1. Freda Meissner-Blau was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement.
24 Facts About Freda Meissner-Blau
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Freda Meissner-Blau was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party.
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Freda Meissner-Blau's mother was from a wealthy family of industrialists.
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Freda Meissner-Blau's father, Dr Ferdinand Meissner Hohenmeiss, was an economist and journalist.
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Freda Meissner-Blau grew up in a liberal, educated household and enjoyed nature, culture, and art.
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Freda Meissner-Blau was deemed an enemy of the state for his outspoken opposition and he fled to the United Kingdom in 1939.
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Freda Meissner-Blau travelled to England that same year to visit her father, before completing nursing school and then finally moving to Frankfurt, Germany to study medicine at the Goethe University Frankfurt.
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Freda Meissner-Blau then underwent a career change and in the 1960s she moved to Paris and joined the social science department of UNESCO.
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Freda Meissner-Blau identified herself with a number of progressive and social causes of the time, including women's rights, civil rights, environmentalism, democracy and antiestablishmentarianism.
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Freda Meissner-Blau became estranged from Georges, and their marriage broke up in political disagreement.
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Freda Meissner-Blau worked as the Bildungsreferentin for the industrial giant OMV where she took an active role holding seminars and running classes for the working class employees.
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Freda Meissner-Blau came into contact with numerous figures in the union movement and leaders within the Socialist Party of Austria.
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Freda Meissner-Blau became a prominent leader in the fight against the plant, appearing frequently in the media as a spokesperson for the opposition movement.
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Freda Meissner-Blau was joined by her husband Paul, Stefan Micko, Wolfgang Pekny, and Peter Weish as the main figureheads for the cause.
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Freda Meissner-Blau herself became a well recognized and her campaign vaulted environmental issues into the public spotlight in Austria.
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Freda Meissner-Blau proved to be a popular and unifying figure in the movement, however she and Nenning were ultimately unsuccessful at uniting all the dissident factions.
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Freda Meissner-Blau was elected the first federal spokesperson and leader of the party at the inaugural party conference in Klagenfurt on February 12,1987.
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Freda Meissner-Blau however served as a popular and moderating leader of the party.
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Freda Meissner-Blau served on a number of parliamentary committees and through speeches and legislative activism she assisted in establishing a unified parliamentary voice and cultivating a professional image for the group.
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In June 1995 Freda Meissner-Blau has chaired the first International Human Rights Tribunal in Vienna.
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Freda Meissner-Blau's co-chair was Gerhard Oberschlick, editor of the journal FORVM.
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Since her resignation from Parliament Freda Meissner-Blau worked and consulted for various international bodies.
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Freda Meissner-Blau worked as a writer and professional speaker, appearing at various conferences in her retirement.
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Freda Meissner-Blau died on December 22,2015, at the age of 88.