Leopoldine Glöckel

Leopoldine Glöckel (12 November 1871 – 21 May 1937) was an Austrian politician. She was one of the first women to become a member of the City Council of Vienna. She was chairwoman of the City Council Committee for Welfare Institutions, Youth Welfare and Health Care. She married Otto Glöckel in 1897.

Biography Leopoldine Glöckel, née Pfaffinger, was born the daughter of the director of the telephone and telegraph administration in Vienna, Joseph von Pfaffinger. After the early death of her mother, she grew up with her wealthy grandparents. She attended eight-year elementary school, then received private lessons and finally graduated from the teacher training college. In 1897 she married the social democrat, teacher and educational reformer Otto Glöckel. Leopoldine Glöckel was considered an excellent speaker who gave numerous lectures on the topics of education and schools. She was a founding member of the "Free School" association, in whose institutions she also taught. In her home district of Meidling she was a member of the district board, chairwoman of the district women's organization and member of the district welfare association. She served as vice president of the private welfare association "Societas" and as chairwoman of the school committee in the training school for domestic helpers that she founded. She enthusiastically supported her husband's school reform and published specialist articles about it in the Arbeiterinnen-Zeitung and its successor .

Leopoldine Glöckel ran for the Social Democratic Workers' Party in the 7th district from 1919. She was a member of the City Council of Vienna for four legislative periods, from May 22, 1919 to February 12, 1934, and from 1920 also of the Vienna State Parliament. During this time she was chairwoman of the City Council Committee for Welfare Institutions, Youth Welfare and Health Care. In the first three election periods she also worked as secretary in the City Council and Vienna State Parliament. In May 1927 she became deputy chairman of the newly constituted Social Democrats' Club in the Vienna City Council. Leopoldine Glöckel was one of the first female City Council members.

According to the post-mortem report, Leopoldine Glöckel died on May 22, 1937 in Vienna (in the literature, May 21, 1937 is also given as the date of death). Both the cremation - at which Karl Seitz gave a eulogy - and the burial of the urn in the Meidling cemetery took place with great public participation. She was buried in the grave in honor of her husband in the Meidling cemetery.

In the 12th district, the municipal residential complex Leopoldine-Glöckel-Hof and Leopoldine-Glöckel-Weg were named after the politician.