Born: 1878, Czechia
Died: 1928
Country most active: Austria
Also known as: Christine Tonaillon
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
The daughter of a major-general in the Austrian army. Born in Iglau, her parents had to wander like other army officials. In Vienna she made the examination for teacher in 1897. The university opened its doors for the first time for women in philosophy and medicine. Christiane was with the first to attend. In 1902 she made her entrance examination and in 1904 she was married to Dr. Heinrich Tonaillon, with whom she lived until her death in the happiest camaraderie. Through this marriage and her husband’s position, she was living in a lonely spot far from where she could get the books she liked to have for research, so she wrote a book, The Woman of the 18th Century, which was a great success and brought her back to the University of Vienna.
It was a half day’s journey to Vienna and often she had to part with her adoring husband to be just to her career, and he encouraged her to it. She was highly educated. She wrote for the Woman’s Magazine and was drawn into the prevailing problems.
Her students loved her sincerely. Graz, so much nearer than Vienna, would not take women on the faculty. She was one of the founders for Peace and Women’s Emancipation and fought for it, became its vice-president. Heart and head were with the cause. All too early was her passing and she was mourned with sincerity by a multitude that she reached if not physically, although with her writings, her brain children.