A new exhibition at the Wien Museum (Vienna Museum) in Austria will explore the impact of the First World War on the Home Front.
It will open on the 16th October 2014 and run until the 18th January 2015.
Documenting the initial enthusiasm which followed the outbreak of war through to the end of the conflict, the images on display aim to provide insight into how the first total war affected the daily lives of Austrians.
A clothing store in Vienna, circa 1915, © Wien Museum
Vienna’s experiences of the conflict were varied: masses of refugees arrived in a city which struggled to meet their basic needs; women were drawn into a conflict where their labour was an essential part of the war effort; rationing was introduced in an effort to stave off starvation, which finally hit the streets of Vienna in 1917. The subsequent demonstrations and hunger protests contributed to the eventual downfall of the Habsburg monarchy.
The Vienna Museum aims to present “different perspectives” on the Home Front and how it affected the lives of the people there.
“Red Cross Week”, from 31 April to 6 May 1916; Postcard publishers “Bediene Dich selbst”, © Wien Museum
Source: Wien Museum
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News