Otto Felix Kanitz

Otto Felix Kanitz (* 5 February 1894, in Vienna; † 29 March 1940, in Buchenwald) was an Austrian socialist, journalist and educator. He was also part of the 'Schönbrunner Circle' (Schönbrunner Kreis).

Kanitz was born as the third of four children of Jewish parents. After his parents divorced in 1902, the three sons stayed with the father whilst the daughter was adjudged to the mother. When the father converted to Catholicism and took a catholic wife, one year later, the sons were baptized as well, but soon given to an orphanage in order to not disturb their stepmother. Young Kanitz had five years of primary school and three years of secondary school before starting an apprenticeship.

As soon as in 1911, he engaged in Max Winter's election campaign, and beginning in 1912 he gave speeches before youth groups. From 1916, he was active in the Kinderfreunde movement where he was mentored by Hermine Weinreb and Anton Afritsch. Besides his involvement in the aforementioned movement, he prepared matura, wrote poems and theater plays and contributed to the Kinderland journal. In 1918, after his matura, he was employed by Kinderfreunde and started to study philosophy and pedagogy with Wilhelm Jerusalem who considerably influenced his development towards tolerance, whilst strongly opposing institutionalized religion and any misuse of power. His goal was to eradicate the 'Dienermentalität' (servant mentality) which he felt was a characteristic of those of the supposed lower-classes under the Habsburg Monarchy. He had the opportunity to realize practical educational reforms together with Alfred Adler, Max Adler, Marianne Pollak, Josef Luitpold Stern and Otto Glöckel.

Kanitz was a proponent of the Kinderrepublik, an anti-authoritarian education movement. After successfully running two such holiday camps in 1919, in Gmünd, Lower Austria (the only such project ever to operate in Austria, which housed a total of some 700 children), he was appointed director of Kinderfreunde's newly to be founded Schönbrunn school:

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