Minna Lachs

Minna Lachs (born as Minna Schiffmann; 1907[https://sciencev1.orf.at/science/gastgeber/78945 (German) ORF bio]–1993){{cite book|author=Thomas Maisel|title=Scholars in Stone and Bronze: The Monuments in the Arcaded Courtyard of the University of Vienna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jrIqC3JUkoC&pg=PA23|year=2008|publisher=Böhlau Verlag Wien|isbn=978-3-205-78224-7|page=23}} was an Austrian educator and memoirist.[http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/minna-lachs/ (German) FemBio. Frauen-Biographieforschung] She was born in Terebovlia, then known as Trembowla, in what was referred to as the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. The events of World War I prompted her family to leave for Vienna. Her father wished to distance himself from his Orthodox Judaism upbringing, while she initially felt a need to assert her Jewish identity more strongly. As part of that, she joined a Zionist youth organization, which ultimately led to an interest in Socialism and to meeting her husband.{{cite book|author=Jacqueline Vansant|title=Reclaiming Heimat: Trauma and Mourning in Memoirs by Jewish Austrian Reémigrés|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s700-O4D8T4C&pg=PA139|year=2001|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0-8143-2951-9|pages=15, 21–23, 32–33, 69–70, 75, 79, 83–85, 98, & 139–141}} Lachs graduated from the University of Vienna with a thesis on Karl Emil Franzos. She fled Austria for Switzerland due to the Anschluss and her memoir concerning the period was titled Warum schaust du zurueck.[http://search.cjh.org:1701/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=beta&docId=CJH_ALEPH000201727&fromSitemap=1&afterPDS=true Center for Jewish History] She returned to Vienna after the war.{{cite book|author=Harriet Pass Freidenreich|title=Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTy5GsUWgO0C&pg=PA261|date=21 June 2002|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-10927-2|page=261}} Lachs was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering, where her ashes are buried. A park in Vienna is named after her.[https://www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/parks/anlagen/minnalachs.html (German) Viennese government site]