Maria Kreith was born in Liescha (Prävali) in the Mieß valley district of what was still, at the time of her birth, part of the German speaking province of Carinthia. She was, however, born at the height of the post-war ethnic conflict in the area. Under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain which the wartime victors imposed on the former Austrian empire a referendum was held in the southern borderlands of Carinthia, including the Kreiths' home village, as a result of which when Maria Kreith was approximately four weeks old the area became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Recent events had inflamed inter-ethnic tensions. In order to remain in German speaking Austria the family relocated to Judenburg in Upper Styria. Her father found work with the local crucible steel plant, although sources recall that during the economically parlous 1920s and 1930s he also experienced frequent periods of unemployment. During the unemployment crisis that followed the Wall Street Crash her mother kept the family afloat by working as a farm labourer.