Rosa Jochmann
Country
Austria
Birth - Death
1901 - 1994
Occupation
Politics, Activist
Description
Holocaust survivor and activist. Union representative in a factory that made glass covers for gas lamps, and joined the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP, 1926). Arrested and imprisoned in Ravensbruck (1940) when Germany invaded Austria, becoming a mediator between the prisoners and the authorities. When liberated, she stayed behind to care for the sick prisoners. Elected in the first post-war election as a member of the National Council (lower house, 1945) for the Social Democrat Party (SPO). Became Deputy Chair of the SPO and Chair of the SPO Women. Named an honorary citizen of Vienna (1981). When she died in 1994 of a heart attack, she was awarded a grave of honor in the city. Named as one of the fifty most important Austrians of the last fifty years (2004). Her sexuality remained secret throughout her life. But in a 2005 exhibition about her life and about the persecution of gays and lesbians, she was identified as lesbian.
