The Davenport Public Library presents “Nutritional Inequality in Vienna: 1919 to 1922" -- July 15.
Thursday, July 15, noon & 6 p.m.
Presented by the Davenport Public Library
Delivered as part of the Davenport Public Library's virtual 3rd Thursday at Hoover's Presidential Library & Museum programming, the July 15 Zoom webinar Nutritional Inequality in Vienna: 1919 to 1922 will find a rarely discussed chapter of European history explored by presenter Dr. Mary E. Cox, an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Central European University.
As the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to unravel during the first World War, the specter of civilian hunger grew in Vienna. Food insecurity increased in the city for a variety of interconnected reasons, and in the midst of widespread food shortages, the University of Vienna’s Children’s Clinic and Hospital became inundated with new patients suffering from a variety of ailments associated with malnutrition. Unfortunately, hunger did not immediately cease with the succession of hostilities. One contemporary study suggested that in 1919, 90 percent of all school children in the city were experiencing moderate to severe malnutrition.
The Davenport library's Nutritional Inequality in Vienna: 1919 to 1922 presentation explores the impact that reduced food supplies had on the health of civilians in Vienna due to the first World War and Franco-British blockade, as well as the nutritional impact on the city once the blockade was lifted and international food aid arrived. Philanthropic donations played a huge role in alleviating children's suffering and reducing nutritional inequality, and Herbert Hoover's involvement in the ongoing struggle will be addressed by program speaker Cox, who received a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford and is a Departmental Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Oxford.
Nutritional Inequality in Vienna: 1919 to 1922 will be presented live via Zoom webinar at noon on July 15, with time afterward for audience questions and answers, and the program will be replayed at 6 p.m. for those unable to view the live event. The viewings are free, registration is available through the Davenport Public Library Web site, and more information on the virtual program and the monthly 3rd Thursday at Hoover's series is available by calling (563)326-7832 and visiting DavenportLibrary.com.
