Dr. Margot Smith: Ethel Liebman Wiesinger – An Adventurous 20th Century Life
Saturday, January 28, 2023

Born into a Jewish family in German- speaking Czernowitz, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ethel Liebman Wiesinger (1890-1984) was an extraordinary woman. Margot coedited her mother’s personal account and introduced her life in the book, From Czernowitz to China and Beyond (2020).

Ethel left Czernowitz for China in 1910; lived in New York in 1912 and traveled twice around the world. In 1926, Ethel and her husband, Otto Wiesinger, ran an Asian arts store in San Francisco that went bankrupt during the Great Depression. Ethel then opened the Beverly Hills Hotel Gift Shop where she met many celebrities. After retirement she lived in  Charlevoix, Michigan, where her story was recorded.

Dr. Margot Smith is a retired social scientist, video producer, and activist living in Berkeley, CA. Her latest publications include “Life Before Vaccines” and “Why We Wash Our Hands” in the UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter, and Being There: The 1960 Tsunami In Hilo, Hawaii, published by the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Outreach College.

If you would like to view our archive video of the presentation, contact Dr. Marion Gerlind for access.

The Gerlind Institute for Cultural Studies would like to thank the Excelsior German Center, in Oakland, for it’s financial support for this event.