July 15, 2021
Time: Noon, with rebroadcast of recorded program at 6 p.m.
Zoom Webinar

Speaker: Dr. Mary Elisabeth Cox

“Nutritional Inequality in Vienna: 1919 to 1922”

Program Description: As the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to unravel during the First World War, the specter of civilian hunger grew in Vienna. Food insecurity increased in the city for a variety of interconnected reasons. In the midst of wide-spread food shortages, the University of Vienna’s Children’s Clinic and Hospital became inundated with new patients suffering from a variety of ailments associated with malnutrition. Unfortunately, hunger did not immediately cease with the succession of hostilities. One contemporary study suggested that in 1919, 90% all school children in the city were experiencing moderate to severe malnutrition. This presentation explores the impact that reduced food supplies due the First World War and Franco-British blockade had on the health of civilians in Vienna, as well as the nutritional impact on the city once the blockade was lifted and international food aid arrived. Philanthropic donations played a huge role in alleviating children’s suffering and reducing nutritional inequality.

Advance registration is required for this FREE virtual event is now open HERE.

About the Speaker: Dr. Mary E. Cox received a PhD from the University of Oxford and is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Central European University in Austria. She will be making this presentation live from Vienna, Austria.