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Abel, Emil (1875-1958)
Emil Abel was born in Vienna into a middle-class Jewish family. His interest in sciences led to his study of chemistry at the prestigious Technische Hochschule in Vienna. Following graduation, he joined the faculty. Abel was appointed its first professor in physical chemistry in 1908. During his tenure he wrote brilliant papers on homogeneous catalysts and the reactions that occur during the process of making sulphuric acid.
With the occupation of Austria by the Nazis he was dismissed from the university, under the Nuremberg Laws, in 1938. Abel moved England where he found a position in the research laboratory of the Ever Ready Co. He rose to become head of the research laboratory, and among his many projects, he worked on the mechanism of the dry battery cell. Abel remained with in his position until his retirement.
Abeles, Paul Wiliam (1897-)
Paul Wiliam Abeles was born in the town of Mistelbach, near Vienna. His father was a timber merchant and member of the executive committee of the Israelitsche Kultusgemeinde. Abeles graduated from the Technische Hochschule in Vienna in 1915 and received his certification in engineering in 1921. During World War I he served in the Austro-Hungarian army. After the war he was employed as an engineer with a local building authority in Westphalia. He then went on to achieve his degree in Design Engineering. Abeles became a specialist in concrete engineering. He was appointed Chief Engineer of a major engineering company in Vienna from1922 to 1929. He then became a consulting engineer specializing in reinforced concrete and industrial design in various Central European countries. Ableles moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. There he continued his work on concrete engineering.
Abraham, Philipp (c.1726-1810)
Philipp Abraham was first mentioned on a list of Jewish families of Vienna list in 1787. In August 1801 he was granted a permit to reside in Vienna for three years and pursue his profession as seal engraver. A masterpiece of his, a cameo depicting Empress Maria Theresia, signed P.A. is preserved at the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna.
Philipp Abraham outlived his two sons, Salomon Philipp Abraham and Hirsch Philipp Abraham, both of whom practiced their father’s craft.
Philipp Abraham died in Vienna.
Adler, Victor (1852-1918)
Victor Adler was born in Prague, but at an early age he was taken to Vienna, where his father became rich and converted to Catholicism. Victor Adler was a physician, but devoted his time to the working class. He was member of the Austrian Parliament (1905-1918), and foreign minister in the Socialist government (1918). Adler suffered in his youth and during his University years from anti-Semitism. After his marriage he converted to Christianity, to prevent the same suffering from his children. Adler was aware of his Jewish origins, but refused to take a stand in favour of the Jewish proletariat, or on Jewish issues, like in Brussels in 1891 at the Congress of the Socialist International. He also opposed the idea of Jewish nationhood .
Adler, Friedrich (1879-1960)
Leader of the Austrian Socialist Movement
Born in Vienna, son of Victor Adler a leader in the Austrian Socialist Movement and a baptised Jew. Friedrich Adler studied physics in Switzerland where he also lectured. He was converted to Christianity as a child, but at a later stage left that religion. He returned to Austria (1911), and became active in politics. Friedrich Adler opposed his party’s policy during WWI, which supported Germany. He assassinated the Austrian Prime Minister Count Karl von Sturgkh (1916), and was sentenced to death, but was released in 1918, after the fall of the Monarchy.
Friedrich Adler was one of the founders of the left-wing International Working Union of Socialist Parties (1921), and served as secretary of the Labour and Socialist International (1923-1939). During WWII he lived in the USA, but returned to Europe after 1945. Adler had a Jewish wife and many contacts with Zionists, but nevertheless did not believe in a Jewish independent state.
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Adler, Alexandra (1901-2001)
Alexandra Adler was born in Vienna, the daughter of the distinguished psychiatrist Alfred Adler. She studied at the University of Vienna and graduated as Doctor of Medicine in 1926. Following her father’s she became an expert in individual psychology. After her graduation and internship, she was a resident and visiting physician at the Neuropsychiatric Clinic of the University of Vienna until 1935. She was also editor of International Zeitschrift Individualpsychoterapie.
