Anna Puschnik

Culture for evereyone

“I have always enjoyed helping others, trying to contribute to the community, helping to shape it and serving a worthy cause.”

Anna Puschnik initially worked as an accountant at EDEKA in Graz before moving to the Mining Insurance in 1946, where she was chief secretary until her retirement. A staunch social democrat since her early youth, she was elected to the Graz Municipal Council in 1963 and served there until 1988 as one of the highest-profile local politicians. Already as a young member of the Municipal Council, she was able to impress with her contributions and ideas.

In 1968, she became the first woman from Graz to be elected to the Municipal Council and was responsible for the departments of culture, health and sport. In her work, she not only created the conditions for the development of art and culture, but above all implemented numerous measures to make them accessible to all social classes. Street theatre in the districts, squares and courtyards, City Orchestra concerts in the city centre and in the Minoritensaal, opera concerts and musicals on the Schlossberg Casemates, the first Graz art market, the expansion of the City Libraries and the introduction of the first Bookmobile, readings by then virtually unknown writers such as Peter Handke and Wolfgang Bauer, and the expansion of the Hallway Gallery at Graz City Hall were just some of the innovations introduced by this committed cultural politician.

In the healthcare sector, she was responsible for introducing the emergency medical service and the emergency veterinary service, as well as establishing a family counselling centre. Her maxim was that social considerations were paramount. The Committee for Social Affairs, the Theatre Committee, the Old Town Conservation Committee and the International City Forum in Graz (ISG) owe many of their initiatives to her. As a member of the advisory board of steirischer herbst, she also rendered outstanding services to the festival. She received many honours and was named an honorary citizen of the city of Graz in 1990.