Have you ever wondered where masochism comes from? It started during the Habsburg Empire, in Galicia (which used to be a region from eastern Poland to western Ukraine). Leopold von Sacher-Masoch grew up there, raised by his Ukrainian nurse who has had a huge influence on him. She told him Ukrainians tales and sang to… Continue reading The Origin of Masochism, an Unfortunate Writer and Galicia
Galicia is a historical and geographical region in central-eastern Europe, today divided between western Ukraine and eastern Poland. The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was created following the Partitions of Poland starting in 1772 and was under the rule of the Habsburgs. It was an economic resource, a cultural hub and a strategic military region,… Continue reading Keeping Galicia’s heritage alive
Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as Sissi, is a prominent symbol of the Habsburg Empire. She was an icon in her time and still is nowadays. She has inspired many works of fiction, such as Sissi – The Young Empress (1956) or lately The Empress (2022), which created a fantasy that tends to drift… Continue reading Erratic, impulsive, adventurous Sissi
The concept of “feminism” developed in Europe during the 19th century, when the first women’s rights movements emerged. We all know about the Suffragettes movement in the UK founded in 1903 but what about feminism in the Habsburg Empire? We have discussed with Catherine Horel, historian and writer of Multicultural Cities of the Habsburg Empire… Continue reading Austro-Hungarian Feminism
After the Covid-19 pandemic, you must now know the importance of washing your hands regularly to limit cases of infections. But did you know that the first doctor to discover that it is essential to wash your hands – especially in the medical field – actually did nothing but provoke the wrath of his colleagues,… Continue reading Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, the pioneer of hand washing
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