Freda Meissner-Blau - Early Career

Early Career

In the early 1950s Meissner and her husband moved to Central Africa, in what was then the Belgian Congo, where they both worked for a Germany company operating there. Their first child, Ted Oliver, was born there in 1954. During their time there they bore witness to the bloody independence struggle and the onset of the Congo Crisis - experiences that would be form the foundation of Freda's commitment to causes in the developing world.

She then underwent a career change and in the 1960s she moved to Paris and joined the social science department of UNESCO. During her tenure there one of her jobs was to translate corporate documents relating to offers and proposals for the construction of nuclear power plants. After this exposure she became increasingly interested in the subject, and formed strong opinions on the environmental and social dangers of nuclear power. Subsequently, she became an activist in the anti-nuclear movement. In 1962 she returned with her family to Vienna, where her husband worked for the International Atomic Energy Agency. Meissner became general secretary of the newly formed Institute for Advanced Studies. She and Georges gave birth to twins, Alexandra and Nicholas, in 1963.

In 1968 Meissner was again living in Paris, and participated in the movements surrounding the protests of 1968. She identified herself with a number of progressive and social causes of the time, including women's rights, civil rights, environmentalism, democracy and antiestablishmentarianism. She became estranged from Georges, and their marriage broke up in political disagreement. In 1970 she re-married Paul Blau, with whom she had a long acquaintance and shared many ethical and social outlooks. Paul was a prominent figure in the trade union movement, and was editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung (worker's newspaper) from 1967 to 1970. From 1970 to 1972 he worked as a press and cultural attaché in Paris.