Eugénia Miskolczy Meller

Eugénia Miskolczy Meller
1913, photograph for the Budapest conference by Olga Máté
Born	Eugénia Miskolczy (1872-01-14)14 January 1872 Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	1945 (aged 72–73) Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Other names	Eugénia Miskolczi, Mrs. Artur Meller, Eugénia Mellerné-Miskolczy
Occupation	women's rights activist, teacher
Years active	1904-1941
Spouse(s)	Artúr Meller
Children	Vilmos Laura Erzsébet Rózsa

Eugénia Miskolczy Meller (Hungarian: Mellerné Miskolczy Eugénia 14 January 1872-1945) was one of the most active feminists and women's rights activists in Hungary from the turn of the century to the interwar period. One of the founding members of the Feminist Association, she served as a leader for many of the organizations committees and events, arguing for gender equality, as well as women's suffrage. A pacifist, Meller worked with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) arguing for disarmament and urging the passage of international laws codifying citizenship regulations to protect women. Though she had converted to Lutheranism, she was arrested when the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944 and disappeared. In 1946, she was posthumously honored for her humanitarian works.

Eugénia Miskolczy was born on 14 January 1872 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary to the Hungarian Jewish family of Laura (née Weisz or Weiss) and Adolf Miskolczy. She was the only surviving child of the family, as her older brother József, aged six, died in 1876; her sister Irén, aged five, died in 1879; and her sister Laura, aged four, died in 1883. Her father was a craftsman originally from Hódmezővásárhely and her mother was originally from Buda. After being privately educated in music and languages, Miskolczy married Artúr Meller, an inspector at the National Bank of Hungary in 1896. The couple had four children: Vilmos, Laura, Erzsébet and Rózsa.

In 1904, Meller was one of the founding members of the Feminist Association (Hungarian: Feministák Egyesülete (FE)), a women's rights organization founded to achieve gender equality. By 1906, she was serving on the board of the organization and was giving lectures for parent conferences the organization sponsored. The lectures covered a variety of topics including education, health, including sex education, and employment training. In addition, she wrote and published articles in journals like Women and Society (Hungarian: A Nő és a Társadalom) and Woman—A feminist journal (Hungarian: A Nő—Feminista Folyóirat), which called for civil inequalities for men and women to be addressed. Meller would become the editor of Woman, as well as a lecturer who traveled throughout Hungary speaking on women's issues. In 1909, she was a participant in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) congress held in London. As early as 1912, Meller had begun to serve as a substitute for Rosika Schwimmer, who headed the political committee focused on suffrage, when Schwimmer was unable to fulfill the obligations of the chair. In 1913, Meller authored a critique of the Hungarian Civil Code's marriage regulations, while simultaneously serving as a member of the committee responsible for the preparations for the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) congress held in Budapest that year. When Schwimmer moved to London in 1914, Meller became de facto leader of the political committee.