Živena’s Return

In 1898 the organization began publishing Dennica, the first Slovakian women’s magazine. The editor-in-chief was well-known writer Terezia Vansova, and under her nine-year tenure the magazine focussed on literary and political issues; later it became a more “family oriented”publication. The last issue was printed in 1914, just before the outbreak of war. While Dennica did not survive the war, the publication Živena, under author Elena Maróthy-Šoltésová, was longer-lived. Maróthy-Šoltésová became chairwoman of Živena and tried to fundraise more money for its educational and publishing activities via a kind of crowdfunding. 

Maróthy-Šoltésová was also the driving force behind  Živena’s efforts to open schools for women. In these schools, she argued, women should get a new type of education focusing on intellectual skills, life skills, and empathy. The establishment of the schools proved to be an ordeal. Requests were denied three times by the AustroHungarian government over the years. Efforts bore fruit only after World War I, and by 1920, Živena had eleven schools to tend to. The demand for this type of education was high and Živena didn’t have the resources to manage these schools by itself; as a result, administration was eventually handed over to the Czechoslovak state.

During World War II and the Nazi occupation, Živena, like many organizaitons in civil society, had many difficulties. Programming was drastically reduced, women wree pushed back into the home, and political activities by women were almost completely eradicated. Stil, members of Živena were active especially during the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. They managed clothes and food donations, worked in hospitals and even participated in partisan warfare.

In 1955 the association was dissolved due to political reasons as Slovakia entered the communist period. Živena resumed its activities in 1990, following the collapse of the Soviet bloc. For the last decade the chairwoman of Živena has been Magda Vášáryová, a former actress, politician and diplomat.

Contributor: Veronika Soltinska