Lucy Christalnigg
Countess Lucy Christalnigg von und zu Gillitzstein[needs IPA] (née Bellegarde; 24 June 1872 in Klingenstein[a] – 10 August 1914 in Srpenica)[b] was the wife of Count Oskar Christalnigg, a Carinthian aristocrat and Slovene patriot.
She was one of the first female drivers in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, living sometimes in Klagenfurt (now in Austria) and sometimes in Gorizia (now in Italy). She was also a racing driver, winning the 1907 Wanderpreis of the Carinthian Automobile Club in an Itala car. She became the first victim on the World War I Isonzo Front when she was shot (possibly by mistake) by Landsturmer guards on 10 August 1914 at a checkpoint in Srpenica (near Bovec) while on a mission for the Red Cross.
Her story was largely forgotten, and was reconstructed in 2014 from primary sources by Nello Cristianini in the book The Last Summer. Since then, her story has been covered by television and newspapers,[1] and in 2015 she was second in a contest organised by the Kleine Zeitung of Klagenfurt to choose the name of a new street in the town of St. Veit.
She is buried in St. Michael am Zollfeld, Austria. A monument stands on the place of her death, in Srpenica, and a documentary by TV Capodistria tells her story.[2]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Then in the Kingdom of Württemberg, now part of Blaustein, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
- ^ Then in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca, now in Slovenia.
References
[edit]- ^ Cristianini, Nello (2014-06-28). "E a Gorizia l'irrequieta Lucy diventò per un errore la prima vittima della Guerra - Tempo Libero". Il Piccolo (in Italian). Retrieved 2015-09-27.
- ^ Slovenija, Multimedijski center RTV. "Istria e . . . dintorni". Retrieved 2015-09-27.
- The Last Summer: Story of Lucy Christalnigg and the End of a World by Nello Cristianini (ISBN 9781500349714)
- L'ultima estate: Storia di Lucy Christalnigg e della fine di un mondo by Nello Cristianini (ISBN 9781495363924)
- Poslednje Poletje: Zgodba O Lucy Christalnigg in O Koncu Nekega Sveta by Nello Cristianini, Andreja Nastasja Terbos (Translator), ISBN 9781497578166
- Der letzte Sommer: Die Geschichte von Lucy Christalnigg und vom Ende einer Welte Release Date: July 2014; ISBN 150052008X
- TV Capodistria – Istria e Dintorni, 19-4-2015.
- Kleine Zeitung contest article
- Lucy, simbol pozabljene Gorice. Primorske Novice, 2015-08-22.
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