Born 20 August 1895 in Vienna as Marianne Katharina Pick, was an Austrian Jewish economist, social scientist, journalist, women’s rights activist, and socialist trade union leader. She was a pioneering researcher into women’s labour and one of the first women in Austria to study political science and economics, completing her doctorate at Heidelberg University in 1918 at a time when women in Vienna were not permitted to graduate.

From 1925 to 1934, she built and led the Women’s Department of the Wiener Arbeiterkammer (Vienna Chamber of Labour), systematically gathering statistical evidence and personal accounts about working women’s lives. Her studies, films, and reports documented conditions of women in industry, home work, and other sectors and helped shape early advocacy for equal pay, employment opportunities, and labour protections for women. She also lectured, wrote articles, and spoke on radio to bring working women’s perspectives into public discourse.

Politically active in the Social Democratic Party of Austria, she also served on the Chamber of Labour’s workers’ council and later joined the underground Revolutionäre Sozialisten after the party was banned in 1934. Following the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, she was arrested by the Gestapo while preparing to flee. She was imprisoned, deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp, and murdered in March 1942 at the Bernburg Euthanasia Centre under the Nazi “Aktion 14f13.”

Her legacy is honoured in Austria through the Käthe-Leichter-Preis, a state prize awarded annually for research and advancement in gender equality and the history of women’s labour, and through street names and memorials in Vienna.

Reference:
Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), English and German editions. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Käthe_Leichter