Helene Schlesinger was born on January 26, 1817 in Hohenems as the daughter of the synagogue servant and innkeeper Samuel Schlesinger and his wife Babette Abraham. Six of her nine siblings died in their first year of life. Her brother Josef, a professional galvanizer, emigrated illegally to Munich and finally to Paris.

Helene settled in Vienna in 1857 as a florist. In 1866, she, who had remained unmarried, returned to Hohenems and died in 1879 in the Jewish poorhouse.

Cover photo: The former Israelite poorhouse, a social institution of the Jewish community of Hohenems, at the beginning of the 20th century.