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Ann Tizia Leitich

  • Ann Tizia Leitich was an émigré Austrian author, journalist and art critic, who wrote essays, feuilletons and reviews on the American society and women for German and Austrian newspapers.
  • Ann Tizia
  • Leitich
  • Ann Bertha

  • 25-01-1896
  • Vienna (AT)
  • 03-09-1976
  • Vienna (AT)
  • JournalistAuthorArt Critic
  • Ann Tizia Leitich was an émigré Austrian author, journalist and art critic, who wrote essays, feuilletons and reviews on the American society and women for German and Austrian newspapers.

    Word Count: 29

  • Portrait photograph of Ann Tizia Leitich by Arnold Genthe, 11 June 1930 (© Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Arnold Genthe Collection, [Reproduction number e.g., LC-DIG-ppmsca-123456]).
  • In 1921, Ann Tizia Leitich decided to emigrate to the United States. As 25 years old young woman at the time, she found post-World War I Europe oppressive, felt uncomfortable in Austrian society, and increasingly longed for a freer life in a country untouched by war, such as the U.S. She started her career as an author and journalist initially in Chicago and later in New York. From 1923, she was the America correspondent of the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse and reported in German in her essays, feuilletons and reviews on the American scene and culture for her European audience. Her articles informed Austrians about American culture, enriched by her personal experiences in her new homeland. The topic of feminism and women was frequently covered - and gave Tizian a special and important role as émigré woman artist in the context of exile writing as well as transcultural exchange. Soon, she was also writing for other German-language newspapers such Popular in Germany, as well as Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Tag and the Berliner Lokalanzeiger. Her focus shifted around this time to the changing role of women in society. Her articles described life in the U.S. in a detailed and entertaining manner. American women, who were much more emancipated than their European counterparts at the time, were given special attention.

    At the same time, she studied art history in Des Moines, Iowa, and wrote several novels - fictional and autobiographical. Her semi-autobiographical novel Ursula entdeckt Amerika, publisehd in 1928, describes the gradual inner transformation of a European woman who emigrates alone to the United States (Leitich 1928). Some of Leitich's newspaper articles are featured in the 1926 published book Amerika, du hast es besser (Leitich, 1926).

    During the 1920s she probably lived at the Hotel Woodward. It was at this period, that the German-émigré photographer Arnold Genthe, produced a portrait of her. This must have been created in his New York studio in 1930 before Leitich's return to Austria.

    After temporary stays elsewhere in Europe, Leitich returned to Vienna in the early 1930s, where she went on to produce four more books with American themes, among them in 1932 New York; a combination of three essays by Leitich and photobook. Some of Ruth Jacobi's New York street scenes were published in the book. Furthermore she published books on the cultural history of Vienna and also wrote numerous biographical novels.

    Word Count: 393

  • Book cover of New York , edited by Ann Tizia Leitich, Velhagen & Klasing, 1932 (Archive Helene Roth).
  • Anonymous. "'Hen Parties' Amuse." The Pittsburgh Press, 30 October 1932, p. 27.

    Anonymous. “Leitich, Ann Tizia verehelichte von Korningen, AEIOU.” 25 March 2016, Austria-Forum, das Wissensnetz. Accessed 11 February 2021.

    McFarland, Robert B. "Wiens mediale Wolkenkratzer: vermittelte Urbanität in Ann Tizia Leitichs Amerika Reportagen 1923–1932." Exploration urbaner Räume - Wien 1918–38. (Alltags)kulturelle, künstlerische und literarische Vermessungen der Stadt in der Zwischenkriegszeit, edited by Martin Erian and Primus-Heinz Kucher, V&R unipress, 2019, pp. 145–164.

    McFarland, Robert B. Red Vienna, White Socialism, and the Blues: Ann Tizia Leitich’s America. Boydell & Brewer, 2015.

    Leitich, Ann Tizia. Amerika, du hast es besser. Steyrermühl Verlag, 1926.

    Leitich, Ann Tizia. Ursula entdeckt Amerika. Brunnen-Verlag, 1928.

    Leitich, Ann Tizia. New York. Verlhagen & Klasing, 1932.

    Unterberger, Rebecca. „Ann Tizia Leitich.“ FWF-Projekt Transdisziplinäre Konstellationen in der österreichischen Literatur, Kunst und Kultur der Zwischenkriegszeit(P 27549, 2014-2018). Accessed 23 June 2021.

    Wright, Brooke Marie. Ann Tizia Leitich. New Voice, New Woman. Packaging America for Vienna (undergraduate honors thesis). Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 2004. BYU ScholarsArchive. Accessed 2 March 2021.

    Word Count: 160

  • Helene Roth
  • New York, US (1921–1930).

  • Hotel Woodward, 210 West 55th Street, Times Square District, Manhattan, New York City (residence, 1925–1930?).

  • New York
  • Helene Roth. "Ann Tizia Leitich." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2948/object/5138-10992634, last modified: 07-04-2022.
  • Ruth Jacobi
    Photographer
    New York

    Ruth Jacobi was a German-speaking, Polish-born photographer who emigrated in 1935 to New York, where she opened a studio together with her sister Lotte Jacobi. She later had her own portrait studio.

    Word Count: 31

    Fritz Henle
    Photographer
    New York

    Fritz Henle was a German Jewish photographer who emigrated in 1936 to New York, where he worked as a photojournalist for various magazines. He also published several photobooks of his travels throughout North America and Asia.

    Word Count: 35

    New York
    BookPhotobook
    New York

    In 1932, after her remigration to Vienna, the Austrian journalist Ann Tizia Leitich published New York, an account of her life and writing experiences started as an emigrant in New York in the 1920s.

    Word Count: 33

    Chinatown U.S.A.
    Photobook
    New York

    Chinatown U.S.A. is a photobook published by the German émigré photographer Elizabeth Coleman in 1946 focusing on American-Chinese communities in New York and San Francisco.

    Word Count: 26

    5th Avenue
    Photobook
    New York

    5th Avenue was the first photobook by Fred Stein and was created in 1947 with the publishing house Pantheon Books.

    Word Count: 19

    Pantheon Books
    Publishing House
    New York

    Pantheon Books was a publishing house founded in 1942 by the German émigré Kurt Wolff (1887–1963) and aimed at the exiled European community in New York.

    Word Count: 24