Outsider Bodies, Everyday Lives: Single Mothers and Their Children in Red Vienna

Abstract

Healthy bodies were central to the welfare projects of Red Vienna, 1919-34. This article traces the discourse of care surrounding single mothers and their children within the interwar Viennese welfare system, paying particular attention to the ways their bodies were described, monitored, and maximized for social utility. It establishes a shift in the perception of worth for these citizens, and then contrasts this stated value with the remembered experiences of children growing up without legal fathers in Red Vienna.