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Marie Blich-Sulzer

1872–1919

Born
16 Oct 1872, Vienna
Country of birth
Austria–Hungary, today Austria
Died
9 Nov 1919, Strobl
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Vienna

    Birth, Vienna

  2. Died · Strobl

    Death, Strobl

What was it like?

The world around Vienna, 1872: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Marie was born around the same time as Otto Loewi, Franz Lehár, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Born around the same time

  • Otto Loewi

    1873 · Jewish-German pharmacologist

  • Franz Lehár

    1870 · Komárom-born Austrian music composer (1870–1948)

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff

    1873 · Russian composer, pianist and conductor (1873–1943)

  • Colette

    1873 · French novelist (1873–1954)

  • Enrico Caruso

    1873 · Italian opera singer (1873–1921)

  • William G. Morgan

    1870 · inventor of volleyball

Fashion

Swaddling practices and constant headwear use

Infants were placed in swaddling cushions for several months to ensure they grew straight, and male toddlers were dressed in dresses just like girls. Adults of both genders kept their headwear on all day, even while eating meals at the table.

The versatile Gugl shawl and headgear

In winter, women wore a large, triangular wool shawl called a Gugl, which was crossed over the chest and tied at the back because they did not have coats. They also wore this shawl over their heads to protect their face, or inserted cardboard into a colored headscarf to create a sunshade during summer.

Music

Evolution of dance and instrumentation

Dances like the polka, waltz, mazurka, and schottische were increasingly integrated into the repertoire alongside traditional dances, with brass ensembles often replacing older string groups in many performance settings. Although these styles evolved, traditional folk dances remained deeply anchored in daily life and festivals.

Popular instruments of the mid-19th century

During the 1850s, the zither became highly popular as a folk-music counterpart to the bourgeois piano. By 1860, the introduction of hand-held squeeze-box instruments like the accordion and harmonica allowed a single person to provide full orchestral accompaniment for entertainment.

Getting around

Railway revolution reduced travel times drastically

For a journey between Vienna and Klagenfurt, passengers relied on slow stagecoaches until the railway expanded; travel time dropped from five days by coach to ten or twelve hours by train after 1864.

Regional coach travel remained slow for years

Before the railway reached Villach, the slow stagecoach between Klagenfurt and Villach took about eight hours to complete the trip.

Daily life

Improved Cooking with the Sparherd Stove

From the mid-19th century, the introduction of the masonry "Sparherd" stove with a chimney, water container, and oven allowed for expanded cooking possibilities. Before this, cooking was simpler, and many households lacked these modern improvements.

Restricted Nature of Public Schooling

Primary education was mandatory for children aged 6 to 12, but country schools were typically restricted to two grades and focused heavily on religious instruction, memorization, and obedience. The curriculum was intentionally designed to reinforce social class rather than provide a path to secondary education.

Food

Meat consumption frequency for workers

Ordinary workers typically ate meat only twice a week, usually on Saturdays and Sundays.

Staple foods of the population

Potatoes were a staple food that helped save the population from famine, and wheat bread had become the dominant bread type in Vienna by mid-century.

Prices and wages

Worker family weekly budget in 1872

In 1872, a worker couple with four children lived on a weekly income of 6 Taler and 15 Silbergroschen. Their weekly household expenses for food, fuel, light, and rent amounted to 7 Taler, 10 Silbergroschen, and 8 Pfennig.

Weekly wages for factory workers

In the late 1860s, unskilled factory workers typically earned 5 to 6 florins per week, while highly qualified workers could earn between 10 and 32 florins depending on their specific trade.

Work

Long Hours and Harsh Working Conditions

Industrial workers typically toiled for 12 to 16 hours a day, with little to no free time during the week as they needed to recover for the next shift. Families often lived in cramped quarters, sometimes even within the employer's home, and many children worked in textile factories despite regulations.

Surprising Facts of Industrial Life

In some textile factories, workers complained of having to work up to 17 hours per day, and female workers were often required to wash the factory floors for free after their shifts ended. In North Bohemia, infant mortality rates in industrial areas exceeded 30 percent, reflecting the dire living conditions of these families.

News and letters

Postage stamps and the new correspondence card

In 1850, Austria introduced adhesive postage stamps, and by 1869, the country pioneered the correspondence card, which allowed people to send short messages for only two kreuzer.

Slow delivery times in Vienna

Although urban mail in Vienna was delivered five times daily, efficiency was often poor, and a local letter could sometimes take up to two days to arrive.

During their lifetime

  1. 1876

    Metric system becomes mandatory in 1876

    In 1876, the metric system became mandatory for all measurements across Austria.

  2. 1884

    Electric street lighting installed in 1884

    In 1884, the first permanent electric street lighting system in the empire was installed in Temesvár.

  3. 1892

    Gold crown currency introduced in 1892

    In 1892, the gold crown currency was introduced, replacing the old florin system.

  4. 1914

    Wartime inflation begins, 1914

    Just after war broke out in 1914, the government began using the printing press to fund military costs, causing the money supply to expand by 977 percent by 1918.

  5. 1915

    Ersatz bread introduced, 1915

    In early 1915, the government forced citizens to eat bread made with ersatz ingredients like sawdust because food supplies were severely depleted.

  6. 1919

    Women gain vote, 1919

    The new Republic introduced women's suffrage, with women voting for the first time in the February 1919 national assembly elections.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.