Adler left Vienna for the USA in 1935. She obtained a position as resident fellow assistant and instructor of neurology at the Harvard University School of Medicine, which she held until 1944. She also held positions as assistant in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, resident associate and senior visiting physician at Boston City Hospital. From 1944 until 1946, she was assistant psychiatrist at the Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina. In 1946 she became faculty member at the New York University as assistant clinical professor of neurology. She was promoted to associate clinical professor in 1953 and clinical professor of psychiatry in 1969. During this period she additionally held positions as member of staff at Bellevue Hospital, New York (1946); from 1946 to 1955 adjunct psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York; and during 1946-1956 she was associate visiting physician at Goldwater Memorial Hospital, New York. In 1948 she was appointed psychiatrist at the Department of Correction, New York and was elected as medical director of the Alfred Adler Mental Hygiene Clinic, New York. She was also editor of the International Journal of Individual Psychology.
Alexandra Adler was recognized as a leading authority in the field of individual psychology with specialty in psychosomatic syndromes and psychopharmacology. She was an authority on schizophrenia, pioneer in the study of post-traumatic stress disorder, and one of the first women neurologists at Harvard. She was a member and elected president of the New York Association of Individual Psychology; a member of the International Association of Individual Psychology, the American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Neurology; and Assistant for Research of Nervous and Mental Diseases.
In 1978, Alexandra Adler received the Golden Cross of Honor of the City of Vienna.
She died at the age of 99 in New York in 2001
Adler, Alfred (1870-1937)
Dr. Adolf Adler is recognized internationally as the founder of the Individual psychology. Adler was born in Vienna on February 7, 1870 to Jewish parents. His father, Leopold Adler, was a grain merchant. He received a medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1895. During his college years, he joined a group of socialist students, among which he met his future wife, Raissa Timofeyewna Epstein. She was an intellectual and social activist who had come from Russia to study in Vienna. They married in 1897 and soon after Adler converted to Protestantism. Two of their four children became psychiatrists.
Adler began his medical career as an ophthalmologist, and then changed to general practice. He became interested in psychiatry and was able to join Dr. Sigmund Freud’s group. He was a member of Sigmund Freud’s discussion group known after 1908 as the Vienna Psychoanalysis Society (1902-1911), President of Psychoanalyst. Soc. and Co-editor of Zentralblatt fuer Psychoanalyse (1910-1911). Adler made the earliest synthesis between Marxist and Freudian thoughts (1909).
During his relationship with Freud, Adler began to form his own ideas regarding aggression. This eventually led to his breakup with Freud and he formed his own group, The Society for Individual Psychology. The “Individual Psychology “was based on premise of individual’s aim of self-determination, future orientation and his “will to power” against basic feelings of inferiority. Adler diminished the importance of intra psychic phenomena and stressed the importance of social factors in the neuroses development. That year he founded the Society of Free Analysis, which he renamed a year later as the Society for Individual Psychology. He also founded the first child guidance clinic that was connected to the Viennese school system (1919).
During World War I Adler served in the Austro-Hungarian Army as a physician. Following the war, he was involved in various projects, including clinics attached to state schools and the training of teachers. From 1924 onwards, Alfred Adler was a much-appreciated lecturer. In 1926, he went to the United States to lecture, and accepted a visiting position at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1934, he and his family left Vienna. His lecture tours included many institutions: Pedagogical Institute, Vienna (1924), Columbia University in New York (1927), frequent lecturing tours to the U.S.A. In the later decades of the twentieth century, there has been an increased interest in the western world in the Psychology of Adler and various schools or societies for Adlerian Psychology were established.
On May 28, 1937, during a series of lectures at Aberdeen University, Scotland, he died of a heart attack.
