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AHC interview with Wilfred Julius Lederer
No full textWilfred Julius Lederer was born in Vienna in 1916. He was interned in Dachau in November 1938 before he immigrated to the US via Belgium and England. He died in New York in 2001
From the pale of settlement to "Pacific Overtures": The evolution of Boris Aronson's visual aesthetic.
No full textFrom 1924 to 1976, artist-scene designer Boris Aronson applied his aesthetic vision to over one hundred productions in the Yiddish and English-speaking theatres of America. Aronson arrived in New York in 1923, bringing with him a new visual vocabulary rooted in Russian avant-garde art and scene design principles. Recurring adaptations and reinterpretations of Russian Cubo-Futurist and Constructivist art and scene design values were evident in varying degrees throughout the entire body of his work for the American theatre.Aronson's work was affected by the abstract aesthetic philosophy of Russian Cubo-Futurist designers Alexandra Exter and Natan Altman, as well as Kamerny Theatre director Alexander Tairov; the Constructivist practices of director Vsevolod Meyerhold and his collaborator, scene designer Liubov Popova; the exaggerated Jewish folk art imagery of Marc Chagall; and the highly expressive theatricalist production style of director Evgeny Vakhtangov.Cubo-Futurist and Constructivist qualities can be seen in Aronson's use of architectural constructions to sculpt and organize three-dimensional stage space; geometrization of lines and forms; preference for multi-leveled stage floors; and creation of abstract emblematic designs that acted as visual metaphors to evoke a play's central mood and meaning. These characteristics were prominent in his Yiddish theatre work in the 1920s, and were later restated but somewhat concealed for his realistic designs of the 1930s (such as Awake and Sing, 1935). Abstract elements appeared at times in the 1940s for his ballet and musical theatre designs that veered toward expressionism. In the mid to late 1950s, abstraction began to re-emerge in a more obvious form with the designer's epic creations for productions such as The Firstborn (1958) and J. B. (1958). Aronson's abstract aesthetic was recast with a technologically-oriented patina for the concept musicals of Harold Prince in the 1960s and 1970s. By the time he began his association with Prince, Aronson had absorbed an urban American sensibility which he ingeniously distilled and fused with Russian avant-garde precepts of abstraction. The Prince musicals marked the apotheosis of Aronson's career by embodying the designer's ultimate cross-cultural union of Constructivism with American high technology.Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 1997.School code: 0234
AHC Interview with Ula Irene Pommer
No full textRecollections of family background. Both her parents came from orthodox Jewish background in Galicia. They got married around 1914 and moved to Vienna during World War I One, where her older brother Alfred was born. In 1919 her mother went back to Krakow to give birth to Ula. The family was living in the third district in Vienna. Her father was a manufacturer of bottle caps and cork stoppers. Ula attended the Kundmanngasse Gymnasium for four years. No recollection of anti-Semitism during this time. Afterwards she went to a textile school and was accepted at the Vienna Kustgewerbeschule. She had to abandon her plans to become a textile designer due to the growing anti-Semitism in Vienna in the 1930s. Ula took classes at business school (Handelsschule) in order to join her father’s business. Vivid memories of the “Anschluss” in 1938. Life in National Socialist Vienna. Her brother left Austria shortly after the Nazi-takeover. Her father was arrested after the Night of the November Pogrom in 1938 (Kristallnacht) and was released after he signed his business over to Nazi authorities. Preparations for emigration. Ula was accepted at the Bezalel School in Jerusalem and was able to get a certificate for Palestine due to her art background. She left Austria in March 1939. After her arrival she stayed with friends in Tel Aviv. She took several jobs as modiste, manicurist and worked as a domestic help. Recollections of life during the war. Both her parents perished during the Holocaust. In 1953 she joined her brother in the United States. Description of the Austrian and German refugee scene in the 1950s. Ula was offered a job as a secretary at the Austrian consulate in New York, but due to the anti-Israeli (and anti-Semitic) climate in Austria it did not work out.She eventually found a position with the U.S. Austrian Chamber of Commerce, where she worked as a secretary. Recollections of her frequent journeys to Austria and reflections on her relationship with Austrians after the war.2 sound cassettes and transcript of audio tapeUla Pommer, February 1997[1 take one]: Description of the family history.