73135 research outputs found
Sort by
AHC interview with George Langnas.
No full textApril 13, 2015See also the book „Mignon : Tagebücher und Briefe einer jüdischen Krankenschwester in Wien 1938-1949“, edited by Elisabeth Fraller and George Langnas, Innsbruck, Studien Verlag, 2010. Available in the LBI Library, st 5238.George Langnas was born 6/30/1935 in Vienna, Austria; he had an older sister, Manuela. His parents were Polish immigrants from Galicia. His father, Leon Langnas, served in the Kaiser’s army in World War I; he and his brother owned a lumberyard in Vienna. George’s family lived in Lasallestrasse in the 20th district of Vienna, Brigittenau.After the Anschluss, Leon Langnas got tickets on the ill-fated ocean liner “St. Louis”, which was sent back to Europe. He succeeded in getting off in England. In December 1939, George and his sister immigrated to the United States, where they lived in an orphanage throughout the war until they got reunited with their father in 1946. George’s mother Mignon Langnas survived in Vienna, working as a nurse for the Jewish community throughout the war. She then joined her family in the US, but died in 1949.1959-1967 George Langnas worked in computer programming for the US Air Force in San Antonio, Texas. He later became a lawyer. George Langnas is a distant relative of the sister Susan Hauser (AHC 4190) and Eva Sperling (AHC 4193).Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Susanne Mary Soo.
No full textApril 14, 2015Susanne Mary Soo, née Finsterbusch was born on 12/17/1932 as the child of Edmund Finsterbusch, a Viennese physician, and Flora Finsterbusch, née Bollag. When Susanne was approximately two years old, her parents were divorced, and she lived with her mother and her maternal grandparents - Paula and Jakob Bollag - in Gonzagergasse 5 in Vienna. Susanne had two half siblings from her mother's first marriage named Robert and Liselotte Bloch.After some incidences following the Anschluss in 1938, Susanne, her mother and her half siblings took a train to Switzerland. The family first lived in the village of Wildhaus in the canton of St. Gallen until moving to Zurich in April of 1939. Susanne was baptized, as her mother feared a German invasion of Switzerland. She attended primary school and then high school. Her half brother worked as an engineer in Switzerland and later emigrated to Venezuela; her sister got married in Switzerland. After Flora Finsterbusch's death on 9/9/1945, Susanne lived in Buttes in the French part of Switzerland. At age 16, she went to England for a year, lived with a family and attended school; throughout that time, she was financially supported by her half sister Liselotte. After returning to Zurich, Susanne attended a "Kaufmannsschule" (business school) and worked as a secretary from 1949 to 1956. She then immigrated to the US and took a job as a trilingual secretary until meeting her husband Edward Soo.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Kurt Weiss.
No full textMay 19, 2015Kurt Weiss was born 2/7/1930 in Krems an der Donau, Austria. His grandfather was Joseph Popper, an adjutant to the Kaiser. The family owned a liquor manufacturing plant and nine liquor stores all over Austria, one of them in Vienna’s 16th district, Ottakring. Kurt Weiss grew up in a wealthy family, where maids and governesses took care of the household and his education. At the age of four, Kurt and his family moved from Krems to Ottakring in Vienna. After the Anschluss, his parents had to scrub streets in Vienna, and after Kristallnacht SS-troops were looking for Kurt’s father, who had hidden on a farm in the 22nd district in the outskirts of Vienna. His family joined him there for three months, before they acquired emigration papers and left for Zurich by train. They stayed there for several months, before going on to le Havre and embarking on the “President Roosevelt” for New York. A randomly chosen pickle dealer, picked from a Manhattan phonebook, had provided affidavits for the US.They arrived on August 12th, 1939. Their first shelter was provided by HIAS. Kurt Weiss worked for a blind man’s fruit stand, whilst his father painted fire escapes. The Weiss family settled in the Bronx. After attending DeWitt High School, Kurt Weiss enrolled at City College; in 1953 he earned his Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He was drafted from 1953 to 1956 and then embarked on his career in the chemical industry, working for a corporation in Ludwigshafen, Germany that produced Styrofoam. Kurt Weiss retired in 1989 to Monroe, New Jersey.Austrian Heritage Collectio
Kurt Schmuel Flascher : (7.11.1928 Wien - 24.2.2015 Staten Island).
