Elfriede Lichtenberg

1904, Vienna – 1988, Vienna

Elfriede Weiss, who called herself Elfi, began working as an assistant social worker at the Youth Welfare Office in March 1927 and attended training courses whilst working. In 1931, she was elected to the executive committee of the Association of Social Workers. In 1934, she became involved, alongside her husband Franz Lichtenberg, with the banned Revoluntionäre Sozialisten (‘Revolutionary Socialists’) and was dismissed from her post on account of her political convictions.

The couple managed to flee to Colombia via the Netherlands in 1938. Together with other displaced persons, they formed the “Comité de los Austríacos Libres” and made plans to contribute to the post-1945 reconstruction. From exile, Elfi Lichtenberg organised relief efforts for children in Vienna.

In 1948, Elfi and Franz Lichtenberg returned to Vienna with their daughter. In 1950, they moved to the newly built Per-Albin-Hansson housing estate so that they could be politically active in a working-class district. Elfriede Lichtenberg continued her career as a social worker, working at the child welfare centre and, from 1951 until her retirement in 1962, at the headquarters of the Youth Welfare Office. In 1984, she moved into the retirement home on Ada-Christen-Gasse.