2018: "My mom was a resistance fighter."

"100 Years of Democracy in Austria – 100 Years of the Republic in Vienna" were interrupted by a momentous rupture. The period of Austrofascism and National Socialism marks, on the one hand, the decline of a young democratic state and its eventual dissolution; on the other, it also stands for the struggle for a young democracy and against dictatorship. Our research project is located within the tension between macro-political developments and political self-understanding on an individual level (micro level).

The focus is on three women – Barbara (Hansi) Eibensteiner (Communist Youth Association), Gertrude Horn (Jewish Mixed-Breeders League) and Irma Trksak (Czech Resistance) – who committed to the preservation of democracy in the Austro-fascist era and were punished for this with concentration camp detention after the National Socialist takeover. Their resistance networks and their roles are analyzed in separate chapters.

These are introduced with a historical outline of events in Austria between 1938 and 1945, which clarifies the political framework for (a socialization for) resistance under National Socialism. Following the description of the resistance networks, we classify their activities against the background of a general assessment of resistance activities in Austria, with a particular focus on the achievements of women. In the following chapter, we explain the extent to which resistance and persecution determined the lives of these three women after their liberation from the concentration camp. On the basis of health, career, and family, we trace their respective life paths, discuss their later political commitment and ask about the women's understanding of democracy, as they were all active in communist resistance groups.

In the concluding chapter, we focus on the presence of the past in the families of the resistance fighters. In it, we explore the transmission of the experiences of resistance and persecution within the families, considering this process in the social and individual-biographical context. We asked next-generation descendants about the meaning of the statement "My mom was a resistance fighter." in their lives, for their attitudes, and values, and how the mother's resistance activities contributed to their politicization, their political self-understanding, and their understanding of democracy.

The project, funded by the Jubilee Fund of the City of Vienna within the framework of "100 Years of Democracy in Austria – 100 Years of the Republic in Vienna", deals with political self-understanding and resistance as an important prerequisite for the continued existence and development of democracy.

The book "My mom was a resistance fighter." was published at Picus Verlag in October 2019.