Gerda lerner womens history month activities

Gerda Lerner, the “godmother of women’s history,” fled Nazi-occupied Austria and became an accomplished historian and advocate for female scholars. She established the first graduate programs in women’s history and fought to include and empower women in the study of history.

Gerda Hedwig Kronstein was born on April 30, 1920 in Vienna, Austria. She and her younger sister, Nora, grew up in an assimilated Jewish household. Her father, Robert, owned a pharmacy and her mother, Illona (Neumann), was an aspiring artist.

Gerda lerner womens history month activities

The challenges her mother encountered trying to balance art with her duties as a housewife and mother made a lasting impression on Lerner.

Following Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, Lerner’s father fled to Liechtenstein to avoid arrest by the Gestapo.

In an attempt for force his return, the Gestapo imprisoned Lerner and her mother. More than a month later, after Lerner's father surrendered his assets to the Nazis, Lerner and her mother were released and joi