Josefine Winter

Josefine Winter (since 1914 Winter Edle von Wigmar; born 21 December 1873 in Vienna; died 20 January 1943 in the Theresienstadt ghetto) was an Austrian painter, composer and writer. Life Josefine, or Josephine, was born in Vienna, the daughter of Rudolf Auspitz (1837-1906) and Helene Lieben (1838-1896). In 1879, her mother fell ill with depression and was put in the Préfargier psychiatric hospital near Neuchâtel. The children were placed in the care of a governess, Marie Heidenhain from Dresden, who became the father’s new wife after the mother’s death in 1896 Josefine was educated by private tutors, but as a girl was not allowed to study. Like her mother, she began to paint. Her teachers were Emanuel Stöckler and Ludwig Michalek. Although both parents were patrons of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, they did not notice her musical talent. She received only the piano lessons customary at the time for children from “good homes.” Through visits to performances of the Vienna Court Opera, Josefine became enthusiastic about Georges Bizet’s Carmen and began to play the melodies she heard on the piano. The pianist Lili Michalek became her first teacher before she became a stud