Friderike Maria Burger Winternitz Zweig

Born in Vienna on December 4, 1882, Friderike Maria Burger was among the first women allowed to study at the University of Vienna, where she focused on literature and French. She first married Felix Edler von Winternitz and had two daughters before later marrying the writer Stefan Zweig.

During her years with Zweig, she helped support his literary life through research, translation, editing, and the social work of hosting many of his friends and visitors in Salzburg. She also worked in her own right as a writer and teacher, and after their separation and divorce she continued to build an independent public and literary life.

After emigrating to the United States in 1940, she lived for many years in Stamford, Connecticut. In 1946 she published Married to Stefan Zweig, a memoir that remains one of the best-known personal accounts connected to Zweig’s life, and she was also involved in groups promoting Austrian-American cultural ties and the legacy of Stefan Zweig.