Adolf, Helen (1895-1998)
Helen Adolf was born in Vienna where she attented an art school from 1915 to 1918. She studied at the University of Vienna and graduated as Doctor of philology with highest honor in 1923. Adolf worked for Reclau publishing house in Leipzig, Germany, as compiler of anthologies and at the same time she studied privately and was engaged in writing. Adolf became a member of International Society for Psychology of Religion of which she served as secretary from 1923 to 1938.
In April 1939, following the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, she immigrated to the USA, where she received aid from relatives and from American Friends Service Committee.
Adolf attended the summer school at the University of Pennsylvania studing Spanish, from 1939 to 1940. She was head of Latin department at Foxcraft, Virginia, from 1940 to 1941, teacher of French at San Luis Ranch School, Colorado, from 1942 to 1943, a member of faculty at Pennsylvania State University, after 1943, and then an instructor of German, French and Spanish at Altoona, Pennsylvania undergraduate center, from 1943 to 1946. Helen Adolf became assistant professor in 1946-47, then associate professor, from 1947 to 1953, professor of German, from 1953 to 1963, and professor emeritus, after 1963. Concurrently, from 1963 to 1966, Helen Adolf was visiting professor of German at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania; during the summer of 1966 teacher of graduates in course of German at the University of Pennsylvania.
Helen Adolf is known as specialist in linguistics and religious psychology, also noted for poetry, and historical and cultural studies. She was a member of M.C.A. (Mediaeval Academy of America); Linguistic Society of America; Arthurian Society, and P.E.N. (Aust.). She received Honorary Mention in Journal of Aesthetics (1951); Louis H. Bell Memorial Award from Pennsylvania University (1960); Ehrenkreutz 1st class, arts and letters, (Austria 1972).
Helen Adolf translated Jeanne Galzy’s Therese von Avila, des lebensroman einer Heiligen (Munich, 1929); she was the compiler of Dem neuen Reich entgegen, 1850-1871 (Leipzig, 1930); and of In neuen Reich, 1871-1914 (Leipzig, 1932); Wortgeschichtliche Studien zum Leib/Seele-Problem (Vienna, 1937) and others. She contributed more than 50 articles and 70 reviews to professional journals.
Alt, Franz Leopold (1910-)
Franz Leopold Alt was born and educated in Vienna, where he earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Vienna in 1932. From 1923 to 1933 he was apprentice teacher at a secondary school and during the coming two years he was engaged in an unpaid research work. From 1935 to 1938 Alt was an actuary.
In May 1938, shortly after the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, Alt immigrated to the USA. From that year to 1946 he was researcher principal and later assistant director researcher at the Econometric Institute, New York. During World War II, from 1943 to 1945, he served in the US Army with the rank of Second Lieutenant.
From 1946 to 1948, Alt was department head of the computing laboratory of Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen. From 1948 to 1967 he worked with the National Bureau of Standards and from 1948 to 1952 also as assistant head of Computation Laboratories. From 1952 to 1962 he was assistant head of Applied Mathematical Division, during 1962-1963 head of Office of International Relations, and from 1964 to 1967 area manager for Information Systems designs and research office of standard reference data.
From 1954 to 1958 Alt was editor of Journal of Association Computer Machinery. As of the early 1960s he contributed to the Journal Research of the Natural Bureau of Standards, and to Advances in Computers. From 1960 to 1962 Franz Alt served as consultant at Management Scientific Research Group at the University of Maryland, and from 1967 to 1973 he was deputy director at Information Division of American Institute of Physics.
Franz Alt also taught mathematics at various universities. He specialized in computers and their applications in science, engineering, management and data processing. He also dealt with information retrieval, automatic language translations, numerical analytical operations research, econometrics, and geometry of metric spaces.
