotzky worked as a consultant in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and the German Democratic Republic. In 1951 she separated from her husband, Wilhelm Schütte.
Belatedly, her accomplishments were recognized by the official Austria. She received the Architecture Award from the City of Vienna in 1980. In 1985 she published her memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s, Erinnerungen aus dem Widerstand. Further awards followed, but, always true to her convictions, she refused to be honoured in 1988 by then Austrian Federal President Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...
on grounds of the latter's dubious wartime past. In 1995 she was one of a group of Austrian Holocaust survivors who sued
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
after, in a debate in the Austrian parliament on bomb attacks on Romanies, Haider had referred to Nazi concentration camps as "prison camps".
She celebrated her 100th birthday in 1997 dancing a short waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
with the Mayor of Vienna
Michael Häupl
Michael Häupl is the mayor of Vienna. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. He is married to Helga Häupl and has two children.-Biography:...
and remarking, "I would have enjoyed it, for a change, to design a house for a rich man."
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky died in Vienna on January 18, 2000, five days before her 103rd birthday, of complications after contracting influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
. She was interred in an Ehrengrab
Ehrengrab
An Ehrengrab is a distinction granted by certain German, Swiss and Austrian cities to one of their citizens for extraordinary services or achievements in their lifetime. If there are no descendants or institutions to care for the gravesite, the communities or cities will take responsibility for...
(memorial grave) at the Zentralfriedhof
Zentralfriedhof
The Zentralfriedhof is one of the largest cemeteries in the world, largest by number of interred in Europe and most famous cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries.-Name and location:...
, Wien-Simmering
Simmering (Vienna)
Simmering is the 11th district of Vienna, Austria . It borders the Danube and was established as a district in 1892. Simmering has several churches, some museums, schools, old castles, and many cemeteries.- History :...
.
The award-winning Australian singer, writer and director Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer AO CdOAL is an Australian singer, writer, stage and director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally.-Life:Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia...
has written a play based on Schütte-Lihotzky’s life. Architektin, featuring Helen Morse
Helen Morse
Helen Morse is an Australian actress who has appeared in films, on television, and on stage.-Biography:Morse was born in Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, England. She was the oldest of four children; her parents were a doctor and nurse...
, Ksenja Logos, Craig Behenna, Duncan Graham, Antje Guenther, Michael Habib and Nick Pelomis, produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia
State Theatre Company of South Australia
The State Theatre Company of South Australia is South Australia's leading professional theatre company. It is based in the Dunstan Playhouse at the Adelaide Festival Centre. The current artistic director is Adam Cook...
, and directed by Adam Cook, will have its world premiere season in the Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide, South Australia. Previews begin on 29 August 2008, with Opening Night on 2 September 2008.
External links
- A biography of Schütte-Lihotzky (Inactive as of August 28, 2007)
- State Theatre Company of South Australia Production information on Architektin
- reconstruction Frankfurt Kitchen in the Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK) Vienna