Hedy Schwarz 

1902, Vienna – 1991, London

Hedwig Schwarz, who called herself Hedy, was a trained social worker and worked for two years in a boarding school for girls. She then became involved in Lili Roubiczek’s ‘Haus der Kinder’ (House of Children), the first Montessori facility for the children of working-class families in Vienna. She lived and studied with other pupils at 98 Troststraße in Favoriten. In 1927, she completed her training as a Montessori teacher in Milan and London. From 1932, she ran the first municipal Montessori nursery at the Goethehof, which she also helped to design. In 1934, Hedy Schwarz was dismissed for being a Social Democrat and the nursery was destroyed. Consequently, she founded a private nursery.

In 1938, as a Jew, she was forced to flee and made her way to England. In London, Anna Freud set up a home for traumatised children, and from 1941 onwards, Hedy Schwarz worked there as the head of the nursery. She trained in psychoanalysis and became a member of the prestigious British Psychoanalytical Society in 1943.

She was very successful in her career: she gave many lectures at international conferences and published several articles. She adopted two girls and discussed their upbringing with Anna Freud. Previous reference works have recognized her solely as a psychoanalyst, without taking into account her early professional identity as a social worker.