Austria funds biography of early war reporter
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Ralf Pasch, a German journalist, received a 10,000 Euro stipend from Molden Verlag and the “Presse” newspaper to write a biography of Alice Schalek, Austria’s first female war reporter.
Pasch began researching Schalek after discovering family connections to individuals featured in a museum project about Germans from Bohemia. He became interested in the women in his family history, including Schalek, and intends to create a more nuanced portrait of her life and work.
Schalek was born in Vienna in 1874 to a Jewish family and developed a passion for mountain climbing and travel. She became the sole reporter for the k.u.k. Kriegspressequartier during World War I, a role that drew criticism from Karl Kraus, a prominent journalist who accused her of sensationalism. Pasch believes Schalek’s gender contributed to the negative reaction, as she entered a field dominated by men.
Schalek also explored the position of women in her writing, initially publishing novels under a male pseudonym before using her own name. She later faced arrest by the Nazis for photographs taken in Palestine, eventually escaping to the United States. Pasch hopes to investigate these and other aspects of her life, including her Jewish background and later conversion to Protestantism, to offer a more complete understanding of her legacy.
The Molden Sachbuchstipendium supports biographical writing and was first awarded in 2022 to Susanne Falk, who is publishing a biography of Hans Habe.
