Origins & Early Life

Ilse Aichinger (1 November 1921 – 11 November 2016) was an Austrian Jewish writer known for her accounts of her persecution by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry. She wrote poems, short stories and radio plays, and won multiple European literary prizes. Aichinger was born in 1921 in Vienna, along with her twin sister, Helga, to Berta (Kremer), a pediatrician of Austrian-Jewish origin whilst her father, Ludwig Aichinger was a teacher. As her mother's family was assimilated, the children were raised Catholic.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Aichinger spent her childhood in Linz and, after her parents divorced, she moved to Vienna with her mother and sister, attending a Catholic secondary school. After the Anschluss in 1938, her family was subjected to Nazi persecution. As a "half-Jew" she was not allowed to continue her studies and became a slave labourer in a button factory. Her sister Helga escaped from Nazism in July 1939 through a Kindertransport to England where she eventually gave birth to a daughter, who became English artist Ruth Rix. During World War II, Aichinger was able to hide her mother in her assigned room, in front of the Hotel Metropol, the Viennese Gestapo headquarters.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

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Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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