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II Sessione: ZONE DI GUERRA 189

But there were also women, who disguised their gender in order to be allowed to
get to the front. In this respect Stephanie Hollenstein is to be mentioned, who enlisted
with the ‘Standschützen’ of Vorarlberg and later on participated in actual fighting. When
her sex was discovered she had to quit service but was admitted to the art section of
the ‘Kriegspressequartier’ and hence served as war painter during the remainder of the
22
23
First World War. Especially well known is also the fate of Viktoria Savs, who entered
service at the Landsturm Battalion II at Innsbruck together with her father under the
name ‘Viktor Savs’. From 1915 to 1917 she predominantly saw action in the fighting
at the ‘Drei Zinnen’ (Cime di Lavaredo) and was severely injured there in May 1917. Only
in the course of the amputation of one of her legs it was discovered that she was a
female. As she was in any case no longer fit for service due to the loss of a leg she
was dismissed from service. However, as recognition of her bravery she received the
bravery medal in silver first class. She was not only glorified as a ‘heroic girl’ by the
Austro-Hungarian propaganda but later ideologically used by the National Socialists. 24
Apart from that in the first year of the war other women even fought as soldiers
without hiding their sex – despite the interdiction for women to serve as combatants.
While this did not happen in regular units of the Austro-Hungarian Army, it occurred
in the Ukrainian Legion, which was created soon after the war had started. The Legion
recruited volunteers from Eastern Galicia and the Bukovina and was formally not
part of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, although the majority of legionaries had
Austrian citizenship. As this formation was classified as a paramilitary one, it was not
subject to the same standards regarding enlistment of personnel, which were applied
to the regular Austro-Hungarian forces. Thus the superior commands in the first mon-
ths of the war only disposed of information referring to the overall strength and equi-
pment of the Legion but had no detailed data concerning the origin of the volunteers.
The first hint that women were active in the Ukrainian Legion was due to a minor
matter. At the beginning of December 1914 also two female legionaries were filed for
bravery medals. When the respective applications for awards were forwarded to the
Austro-Hungarian Supreme Command for confirmation, confusion was caused by

22 The unit which was responsible for managing public relations (i.e. producing propaganda) in the
interest of the army.
23 Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Women at War. K.u.k. Frauenbilder 1914-1918. Exhibition
Catalogue Vienna 2013, p. 103.
24 See: Frank Gerbert, Die Kriege der Viktoria Savs. Von der Frontsoldatin 1917 zu Hitlers Gehilfin,
Vienna 2015.

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