Viktoria Savs- World War I Austro-Hungarian Soldier

Above is a photo of Viktoria Savs in Salzburg, Germany, 1933.

Viktoria Savs was born on June 27, 1889, in Bad Reichenhall, Germany. Her mother passed away in 1904, leaving her father, a shoemaker, to provide for and take care of Viktoria and her three younger sisters. Before the beginning of WWI, her father moved the family to Obermais, Merano. Her father was enlisted into the military in 1914 as a Kaiserjager soldier for the Austro-Hungarian army (3). He was severely wounded in 1915 and sent home to recover from his injuries. 

While her father was at home recovering, Viktoria begged him to allow her to enlist in the military. After repeatedly telling her no, he "decided to volunteer for the Austro-Hungarian Landsturm (4), a militia composed of troops who were too young or too old for standard military service" (7). On June 10, 1915, Viktoria enlisted alongside her father and concealed her biological gender by using the name, "Viktor" (7). Only a few superior officers knew of true biological identity. Viktoria and her father were assigned together. Viktoria served one year as an unarmed trainee, and in 1916, requested a transfer onto the Italian front since she was anxious to serve in a combat position. Her request was granted, and she was able to serve on these front lines. 

Viktoria and her father serving together.

On the front lines, Viktoria was well known for volunteering for dangerous tasks, and she showed her talent in guiding pack animals, and acting as a messenger on skis. She was an orderly to a captain and took part in combat operations. "In an attack against Italian positions in the Sexten Dolomites on April 11, 1917, she led a group of twenty captured Italians behind the Austrian lines under enemy artillery fire. For bravery and exemplary leadership, she was awarded the the Medal for Bravery  (2) in bronze and later in silver, and the Karl Troop Cross" (5),(7). 

On May 27, 1917, Viktoria volunteered to carry a message up a sheer rock face, and was severely injured when a grenade exploded and forced a boulder to crush her leg. While attempting to amputate the limb herself, she passed out, and her sex was discovered when her comrades discovered her body and transported her to a field hospital. After the surgery, she was told that her military career was over because of this. However, she continued to serve by working in the Austrian Red Cross. She attracted attention with her story, and was hailed the "heroine of the Drei Zinnen" (6). After the war, she moved to Berlin where she worked in the news department, and later in a microbiological research laboratory. Viktoria Savs died on December 31, 1979 at the age of 80 in Salzburg, Austria. 

"Viktor" Savs, soldier in uniform, 1917.

Viktoria Savs working for the Red Cross.

After learning about Viktoria Savs, I absolutely fell in love with her story and her strengths as a determined and independent woman. After doing some research on the basics of Austrian culture, I learned that "the values of cooperation, formality, and gemutlichkeit (warmth or happiness) are cornerstones of contemporary Austrian culture" (1). While I think in some ways Viktoria embodies these traditional cultural values, she broke through so many barriers regarding gender and the role of women in combat. It is clear through the demonstrations of her skills in extremely dangerous situations and serving as a solider in combat that her being a woman was not a detriment to the militia. I love that even though she was released from the military based on her biological gender being revealed, that she was later regarded as a heroine and raised awareness to the issues of women being denied positions in combat when they are clearly qualified and more than capable to handle the position. I still believe that Viktoria's story rings true today in a contemporary society. We still have these same issues of women being denied combat positions in the military based on biological gender (even though it is progressively getting better, we are no where near where we should be in regards to military equity among gender). I think we can all learn from Viktoria's example that we may never know how far the determination and skills of a woman may take us if they never give us the opportunities to show the world what we can do.

Works Cited

(1) “Austrian Culture.” Cultural Atlas, IES, https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/austrian-culture/core-concepts-013bee28-76cc-4a51-8fe6-f4838967654d.

(2) “Austro-Hungarian Bronze Bravery Medal.” New Zealand History, Crown , https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/bronze-bravery-medal.

(3) “Kaiserjager.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation Inc., 10 Nov. 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiserjäger.

(4) “Landsturm.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundations Inc., 16 Aug. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsturm.

(5) “Medal, Karl Troop Cross, Austria,1916.” Museums Victoria Collections, Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1214529.

(6) Scharf, Michaela. “Viktoria Savs: War Heroine.” The World of the Habsburgs, Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- Und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Wien, 2019, https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/persons-objects-events/viktoria-savs.

(7) “Viktoria Savs.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundations Inc., 3 July 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktoria_Savs.