Raissa Adler, née Epstein (Russian Раи́са Тимофе́евна А́длер) (born November 9, 1872, in Moscow; died April 21, 1962, in New York City) was an Austrian women's rights activist of Russian origin.

Life

Raissa Epstein was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family. She received school lessons from private teachers. Since it was not possible for women to study in Russia in the 19th century, she went to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in 1895, where she studied biology for three semesters at the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. At the end of 1896 she moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and joined the women's movement there. She met

Alfred Adler Alfred Adler ( ; ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, relationships within the family, a ...

and married him in 1897 in

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

. She gave birth to four children: Valentina in 1898,

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

in 1901, Kurt in 1905 and Cornelia in 1909. The liberally educated, politically radical and free-spirited Raissa had contact with revolutionary Russian emigrants. She became friends with Leo Trotsky through the Russian émigré Aline Furtmüller and worked with him in 1929. Adler was involved in the area of women's issues under the Vienna City Councilor for Health Julius Tandler. Together with Tandler and Margarete Hilferding, Adler was also a co-founder of the

Workers International Relief The Workers International Relief (WIR) — also known as Internationale Arbeiter-Hilfe (IAH) in German and as Международная рабочая помощь (Mezhdunarodny Rabochy Komitet Pomoshchi Golodayushchim Rossii − Mezhrabpom) in R ...

in Austria, in the committee of the Red Aid and joined the

Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest Communist party, communist parties. The KP� ...

. In 1922, she was a member of the preparatory committee of a Viennese Clarté movement (

Peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

founded in 1919 by

Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist. He began his literary career in the 1890s as a Symbolist poet and continued as a neo-Naturalist novelist; i ...

). At the beginning of the 1930s, she was on the board of the Association for

Individual psychology Individual psychology () is a psychological method and school of thought founded by the Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler. The English edition of Adler's work on the subject, '' The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology'' (1924), is a coll ...

. After the

Austrian Civil War The Austrian Civil War () of 12–15 February 1934, also known as the February Uprising () or the February Fights (), was a series of clashes in the First Austrian Republic between the forces of the authoritarian Fatherland Front (Austria), rig ...

in February 1934, she was arrested for two days because of her political activism. This incident prompted Alfred Adler to personally bring them from Vienna to the USA, where the couple emigrated to in 1935. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Adler served for a time as chairwoman of the executive committee of the Individual Psychology Association in New York. In 1954 she was elected honorary president of the board of directors.Karl Fallend: Raissa Adler. In: Brigitta Keintzel, Ilse Korotin (eds.): Female scientists in and from Austria. Life – work – impact

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Raissa 1872 births 1962 deaths 19th-century Austrian Jews Adler family Adlerian psychology Austrian emigrants to the United States Austrian people of Russian-Jewish descent Austrian socialists Jewish scientists University of Zurich alumni Jewish psychologists Austrian feminists 20th-century Austrian women American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Russian descent