Eugenie Goldstern produced one of the earliest ethnographic monographs focused on a single European mountain village, detailing the daily life and economic structures of the commune of Bessans. Born in Odesa in 1884, she navigated the constraints of a male-dominated academic sphere while conducting rigorous field studies across the Western Alps during the early twentieth century.
Academic Training and Research Focus
Goldstern relocated to Austria in 1905 and pursued anthropology at the University of Vienna, studying under Michael Haberlandt. Her research interests diverged from established scholarly trends that frequently idealized Alpine culture as static. Instead, she performed field investigations in the Western Alps, beginning in 1912, and resided in Bessans through the winter of 1913-1914. Supported by ethnographer Arnold van Gennep, she emphasized the study of material culture, particularly handmade toy objects, which appeared in her inaugural and final publications for the Wiener Zeitschrift für Volkskunde.
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →Doctoral Studies and Professional Obstacles
The onset of World War I interrupted her progress, though she continued her education at the University of Neuchatel. In 1920, she earned her PhD from the University of Fribourg under the supervision of Paul Girardin. Despite her academic qualifications, the climate of rising antisemitism in Austria, combined with gender-based professional barriers, limited her ability to secure a permanent research position. By the late 1920s, she ceased publishing and withdrew from active field research.
Exclusion and Final Years
In 1937, her contributions were featured alongside those of von Gennep in a Savoie exhibition at the Exposition Internationale in Paris. Following the 1938 annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, racial laws mandated the exclusion of Jewish citizens from public life. While various family members emigrated, Goldstern remained in Vienna. On 14 June 1942, authorities deported her to the Sobibór extermination camp in Poland, where she was killed.
Posthumous Recognition
Institutional interest in her body of work returned in the twenty-first century. The Museum of Ethnology in Vienna organized the exhibition "Ur-Ethnographie" during 2004–2005 to showcase her collection of Swiss folk art. Later, in 2007, the Musée dauphinois and the Musée savoisien presented a retrospective on her life and ethnographic methodology.
Fast facts
- Born: 1884, Odesa
- Died: 1942, Sobibór Extermination Camp
- Citizenship: Austria, Cisleithania
- Occupations: Geographer, ethnologist, anthropologist
- PhD: University of Fribourg, 1920
- Major Research Site: Bessans, France
Questions readers ask
What was the subject of Goldstern's monographs?
She focused on the ethnography of Alpine communities, specifically examining economy and life in the village of Bessans.
Where did she conduct her primary research?
Her fieldwork was centered in the Western Alps, including regions in Switzerland and the commune of Bessans.
Achievements
- Recorded as geographer, anthropologist and ethnologist
