Paula von Preradović, also known by her married name Paula Molden, was born in Vienna, Austria to a family that combined the Slavic and German cultures of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Her paternal grandfather Petar Preradović was a Croatian poet and translator and an army general, and her father Dusan von Preradović was an officer in the navy. Her mother came from an aristocratic German-speaking family. One of the most important influences on her life was her maternal aunt, Amalie Falke, a noted author and strong advocate of women's rights. In 1889, her family moved to Pola (Pula) in Croatia, where she grew up and was educated at the St. Pölten Institute for Young English Ladies. In 1907, she began publishing her writing. During World War I, she served as a nurse in a military hospital in Vienna. In 1916, she married Ernst Molden, a journalist and diplomat, with whom she had two sons. They accompanied her husband on his posting to Copenhagen and The Hague, and returned to Vienna. Following the rise of the Nazi regime and World War II, Paula was persecuted because of her "anti-Nazi" attitude and suspected resistance activities. She was arrested and detained by the Gestapo in 1944-1945. She wrote several volumes of poetry, which were published beginning in 1929. Her novels included Pave and Pero (1940), King Legend (1950) and The Temptation of Columba (1951). The Wiener Chronicle, her diary about the last days of World War II in Vienna, was published posthumously in 1995. Today she is best remembered as the composer in 1947 of the lyrics for the Austrian national anthem, "Land der Berge, Land am Strome."
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Combination issues