No full textObituary for Kurt Flascher, published in David, Nr.104, 2015, S.40-41.digitize
The Jews of Posen Province in the nineteenth century : A selective source book, research guide and supplement to “The naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835” /
No full textBibliography : throughou
AHC interview with Fernande Epler Ross.
No full textJuly 7, 2015Fernande Ross, née Epler was born 4/6/1927 in Vienna, Austria, the only child of Curtis D. Epler (born 4/11/1891 in Vienna) and Gertrude Epler (born 1/22/1895 in Vienna). The family lived in an apartment at Engelsberggasse 5, in the 3rd Viennese district. Fernande's father was a banker, heading a department at "Laenderbank". He was an avid hunter, and the family also liked to ski.Fernande attended primary school until June, 1938. Curtis Epler lost his Job in July. The apartment at Engelsberggasse was "visited" by Hitler Youth, who did little damage due to Mr. Epler's strategy of inviting them in and offering them to take anything they wanted. Gertrude Epler was told to scrub the pavement with a toothbrush; when she went to the designated location, nobody was there and Ms. Epler returned home. Fernande continued to play with her best, non-Jewish friend after the annexation of Austria - at one point even going to a public pool, where Jews were officially denied access; their friendship continued after the war. The family eventually managed to obtain transit visas for the Netherlands and left Austria on December 14th, 1938. After three months, they left for England, where Fernande attended boarding school. Her father was briefly interned as an enemy alien.Fernande arrived in the US with her parents in late 1940. She attended boarding school in Peterborough, New Hampshire until 1943, graduated Hunter College in 1948 and worked as an administrative assistant to the president of a small manufacturing plant in New York. After moving to New Haven in 1949, she worked as periodicals cataloguer at Yale University. She was involved with the League of Women Voters and opened an art gallery with a friend in 1956 that she ran until 1964. Fernande Ross then started working for the Yale University Art Gallery, attended evening school and earned an MPA (Master of Performing Arts) from the University of New Haven. She was hired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1980, became a consultant in art administration in 1982 and subsequently worked for a number of museums.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Edith Dreyfuss.
No full textAugust 7, 2015Edith Dreyfuss, née Zinner was born 1930 in Vienna, Austria, the only child of Emil Zinner (born 1981 in Litschau bei Schönau, Waldviertel) and Ottilie Zinner, née Lustig (born 1897 in Vienna). Emil Zinner worked as a salesclerk in Vienna's first District, his wife stayed at home. The family lived in an apartment at Sterneckplatz 13 in the 2nd District. Edith attended elementary school at Sterneckplatz for 2 years, and later changed to Vorgarten elementary school to complete her 4 years of primary education. For the following approx. six months, she attended Chajesgymnasium until it was closed by the Nazis. Edith had joined the Gordonia Zionist youth movement when she was 8 or 9 years old. Besides Zionist ideas, the group also provided a certain degree of education after Jewish schools had been closed. Edith spent her free time in Nazi Vienna with her Jewish friends; inspite the insecurities they went on picnics and sailed at Alte Donau.Emil and Ottilie Zinner attempted to obtain visas for the United States in 1939. An affidavit, provided by a Jewish grocer - an acquaintance of Emil's brother Rudolf Zinner, was turned down by the American Consul. Emil Zinner lost his job around November of 1938 and was sent away to a forced labor camp. His spouse and daughter were evicted and thereafter had to stay in apartments in Augartenstrasse and Krummbaumgasse with other Jewish families. Emil returned to Vienna in March of 1941. On December 13th, 1941, the family was given one hour to pack and had to report at Sperlschule (a school in the 2nd District), where they were held until deportation on February 7th, 1941. They arrived in the Ghetto of Riga (Latvia) on February 12th. Emil Zinner was ordered to help unload luggage from the train; he then was executed by SS Guards. Edith and her mother were transferred to the Kaiserwald concentration camp on August 25th, 1941, where Edith worked as a welder for AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitaets Gesellschaft). They were taken to Thorn, Poland on cattle cars on June 22nd, 1944 and later, Ottilie and Edith were forced on a death march to Bydgoszcz, Poland, where they were freed by Russian troops on January 26th, 1945. Edith and her mother made their way back to Vienna on foot, following the advancing Russian front. Edith attended “Wirtschaftsschule der Handelsschule Wien” (business school Vienna) for one year, until leaving Vienna on January 14th, 1947. They arrived in the United States on March 14th, 1947.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Sidonie Grayson.
