Ilse Arlt
1876, Vienna – 1960, Vienna
Ilse von Arlt attended lectures in social economics and founded the first welfare school in Austria-Hungary in 1912. She was internationally connected in poverty research and welfare science, especially with British colleagues.
She was persecuted because of the Jewish heritage of one of her grandparents. Her school was closed and her books destroyed. She survived thanks to the support of her students and her brothers.
After the war she resumed her position as head of the welfare school but had to close it in 1948 for health and financial reasons. Her significance to social work was only rediscovered decades later; today she is considered a pioneer of modern social work in Austria.
