Marianne Millwisch-Kaufmann

One of the first female members of the Styrian State Parliament

Graz-born Marianne Kaufmann graduated from the Teacher Training Institute for Women, worked as a teacher and, from 1924, as headmistress at a Bürgerschule (a three-grade school, which followed on from the five-grade elementary school in early-twentieth-century Austria). In 1925, she married the archivist Franz Millwisch. After her wedding, she had to give up her job due to the double income law of the time.

As a member of the Catholic Women’s Organisation of Styria, she became a member of the Styrian state parliament for the Christian Social Party in 1919, making her one of the first women in the Styrian state parliament, alongside her party colleague Olga Rudel-Zeynek and Martha Tausk from the Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Until 1934, hence for 15 years, she was a member of the Styrian state Parliament and during this time she was, among other things, chairwoman of the Culture Committee and a member of the regional education authority Landesschulrat Steiermark. The motions she has tabled in the state parliament reflect the core areas of her political commitment: Child and youth welfare, culture and education, support for the poor and unemployed. She contributed to the introduction of home economics as a subject in primary and secondary schools throughout Austria. Another of her motions was significant for Styria: the declaration of the “Dachsteinlied” (Dachstein Song) as the regional anthem of Styria.

Millwisch-Kaufmann also held high-profile positions in the media sector. She headed the film committee of Catholic Action, was film speaker for the Fatherland Front, director of the Austrian Institute for Film Culture and Austria’s representative at the International Press Office of the Catholic League of Film in Brussels. After the Second World War, she co-founded the Styrian regional group of the Austrian Women’s Movement, a women’s organisation affiliated with the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). Marianne Millwisch-Kaufmann deceased highly honoured in Graz.