Daughter of Moriz [Mozio] Schenker, niece of Heinrich Schenker; graphic artist.

Helga Schenker was the daughter of Heinrich Schenker's younger brother, Moriz and his wife Lisl. Her brother was Georg Schenker. Helga was born in Egypt, later moved to Rumania, then to Baden bei Wien, as dictated by her father's postings with the Austrian Provincial Bank. She later became a graphic artist and book- and newspaper-illustrator with her business partner Antoinette Langer. She (as a half-Jewess on her father's side and not on the more indicative mother's side) and Langer were permitted by the Nazis to maintain their atelier and continue working throughout World War II. Part-corroboration for this exists in the Vienna street directories, where her atelier is listed from 1935 to 1941 as Vienna I, Singerstraße 8, and her residence as Vienna III, Sechskrügelgasse 1. Later in life she gave up the latter address and converted her Singerstraße top-floor studio into an apartment, where she lived until shortly before her death in 2005.

Helga and Heinrich Schenker

The first reference in Schenker's diary comes on April 3, 1907: "News of the birth of a girl to Mozio" (OJ 1/6, p. 37) ‒ the information having taken three weeks to travel from Egypt. Heinrich and Jeanette must certainly have met Helga many times on family visits, although she is not named in the diary on such occasions. There is a reference to her, along with her brother, in Schenker's diary for June 13, 1924: "For the first time, Mozio speaks about his boy Georg, his musical talent, as well as about the talent of his daughter." (OJ 3/6, p. 2679).

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