Tandler, Julius

(1869–1936)

   A physician, Tandler was among the practical activists of the Austrian Social Democratic Worker’s Party. He became a professor at the University of Vienna in 1910. In 1919–1920, Tandler served as federal undersecretary for public health. He achieved prominence, however, as the Vienna councilor for health and public welfare from 1919 to 1934.

   Tandler believed that material improvement led to human improvement. Good housing conditions, for example, would create changes in one’s germ plasm, which could be passed on to succeeding generations. He devoted himself to creating an elaborate network of government programs in Vienna that would realize his theories. Children were a particular concern. Tandler sponsored the establishment of kindergartens, pre- and postnatal clinics, school dental clinics, day care centers, and the like. Social workers were dispatched throughout the city to safeguard the welfare of the young. As early as 1922, marriage counselors met with prospective brides and grooms to certify their physical health.

   In discussions of abortion, Tandler took the position that society, represented by the government, not individuals, had the sole right to order the termination of pregnancy. Though this view brought him closer to the Catholic conservative view of this matter, Tandler was heavily criticized in right-wing circles for the intrusive impact of his program on the family. He died in Moscow, to which he had been invited as a consultant on hospitals.