The composer Josefine Winter

The Austrian composer, painter, and writer Josefine Winter (1873–1943) is largely forgotten today. Despite her great musical talent, her talent was only nurtured late in life—as a woman of her time, she had few opportunities to pursue music as a career. Furthermore, she shares the fate of many Jewish artists of her generation: the successes she achieved before the Nazis came to power were so profoundly erased in the Holocaust that rediscovery remains difficult to this day.

Childhood and education

Rosa Josefina Sara Auspitz was born on December 21, 1873, in Vienna, the daughter of industrialist Rudolf Auspitz and Helene Lieben. She grew up in an intellectual and art-loving environment and received music lessons as a child. However, she was not allowed to study officially at an art or music college. Instead, she received private lessons from artists such as Emanuel Stöckler and Ludwig Michalek. It was only through her second husband, the physician and poet Josef Winter, whom she met in 1900, that she was able to develop her musical talent. Both were very active in the Viennese cultural scene and maintained contact with Gustav Mahler, among others, even traveling to Munich for the premiere of his 8th Symphony.

Painting and music

Although she worked as both a painter and a composer, her musical work remained largely unnoticed. Winter primarily set poems by contemporary female writers to music; her music was influenced by late Romanticism and Impressionism. She also left her mark on the visual arts. She preferred to paint portraits and landscapes, developing a particular sense of color and lighting. Her paintings have been exhibited at venues including the Vienna Künstlerhaus.

social commitment

In addition to her artistic work, Josefine Winter was also socially active. During the First World War, she ran a children's home and, with her husband, founded a pulmonary sanatorium. For this commitment, her husband was awarded the title "Edler von Wigmar," and she was subsequently renamed Josefine Rosa Winter Edle von Wigmar.

Persecution and death

The political developments in Europe had a tragic impact on her life. As a Jew, she was initially forced to vacate her villa after the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany and move into a collective accommodation. In 1942, at the age of almost 70, she was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she died on January 20, 1943.

Josefine Winter's legacy

Although Josefine Winter's works are little known today, her life represents the fate of many Jewish female artists who not only suffered from the social marginalization of women in art but also became victims of the Holocaust. Her name stands as a symbol of a generation of female artists whose works deserve to be rediscovered.

On April 25, 2025, the JCOM's CD JEWISH VIENNA with soprano Chen Reiss will be released. It features Josefine Winter's song "Ein Buchenwald" (A Buchenwald), available on all major streaming platforms:
Apple Music
Spotify