Vilma Neuwirth was born in Vienna in 1928 and grew up in a lower-middle-class working family with seven siblings. Neuwirth's father came from a Jewish family and died during World War II of cancer. Neuwirth's mother was Christian and through her courageous actions, saved her family's lives. Additionally, she hid Jewish individuals in her flat on Glockengasse, thus protecting them from deportation.
Neuwirth spent her entire life in Vienna, working as a hairdresser, photographer, author, and even in her later years at the Documentation Archive Austrian Resistance.
In 2008, Vilma Neuwirth wrote a book about her childhood in Vienna, in which she describes their living situation:
“Our house at Glockengasse was something special, beyond the fact that it was in quite a desolate state. Some of the tiles lining the corridor were broken, some were missing. The ones that were still there wobbled so much, you were lucky not to trip on them and break a leg. But even though it had flaws – I loved this house. I often think back to it, nostalgically. On the second floor, which had five flats, we lived as well as two Jewish and two Catholic families.”
Quote from the novel: Vilma Neuwirth, Glockengasse 29. Eine jüdische Arbeiterfamilie in Wien, 6. ed., Vienna 2008, p. 20.
- Does Vilma Neuwirth’s description of the flat change how you see the space?
- If so, how?