[1 take two /0:00-1:20]: Family Business[1 take two/1:23-3:11]: Description of apartment[1 take two/3:11-3:47]: Religion and observance[1 take two/3:47-7:18]: Schooling and professional training[1 take three/0:00-1:32]: Anti-Semitism and school[1 take three/1:32-3:08]: Friendships[1 take three/3:08-4:10]: Family education and relationship with brother[1 take three/4:10-5:35; 1 take four/0:00-2:18]: Domestic servants; National socialism[1 take four/2:18-3:25]: Austria prior to 1938[1 take four/3:25-5:11; 1 take five/0:00-0:48]: Life in National socialist Vienna (1938)[1 take five/1:20-3:40]: Anschluss[1 take five/3:40-5:04; 1 take six/0:00-2:16]: Life in National socialist Vienna (1938)[1 take six/2:16-3:22]: Nazi take-over of her father’s business[1 take six/3:22-5:32; 1 take seven/7:14-8:55]: Arrest of father by Gestapo[1 take six/5:32-6:45]: Emigration of brother[1 take six/7:18-7:40;1 take seven/0:00-3:02;1 take eight/1:30-2:55]: Preparations for her emigration[1 take seven/3:02-7:14]: Journey to Palestine[1 take eight/0:00-9:15]: Life in Palestine and Israel[1 take eight/9:15-14:20]: Life in the United States (New York)[2 take one/ 0:00 -2:47]: Emigres neighborhood in New York[2 take one/ 2:47-6:45]: Network of emigres[2 take one/ 7:23-11:03; 2 take two/0:00-2:56]: First visits to Austria[2 take two/6:41-10:10; 0:40-2:10]: Relationship with Austrians[2 take two/10:10-14:09; 2 take three/0:00-3:13]: Austrian American ConfederationUla Pommer was born on May 19th, 1919 in Krakow, Poland. She grew up in Vienna in a well-to-do assimilated Jewish family. Her father was a manufacturer of bottle caps and cork stoppers. She went to Gymnasium and studied textile design at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule (Art Academy). Ula emigrated to Palestine in March of 1939 and moved to the United States in 1953. Ula Pommer is a member of the Austrian American Confederation and lives in New York.Austrian Heritage Collectio
The rise and fall of the house of Ullstein
No full textLecture presented at the Chicago chapter of LBI about the Ullstein newspaper and publishing company from the 19th century to the Nazi era.The lecture presents a book by Hermann Ullstein (1875-1943) : The rise and fall of the house of Ullstein, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1943. LBI call number Z 315 U42 U4 1943
AHC Interview with Margaretha Wolf 1903-1997
No full textMargaretha Wolf was born in a well-to-do Jewish family in 1903 in Vienna. The family lived first in an elegant house in the second district, and later on in the Boersegasse, the first district. Her parents were both born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Vienna. Her mother’s relatives, the Mangold family, was well known in Vienna. Her parents got married in 1900. Her father owned a textile business. Recollections of paternal grandparents in Hungary. Grethe and her younger brother Franz grew up with a nanny and a French governess. She took piano lessons with the pianist Margarethe Levitt. Her teacher convinced Grethe’s parents to enroll their daughter in the Beamtentoechterlyceum, where she was able to continue her education. Recollections of World War One and the death of the Kaiser. Her father served in the Austrian Army during the war. The family was not religious, but they celebrated Passover. Grethe transferred to the Cottagegymnasium, where she graduated with Matura. Summer vacations in Baden. Grethe practiced sports such as skiing, tennis, ice skating and dance. She grew up in a progressive environment. Passion for music and art. Travels with her mother to Velden, Berlin and Venice, Italy. 1927 Marriage with the physician Max Wolf, who came from a family of physicians, artists and PhD’s. He had a number of famous patients, such as the brother of Kaiser Karl, his wife Zita, and the author Stephen Swift. Margaretha worked in her husband’s practice and a few afternoons at her father’s business. Travels throughout Europe. Her husband had an international reputation as a dermatologist. Recollections of the Anschluss in 1938. With the help of her husband’s patient Albert Goering, the brother of the infamous Hermann Goering, they were able to leave Austria via Jugoslawia. They had an affidavit for the United States and arrived in New York in 1939. Her husband studied to get his American licence and Margaretha worked in order to support the familHer husband had a successful practice. The couple lived in Elmhurst, Queens and were members of Humanitas, an organizations of émigrés to the United States.Margaretha Wolf was born as Margaretha Langer in 1903 in Vienna. She grew up in the progressive environment of a well-to-do family. She was a student of the Beamtentoechterlyceum and the Cottagegymnasium. In 1927 she got married to the physician Max Wolf, who had an international reputation and a number of famous patients. In 1939 they emigrated to the United States.May 11, 1997 and July 6, 1997Austrian Heritage Collectio
Where does he/she, where do they, come from? : Migration and genocide; before, during, after.
No full textPaper presented at the conference “Inclusion and exclusion: International migrants and refugees in Europe and North America” at the New School for Social Research, New York, June 5-7, 1997:The paper focuses on aspects of the link between genocidal situations and the ways in which the presence of migrants has been assessed and dealt with before, during and after.digitizedDigital Imag