No full textJanuary 16, 2015Sidonie Grayson lived with her family in Adenbergergasse in the second district of Vienna, where she went to school in a gymnasium. They had a maid in a Jewish kosher household, and Sidonie learnt French. Sometime in her teenage years, she and her two younger siblings arrived in the US, where they lived with her father's sister in Brooklyn. Her parents came nine months later to the US. Sidonie started working in a sewing factory right away, and got married to another Austrian émigré, Walter Grayson, in her early twenties.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with HW.
No full textFebruary 24, 2015HW was born 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium, the first child of Maurice and Gisella M. They lived in an uncle’s apartment building; her father was a Hebrew teacher, her mother was a housewife. In 1935, HW's father was offered a teaching position in Linz, Austria. 2 years later, HW's brother was born. The family spoke German at home. At the time of the Anschluss, their synagogue in Linz was destroyed, and Maurice M. was arrested for two weeks. Three months later, he obtained a passport to go to England, hoping to bring his family along later. This turned out to be impossible: HW was sent back to Belgium in 1939, while her mother and her brother were deported to Theresienstadt and later perished in Auschwitz.When the Nazis invaded Belgium, an aunt and an uncle brought HW to France, where she stayed at a catholic convent. With the help of OSE, Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants, she was brought to Switzerland, where she first lived in a children's home in Basel and later with a family in Zurich, until she immigrated to the US in March 1947 and reunited with her father. She attended public high school in Pennsylvania, and then moved to Washington Heights in Manhattan, NY, where she worked as a French and German translator. She got married in 1955 and had three children.Austrian Heritage Collectio
AHC interview with Walter Alina
No full textMay 14, 2015Digital recordingWalter Alina was born 7/3/1931, the only child of the dentist Hans Allina and Mathilde Allina, née Cerner. The family lived at Vereinsgasse 24 in Vienna. Walter attended primary school until 1938. Shortly after the annexation of Austria, Hans Allina managed to obtain visas for Finland. The family flew to Helsinki, where the Jewish Community provided them with an apartment. After the Russian invasion of Finland, they immigrated to America after a stopover in Oslo, Norway. An aunt, who lived in the United States, had organized affidavits.The family first stayed in the Washington Heights section of New York City. Hans Allina worked as a dental mechanic; his wife found employment in a factory where her job was to crack eggs. Walter's father later opened his own dental laboratory in New Jersey. Subsequently Walter Alina and his parents moved to Newark, NJ. Walter Alina studied at Seton Hall College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and business in 1954. He then started a successful career, working amongst others for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and for Paramount Plating Co. 1979-2002 he served as vice-president of Operation for the General Magnaplate Corporation. He published more than 40 technical papers, developed a mathematical equation to determine density and was responsible for some major advances in aerospace technology. Walter Alina also held patents in 16 countries; developed a process for manufacturing transistors while employed at RCA; and was responsible for the listing of the world's most slippery solid in the Guinness Book of World Records: Hi-T-Lube. He was awarded the Frank. E. Lane Industrial Achievement Award in 1972.Austrian Heritage Collectio