View source for Lilly Steinschneider

{{Short description|First Hungarian woman to qualify as a pilot}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=May 2020}}
{{Expand German|topic=bio|Lilly Steinschneider|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name            = Lilly Steinschneider
| image           = Photo Lilly Steinschneider 1912 - Touring Club Italiano 11.3405 (cropped).jpg
| alt             = 
| caption         = 
| birth_name      = 
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|1891|01|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place     = [[Budapest]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|1975|03|28|1891|01|13|df=yes}}
| death_place     = [[Geneva]], Switzerland
| burial_place    = 
| other_names     = 
| spouse          = {{Marriage|{{ill|Johann Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi|de}}|1914}}
| children        = 
| occupation      = Pilot
| awards          = 
| education       = 
| party           = 
| signature       = 
}}

'''Lilly Helene Steinschneider-Wenckheim''' (13 January 1891 – 28 March 1975), more commonly known as '''Lilly Steinschneider''', was the first Hungarian woman to qualify as a pilot.

==Early life==
Lilly Steinschneider was born in [[Budapest]] on 13 January 1891, the second child of  Irma Wohr and Bernát Steinschneider, a wealthy Austrian-Hungarian-Jewish family. Her father owned of a quilt factory which provided quilt covers for the [[House of Habsburg]] in Austria, and her mother had Czech origins. Lilly was the second child born in the Steinschneider family, with an older brother called Hugó. Little is known about the first eighteen years of her life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2018-11-24|title=The story of the first Hungarian airwoman|url=https://dailynewshungary.com/the-story-of-the-first-hungarian-airwoman/|access-date=2021-04-21|website=Daily News Hungary|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">FLUG-Informationen 59. Jg., Folge III+IV/2009</ref>

==Flying career==
She learned to fly from flying instructor Karl Illner in [[Wiener Neustadt]] in August 1912. She was the first Hungarian woman and second woman from the [[Austro-Hungarian empire]] to qualify as a pilot (the first was aviator [[Božena Laglerová]]). Steinschneider received pilot's license number four in Hungary.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Lebow|first=Eileen F.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52305816|title=Before Amelia : women pilots in the early days of aviation|date=2003|publisher=Brassey's, Inc|isbn=1-57488-532-4|edition=1st paperback|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=88–89|oclc=52305816}}</ref> She flew an [[Etrich Taube]]. On 6 October 1912 she took part in the air show held at [[Oradea|Nagyvárad]]. She caused a stir as a woman at the flight meeting at Aspern airfield in 1913.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-05-03|title=Flughafen Aspern - Erinnerungen an eine vergangene Epoche der österr. Luftfahrt|url=http://www.flughafen-aspern.at/1912_1914.html|access-date=2021-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503065627/http://www.flughafen-aspern.at/1912_1914.html|archive-date=2011-05-03}}</ref> The French woman pilot [[Jeanne Pallier]] also flew that day and the two women placed third and fourth in the duration contest.<ref name=":2" />

==Marriage and later life==
[[File:Alfred_Offner_-_Graf_Hansi_mit_seiner_Ehefrau.jpg|thumb|right|175px|''Count Hansi with his wife, the aviation pioneer Lilly Steinschneider'', portrayed by the painter {{ill|Alfred Offner|de}} (1879–1947), who lived for a time in Ronsperg Castle, the couple's home]]

In 1914, she married {{ill|Johann Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi|de|lt=Johann (Hansi) Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi}}, of the [[Coudenhove-Kalergi family|Coudenhove-Kalergi]] family, son of [[Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi]] and [[Mitsuko Aoyama]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-12-27|title=Aktuelles|url=http://home.tele2.at/museum/Aktuelles.htm|access-date=2021-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227031557/http://home.tele2.at/museum/Aktuelles.htm|archive-date=2015-12-27}}</ref> and older brother of [[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi]].<ref name=":0" />

After her marriage, she stopped flying and lived with her husband in [[Poběžovice|Ronsperg]] Castle in [[Bohemia]] area of the [[Czech Republic]].<ref>Coudenhove-Kalergi, Barbara (2015). Zuhause ist überall, S. 69. Frankfurt: Fischer.</ref>

In 1927 she gave birth to her daughter, Maria Electa Thecla Elisabeth Christina Helena Sophia Coudenhove-Kalergi, known as Marina.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marie-Electa Thekla Elisabeth Christine Helene Sophie Coudenhove-Kalergi von Ronspergheim|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Marie-Electa-Coudenhove-Kalergi-von-Ronspergheim/6000000013143951010|access-date=2021-04-21|website=geni_family_tree|date=22 June 1927 |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1939 she and her daughter moved to Italy from the Czech Republic to avoid [[Nazi]] persecution for her Jewish heritage.<ref name=":0" />

She died on 28 March 1975 in [[Geneva]].<ref name=":1" /> 
[[File:Lilly_Steinschneider_Gasse_Bécsújhely.jpeg|thumb|right|175px|Lilly Steinschneider Gasse in [[Wiener Neustadt]]]]

==Commemoration==
Lilly-Steinschneider-Gasse in [[Wiener Neustadt]] in Austria was named in her honour.

The writer Bernhard Setzwein describes her life and marriage to Johann Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi in his novel ''The Bohemian Samurai'', published in 2017.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bernhard Setzwein|first=Bayerischer Rundfunk|date=2017-05-21|title=Der böhmische Samurai: Ein Paradiesvogel im Nachkriegs-Regensburg|url=https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendungen/land-und-leute/graf-hansi-der-boehmische-samurai-setzwein100.html|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Setzwein|first=Bernhard|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/965632574|title=Der böhmische Samurai Roman|date=2017|others=Haymon Verlag|isbn=978-3-7099-7286-1|edition=1st|location=Innsbruck|oclc=965632574}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.abenteuer-industrie.at/?etxsid=-1&pid=3238&etxsid=cb1adf7e540b81dffb0f3d08e34574d0 Biography and photos]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinschneider, Lilly}}
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Women aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Women aviators]]
[[Category:Hungarian aviators]]
[[Category:Wenckheim family|Lilly]]
[[Category:Nobility from Budapest]]
[[Category:Hungarian expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Hungarian people of Czech descent]]
[[Category:People from Wiener Neustadt]]
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]