Vienna Women’s Center of the Red Crescent Society and Its Activities

Abstract

During the First World War, the Red Crescent Society opened branches in the allied countries in order to collect aid and supply the needed materials from Europe. One of these was the Women’s Center (Frauenverein vom Ottomanischen Roten Halbmond in Wien) established in Vienna under the Women’s Center Committee and the conference given by Dr. Besim Ömer in Vienna had a great impact on the establishment of this center. Women’s Center, which was opened towards the end of 1916 with the initiative of Fatma Zehra Hanım, wife of Vienna Ambassador Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha, as it tried to meet all the needs of Turkish soldiers who were injured in the Galicia Front and treated in hospitals in Austria-Hungary, it provided great support to the society with the fundraising activities it carried out in Austria and Hungary. The Women’s Center opened a donation account in Vienna’s leading banks, such as the Wiener Bankverein and Postsparkasse, for donations to be collected from Vienna and its surroundings. In particular, the Vienna Ambassador H. Hilmi Pasha, the Undersecretary of the Embassy R. Blacque and the Red Crescent Society Vienna Representative Dr. Hikmet Bey tried to support the work of the Women’s Center. In this study where we will evaluate the activities of the Vienna Women’s Center, first of all, the factors driving Turkish women in Vienna to such an attempt will be explained, later, information will be given about the issues related to the establishment and start to work of the Women’s Center. In addition, the aids collected and the investigation of both the Vienna Red Crescent Representative Office and the Women’s Center in the Galicia Front will be put forward, in the light of the Austrian press of the period, especially the archival documents.