Marienthal - das Dorf - die Arbeitslosen - die Studie

Marienthal. The Sociography of an Unemployed Village" (first published Leipzig, 1933) became a classic of the social sciences in the late 20th century. Surely, there are not many social scientists in the world, who have never heard of Marienthal. But just as sureley, only a very small number of them know Marienthal in another context than that of unemployment. Probably no one knows anything else about Marienthal than what is reported in the famous book of 1933. "Marienthal" has a scientific myth among scholars. The present book gives an outline of the history as well as of the political, social and cultural developments of the Marienthal factory and its workers settlement, which are located in two communities close to Vienna: in Gramatneusiedl and, only a small part, in Reisenberg. The book describes the peasant village Gramatneusiedl (1100 - 1820) and the industrial village Marienthal (1820 - 1930), which then turned to an early Austrian commuter village (1930 - 1995). It represents the history of the factory and of its owners for the first time, just as the Marienthal buildings as well as its social and cultural institutions, which have been significant of the Marienthal study. It sets a high value of the decades before and after the study, showing the special conditions of creation of the Marienthal study, but also of the efforts to overcoma unemployment after the shut down of the factory in 1930, which, of course, did not object of the Marienthal study. The second part of this book concerns the Marienthal study, its origin, its history of publication, and especially its project team, which was neglected until today, though the fifteen field researchers include a number of illustrious persons. Interviews with three central persons of the Marienthal project, published for the first time, point out personal aspects around the Marienthal study: Marie Jahoda, Lotte Schenk-Danzinger and Gertrude Wagner. Both parts of the book, the history of the village as well as the history of the study, are completed by comprehensive bibliographies. Besides statistical data, the book offers to students, teachers and researchers 22 documents, most of them published for the first time. These documents illustrate important historical events of the village as well as the origin of the Marienthal study.