Yesterday I saw Karin Berger’s film „Küchengespräche mit Rebellinnen“ (Kitchen Talks with Rebel Women). Set in the kitchen, the film shares the oral histories of four women in the resistance. Women risking everything by doing political work, smuggling supplies, caring for the wounded, even carrying weapons.

#WomenInHistory #Resistance #FeministHistory  #OralHistory #CareWork #KarinBerger #AgnesPrimocic #UnsungHeroes #AustrianHistory  #Wikipedia

The title and setting are quietly radical, not only because the kitchen is the heart of any home, but also because to me it says so much about the value of labor and, specifically, care work. The fact that care work receives little recognition or appreciation in Austria is, unfortunately, a reality. But we must not continue to reinforce this societal blind spot. In that sense, the title is almost provocative and certainly subversive. It is a collection of the oral history of four women in the resistance.

What did the women of the resistance do?
They procured clothing, food, ammunition, and weapons. They wrote and distributed leaflets with political messages against fascism and against the Nazis. They cared for the wounded. Some even carried weapons themselves and participated in combat. Resistance takes many forms. Who would seriously tell a war veteran who worked in logistics, medical or supply services that they weren’t really part of the war?

Who gets to shape the historical narrative?
The women of the resistance have been largely left out of historical accounts. Agnes Primocic, for example, freed Sepp Plieseis from the Hallein concentration camp. By the end of the war, the partisan group Willy-Fred, which he had founded with the help of Resi Pesendorfer in the area of the Salzkammergut, had grown to around 500 members, including some armed men. The women - not in the direct line of fire, but right behind it - risked their lives and the lives of their families to support the partisans. And yet, they are not mentioned at all in Plieseis’ autobiography. Even Wikipedia reproduces his incomplete account, stating there were about 30 partisans who sustained themselves. The English article even states that he escaped the camp on his own(!).

In the Balkan Blog of
@derStandard Lena Sadovski
@univienna analyzes the history of the Republic of Poljica and its role between #Venice and the #OttomanEmpire
#HabsburgMonarchy #AustrianHistory #histodons #phdvoice #SciComm
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000143544000/dalmatinische-republik-poljica-zwischen-adeliger-selbstverwaltung-und-fremdherrschaft