Sibylle Bolla-Kotek, Univ.-Prof. Dr.

Sibylle Bolla studied law at the German Charles University in Prague and was awarded her doctorate in law in 1935. She was persuaded to pursue an academic career by the Prague Romanist Egon Weiß, and as early as 1938 she was able to habilitate in Roman law and ancient legal history in Prague. She completed her habilitation thesis in Vienna, where the Romanist Leopold Wenger familiarized her with the newly discovered sources of papyri and cuneiform documents. In the following years, Sibylle Bolla deepened her papyrological and cuneiform studies and wrote the groundbreaking work „Untersuchungen zur Tiermiete und Viehpacht“.
National Socialist university policy was not conducive to women's university careers, so that Sibylle Bolla initially had to make do with the award of the „title of associate professor“ (1944). In 1945 she fled to Austria and after a stay in Tyrol, where her sister's family lived, she arrived in Vienna. In 1947, she was awarded the Venia legendi at the Faculty of Law, followed two years later by the appointment as Associate Professor of Roman and Civil Law. She was thus the first female professor of law in Austria, and since 1958, when she was appointed full professor, the first woman to be awarded a chair in law in Austria.
In line with her teaching position, she expanded her field of research to include modern areas of law and current topics. She published works on Roman and civil inheritance law, Austrian private law and labor law. She was also called upon as a lecturer and expert on labor law issues and was appointed as an associate judge in the Cartel Court in 1968. However, her academic interest in legal history topics did not cease, as evidenced by her numerous publications.
In addition, Sibylle Bolla-Kotek had an excellent reputation as a law teacher who captivated generations of budding lawyers with her rhetorical talent and concise presentation of legal institutions.

One of the „Gates of Remembrance“ on the campus of the University of Vienna is named after Sibylle Bolla-Kotek (Bolla-Kotek Gate, passageway between Rotenhausgasse – Hof 8).