Eugenie Schwarzwald

Vocation

Lifestyle

Austrian philanthropist, writer and pedagogue developing and supporting education for girls in Austria. She was one of the most lettered women of her time. She received her doctoral degree in 1900 from the University of Zurich, making her one of the first academically educated women in Austria-Hungary. In 1900 she married Dr. Hermann Schwarzwald (1871–1939). Back in Austria, in 1901 she became head of the Girls' Secondary School and in 1911 of the Girls' College. Her aim was to offer a secondary education to girls, comparable to that which was accessible to boys. She engaged many contemporary, prominent artists and scientists to teach the girls, including Oskar Kokoschka (drawing), Arnold Schönberg (music and composition) and Adolf Loos (architecture). This school became a prototype of so-called Schwarzwald schools (Schwarzwaldschulen), modern schools for girls. In 1938, Schwarzwald was forced to leave Austria due to her Jewish ancestry and emigrated to Switzerland; the Schwarzwald schools were closed. Eugenie Schwarzwald died on 7 August 1940, in Zurich. Link to Wikipedia biography