Franz Alt was a member of American Mathematicians Society; of Association for Computing Machinery, of which he president from 1950 to 1952 and chairman of the editorial board from 1954 to 1958. He was also a member of the National Research Council (1961-1964); Association for Computational Linguistics (v. president 1963-1964); American Standards Association Subcommittee (chairman 1963-65); International Council Scientific Unions-Data, and of International Task Groups on Computer Use in Data Centers. Franz Alt received First Winner of the Distinguished Service Award of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Franz Alt retired in 1973 and became active in various peace and justice organizations.
Alter, Israel (1901-1979)
Israel Alter was born in Lvov – known then as Lemberg, a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in the Ukraine). Alter moved to Vienna where he was able to dedicate himself to his studies in music with emphasis on cantorial liturgy. While still in his early twenties, he was offered a position of cantor at the Brigittenauer Tempel-Verein, Vienna. He moved to Hanover, Germany, in 1925 and remained there until 1935. With the rise of the Nazism
Alter emigrated to South Africa, where he became head cantor at the United Hebrew Congregation of Johannesburg. In 1961 he moved to the United States. There he became a member of faculty at the School of Sacred Music, at the H.U.C.-J.I.R. (Hebrew Union College –Jewish Institute of Religion) in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1961, he moved to New York where he continued teaching and in a cantorial capacity in the Reform Movement. He died in New York in 1979.
Israel Alter is recognized for his contribution to modern cantorial liturgy. He made many recordings and his compositions are considered an important element in modern cantorial liturgy. Alter was also editor of liturgical works of David Eisenstadt, including ‘le’David Mizmor’ (“A song of David”).
Alwin, Carl (1891-1945)
Alwin was born in Koenigsberg, Germany, (now Kalinigrad, Russia) and studied music, philosophy and literature at the University of Berlin. He was part of the Berliner Hofoper (1910), Assistant Director of the Bayrueth Orchestra (1912), and served in different orchestras at Halle, Posen, Dusseldorf and Hamburg, between 1914-1920.
For eighteen years (1920-1938) Carl Alwin was conductor at the Staatsoper of Vienna, until his dismissal by the new Nazi regime. He went in exile to the USA where he conducted at the Chicago Civic Opera (1939-1940). He then moved to Mexico where he was music instructor at the conservatorium of Mexico City and conducter at Opera Nacional de Mexico (1941-1945). Carl Alwin was married to the opera singer Elisabeth Schumann.
Aptowitzer, Victor (Avigdor) (1871-1942)
Rabbi Victor (Avigdor) Aptowitzer was born in Galicia and studied at the University of the Jewish Theological Seminary of Vienna. Following his ordination he continued to teach Jewish studies at the Seminary, lecturing in Hebrew, for nearly thirty years (1909-1938). He also taught at other prestigious schools. Despite an eye condition, he was a productive scholar, and an impressive lecturer. He was a dedicated Zionist and interested in many fields in Jewish religion.
Among his many works are the differences in biblical quotations as they appear in Talmud and Midrash with their source in the Masoretic text.(4 vols). He researched the Agada, investigating its origins and sought their sources (folk origin or academic). Rabbi Aptowitzer studied the origin of the content and literary form of the Agada, and compared it to writings of the first Christians. He dealt with Agada and Halakhah in his book about Cain and Abel in the Agada. He also investigated the relationship of the writings of Jewish law with those of the Armenians and Syrians.
Rabbi Aptowitzer settled in Jerusalem in 1938, where he continued his research on Halakhah, and reviewed Talmudic literature.
Arenstein, Henriette (1780-1859)
Henriette Arnstein was the daughter of Fanny (Franziska) and Nathan Arnstein. She continued her mother’s salons and led a quieter life than her mother, although she had many talents of herself, among others, she was a gifted pianist. She comforted Haydn in his elder days, and Beethoven, who was afraid of big crowds, played in her intimate circle. She converted to Christianity, but married Heinrich Pereira, a Sephardi Jew whom her father adopted, and who, like his parents in law, was enobled.
