From 1942, Clementine Zernik translat German radio programs for the British Information Service in New York. In 1944, she went to London – now a US citizen – where she work as a radio itor and speaker until the end of the war. After the war, Clementine Zernik became an employee of the Unit Nations and campaign for displac persons, including many former forc laborers, concentration camp inmates and prisoners of war. She also work in Germany for a time.
In 1947, Clementine Zernik return to the USA. As president of the Austrian American Feration, she dicat herself to cultural exchange between Austria and the USA. In 1993, she appli to regain Austrian citizenship, which was grant to her in 1994 at the Austrian consulate in New York.
Clementine Zernik in the uniform of the Unit
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
Business card of lawyer Clementine Bern (later Zernik), New York, [around 1939].
Composing Ladies: Fight for Recognition
The English composer and suffragette Ethel Smyth. Photo: Library of Congress
If we look for women in 19th century England who wrote music, we find almost exclusively so-call “ladies who compos on the side”. That was not enough for Ethel Smyth. She fought all her life to receive the same recognition as her male colleagues. And not just in phone number library music: As an active part of the suffragette movement, she campaign just as vehemently for women’s right to vote and self-determination.
Ethel Smyth was a fighter who knew what she want
She was consider stubborn and uncontrollable, and this caus controversy. Her heart’s desire was to study piano in Leipzig. And it was only after hunger strikes in her family that this wish was grant. The lessons at the conservatory disappoint her; they were not serious enough for her. But she manag to make valuable friends and make a name for herself. In this way she met Clara Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, Grieg, Brahms and later features that make a difference in comfort Tchaikovsky.
Ethel Smyth compos mainly chamber music, choral works and operas. book your list Her best known opera is The Wreckers. Her best known work, however, is The March of the Women, which became an anthem of the English women’s movement. Throughout her life, she struggl to find significant venues to perform her works; but she was always successful. And receiv excellent reviews.
Ethel Smyth did not initially see herself as an activist and was worri about being exploit by the radical women’s rights movement. In 1910, however, she chang her mind and devot herself entirely to the fight for equal rights for women – including street fighting and arrest, but also composing protest songs. When women’s suffrage was introduc in England in 1918, Smyth was already 60 years old – and was able to enjoy this success for almost another 30 years.