Book presentation: Eva Geber “Madame d’Ora. Tagebücher aus dem Exil”

Thursday, February 23rd | Museum Dorotheergasse, Dorotheergasse 11, A-1010 Wien

D’Ora, whose real name is Dora Kallmus, was an internationally renowned photographer with studios in Vienna and later in Paris, where personalities ranging from Gustav Klimt to the Austrian imperial family, from Josephine Baker to Pablo Picasso, had their portraits taken. In 1940, after the Nazi occupation of France, she was forced to give up her property. Her beloved sister was deported to Łódź in 1941. D’Ora fled to the south of France and lived for about three years in a mountain village in Département Ardèche, where she kept a diary and wrote essays and a novel. She planned to publish parts of these writings after the war but could not find a publisher.
The editor Eva Geber has comprehensively reviewed these literary remains for the first time and accompanies them with an explanatory essay, as well as contemporary and police documents. The result is the intimate picture of a woman who, despite hardship and danger, is not willing to give up, who wants to preserve her dignity and live her values. D’Ora’s accounts clearly show how the threat of National Socialism changes a person’s perspective.
 
Eva Geber (born in 1941) is an Austrian graphic artist, author and cultural journalist. She was editor of the magazine “AUF – Eine Frauenzeitschrift” for thirty years and is a member of the Graz Authors’ Assembly.
 
In cooperation with the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG)
 
Free admission as of 6:00 p.m.
 
Advance booking requested: Tel.: +43 1 535 04 31-1510 or e-mail: events@jmw.at