Henriette Arenteisn’s salon was described as one of the few centres of cultural activity before the 1848 revolution, and attracted many well known writers and artists. Henriette’s salon, because of its quiet nature, was not endangered by Metternich’s policy that did not allow subversive talk or the spreading of ideas which could lead to a rebellion.
Arenstein, Franziska (Fanny) (1757-1818)
Franziska (Fanny, Voegelchen) von Arnstein was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1757, the daughter of Daniel Itzig of Berlin, Master of the Mint and one of the most influential Jews in Prussia at the time. Of Daniel’s sixteen children (eight daughters), Fanny was considered the most beautiful and talented. She left Berlin and moved to Vienna in 1776 where she was detemined to surround herself with a circle of people with liberal views in arts, religion, and philosophy. She herself was very talented in music, as a pianist and singer. Fanny was accepted to the high society in Vienna, in spite of the negative attitude of the Empress Maria Theresia towards the Jews, partly because the aristocrats’ behaviour towards the Jews was better than that of the throne, but especially because Fanny’s charm. Fanny’s intimate friend was the younger wife of the Court Secretary.
Fanny paved her way to success after being befriended with Joseph von Sonnenfels, a baptised Jew and a great social reformer. She attended Mozart’s concerts, and mixed with aristocrats and wealthy Jews converted to Christianity. For some Austrian writers she became an object of admiration.
After Emperor Joseph issued his “Patent of Tolerance”, Fanny gained a dominant role in Austrian society. In the 1790’s her intimate friends included foreign princes and Austrian nobleman. One of the princes lost his life in a duel for her. She travelled a lot to Berlin, her native city, from which she brought new ideas and books which were discussed in her three salons, where many members of the European Aristocracy assembled. She was of course assisted by the wealth and power of her husband, but her energy, drive and love of arts contributed even more to her success. They were both enobled to the rank of Baron in 1798. Fanny was co-founder of the Musical Society (1812), which exists till today.
During the Vienna Congress (1814-1815), she held receptions and musical events every Tuesday night, which were attended by the European statesmen and nobility. Fanny, like her husband, remained all her life Jewish, and was buried accordingly. Because of Fanny’s belief that all religions were equal before God, she did not object her only daughter’s convertion to Christianity.
Arndt, Jacques (1914- )
Jacques Arndt (formerly Jacques Abrahamer; also known as Jacques Abraham and Diego A.) was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). His family moved to Vienna as a child, where he graduated from Realgymnasium, in 1928. He began his studies in drama at an early age at the Burgtheater. From 1931 to 1934 Jacques Arndt was a scholarship student of theater arts at the Akademie fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst (A.M.d.K.). Concurrently, he was assistant to the head of the A.M.d.K. and received first prize upon graduation. From 1935 to 1936 he had an engagement with a German ensemble, Die Komedie, in Luxemburg. From 1936 to 1938 he was an actor in Viennese theatres; particularly in radio plays of RAVAG (Oesterreichisches Radioverkehr – A.G.). He was a member of the Ring von oesterreichischen Buehnen-Kuenstler from which he was dismissed in 1938, when Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany.
Due to the Nazi persecutions Arndt made an illegal entry into Luxemburg in July 1938, and remained there until December. He was supported by a relief organization.
In 1939 he emigrated to Uruguay. He found work as a speaker and artistic director of the German speaking radio-hour La Voz del Dia, in Montevideo, a position he held until 1941. Arendt then became actor, director and stage designer at the Freie Deutsche Buehne, in Buenos Aures, Argentina. From 1951 he was director of radio and TV staged plays for Spanish speaking theaters in Argentina and Chile. From 1958 he was German editor, manager of the state-owned short-waved radio station in Buenos Aires, until, in 1971, when he was dismissed by the Peron government. From 1959 to 1962, after departure of Siegmund Breslauer (which ended the Freie Deutsche Buehne) Arndt was founder and director of a German-language ensemble the Deutsches Theater, Buenos Aires –Teatro Aleman de Buenos Aires, with support from the Federal Republic of Germany. They toured in South America and Europe.
