Hildegard Burjan Birthplace

In the house, Elisabethstraße 36 in Görlitz Hildegard Burjan was born as Hildegard Lea Freund 1883 and lived there for several years with her family. The father had set up a shop on the first floor.

On October 4, 1919 Hildegard Burjan founded Caritas Socialis as a community of women in the church. Hildegard Burjan (1883 – 1933) was married, mother, academic with an alert eye for social developments. Energetic, innovative and courageous, she broke new ground as a social pioneer, as the founder of Caritas Socialis, as one of the first eight women to enter parliament more than 100 years ago. Hildegard Burjan was the first and at that time the only Christian Socialist female member of the Vienna City Council and the Austrian Parliament. Called „the conscience of parliament“ she succeeded in working together üacross party lines. As a young woman, she was baptized after a serious illness and, together with her companions, campaigned for women's rights, human dignity, the improvement of structures and the overcoming of gaps in society. On January 29, 2012 Hildegard Burjan was beatified in Vienna.  Source: Diocese of Görlitz