Anton Wildgans was born in Vienna on 17 April 1881 to Dr. Friedrich Wildgans, a lawyer, and Therese Charvot Wildgans, a former maidservant. His mother died in 1885; his father remarried the same year. When Wildgans was sixteen his father's health started to deteriorate due to an undiagnosed brain tumor. Until his death in 1906 Friedrich Wildgans suffered from a paralysis that spread slowly throughout his body. This prolonged and painful illness not only left a lasting mark on the son's psyche but also brought the family to the brink of destitution. Wildgans, who graduated from the demanding Piari-stengymnasium, a school administered by the Piarist religious order, had to interrupt his studies to support himself. Until 1905 he worked as assistant editor on the Vienna daily newspaper Die Zeit (The Times), supplementing his income with jobs as secretary to the Vienna Hunting Club and as a private tutor. After a trip to India...