Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
Vienna’s only female pimp, known in Austria as a Strizzi, was Wanda Gertrude Kuchwalek, better known as “Wild Wanda.” This lesbian revolutionary, who lived by the motto “Either you get it or you dish it out,” became a cult figure in Vienna thanks to her distinctive style. Wanda, an avowed lesbian who was 1.75 meters tall and had harsh features, always wore a black suit with a white shirt, cowboy bow tie, and slouch hat, which actually managed to secure her place in the male-dominated red-light district. Even red-light luminaries such as Heinz Bachmeier, alias “Rote Heinz,” and Franz Altmann, alias “Der Oide,” respected her, whose trademark was a retractable steel rod that she carried hidden in her cowboy boots. But who was “Wilde Wanda,” who blossomed into one of Vienna’s unforgettable originals? Wanda was born on January 22, 1947, in the Danube metropolis of Vienna. Her mother was a circus acrobat who performed as a snake dancer, and her father was a Russian occupation soldier whom she never got to know. Until the age of six, her childhood was shaped by her mother’s circus life. Then she was sent to a reformatory in Wiener Neustadt, where she was raped by men and women. At the age of 14, she went to prison for the first time. By the age of 20, she already had ten previous convictions to her name. During this time, she met her long-time criminal defense attorney, Herbert Eichenseder. She ended up with a total of 25 convictions. Wanda discovered early on that she was attracted to women, and her first lover was a red-haired prostitute named Winnetou. To earn money for her living, Wanda tried her hand at the red-light district in the 1960s. But initially as a prostitute herself, until she set up her own business in Vienna’s 2nd district, Leopoldstadt, around the Prater, and had young bisexual women, with whom she also had sex, work for her. If they didn’t toe the line, Wanda resorted to brutal methods. She cut one of her prostitutes’ faces with a razor blade, for which she was sentenced to three years in prison in 1970. She was just as rigorous in her dealings with clients who didn’t pay or red-light district bigwigs. With her self-confident and brutal manner, she was able to hold her own among the male pimps she regularly met at the “Cafe Elvira” in Vienna’s 22nd district, Donaustadt. Wild Wanda was simply uncontrollable, especially when she had consumed alcohol and vast quantities of the stimulant Preludin. Then it could happen that she would shoot a man’s wristwatch off his wrist with a revolver in the night café or simply ram a knife into the throat of regular customer Alfred V. in the “Wirtshaus Goller” in Vienna’s 21st district, Floridsdorf, because he had kicked her pit bull terrier “Lady” in the stomach. Wanda was unpredictable and even stuck her tongue out in court or simply seduced two female judicial officers while she was in prison in 1972, who from then on danced to her tune. For this, they were sentenced to 5 years in prison and Wanda received an additional 10 years for incitement. Besides her love for pit bull terriers, Wanda’s most important person was her grandmother. When she died in 1991, Wanda fell into a deep hole. She then fell in love with the blonde Inge Marchi, whom she had met during one of her prison stays. But a few months after the two had been openly living their love in freedom, Inge left Wanda. Wanda’s world fell apart. In her despair, she got drunk on Bacardi and Coke and called Inge at work. She threatened her so badly that the police were waiting for her outside her apartment on Engerthstraße. With age, Wanda actually became calmer. Occasional drinking binges with her old acquaintances were still part of her everyday life, but with only about 350 euros at her disposal, she couldn’t afford to go on any big sprees. Occasional interviews with ORF provided some variety alongside her new pit bull terrier “Kojak,” pulling her out of her daily routine. On Christmas Day 1995, of all days, her blonde ex-lover Inge contacted her again. There was another interlude, but it ended on a cold January night. Wanda hit Inge twice so hard in her car that her lower lip burst. As a result, Wanda ended up back in custody. On September 4, 2004, at the age of 58, the penniless Wanda Gertrude Kuchwalek, after whom the Viennese pop band Wanda, founded in 2012, was named, died. To this day, “Wild Wanda” remains one of Vienna’s cult figures, who was always good for a headline until and after her death.