Arndt participated in radio and television conferences in the USA, France and the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1970 he was the Argentine delegate at an international symposium of German short-wave stations in Koeln. He was author for radio and television and made a number of adaptations of plays and translations of German dramas. He contributed to Argentine newspapers and magazines. Arndt was a member of various professional and cultural organizations. He worked on over forty Argentinean films.
Arnold, Paula (1885-1968)
Paula Arnold was born in Vienna, the daughter of Leon Kellner, one of Theodore Herzl’s early aides. She taught in Vienna at high schools for girls until 1933 when she emigrated to Palestine, settled in Binyamina, and turned to writing. Among her works are Austria of the Austrians (1914) and translations of novels and plays by other authors into German. In 1960, for the centenary of the birth of Theodor Herzl, she prepared an English translation of his Altneuland (Old-New Land), which was published in Israel that same year. She also wrote Birds of Israel (1962) and Israel Nature Notes (1965) a selection of articles written for the Jerusalem Post.
Arnstein, Benedict David (1765-1841)
Of the renowned Arnstein Family of dominant court financiers in Vienna in the 18th and first half of 19th century. The Arnsteins married into other leading Jewish families, such as Gomperz, Itzig, Mendelssohn and Pereira.
Grandson of Adam Isaac Arnstein. His primary occupation was banking, but he was also an author, and the first Jew in the Habsburg empire to publish a book., when he was 17. His first publication describes the joy of the Jews when they were granted the “Toleranzpatent”.
Arnstein, Adam Isaac (1721-1785)
Of the renowned Arnstein Family of dominant court financiers in Vienna in the 18th and first half of 19th century. The Arnsteins married into other leading Jewish families, such as Gomperz, Itzig, Mendelssohn and Pereira.
Son of Isaac Aaron, married Sibylle (Bella) Gomperz (daughter of Bendit Gomperz -Nymwegen). Became Head of the Arnstein Firm and food supplier to Empress Maria Theresa’s husband . His ties with the Court brought him privileges and he was freed from humiliating restrictions (1762-1768).
He was active in matters affecting the Jewish community in Austria , such as preventing the expulsion of Jews from Prague (1744-45), and assisting the Jews of Hamburg concerning their rights.
Arnstein, Isaac Aaron (c.1682-1744)
Founder of the renowned Arnstein dynasty of dominant court financiers in Vienna in the 18th and first half of 19th century. The Arnsteins married into other leading Jewish families, such as Gomperz, Itzig, Mendelssohn and Pereira.
Born in Arnstein and settled in Vienna in 1705. He worked for Samson Wertheimer, and executed important financial transactions for Wertheimer’s firm, eventually becoming an associate. He also worked independently, as food supplier to the Royal Court and Military Establishment. In 1736 he used his influence to prevent the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna.
Arnstein , Nathan Adam (1748-1838)
Of the renowned Arnstein Family of dominant court financiers in Vienna in the 18th and first half of 19th century. The Arnsteins married into other leading Jewish families, such as Gomperz, Itzig, Mendelssohn and Pereira.
Son of Adam Isaac Arnstein. Nathan Adam made large scale loans to the court of Joseph II. Together with his brother in law and partner, Bernhard Eskeles, he expanded the family firm during the Napoleonic Wars. He was among the most famous bankers in Austria and was ennobled in 1795. in 1797 he was title a Baron. He supported Tyrolese peasants in their revolt against the French, and was involved in the Jewish Viennese Community. Along with other notables, he signed a petition to the king requesting rights for the Jews during the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815). He married Franziska Itzig (Fanny) who led a famous salon. Their daughter Henrietta married Heinrich Pereira , a reputedly relative of Diego d Aguilar.
Ashtor, Eliyahu (1914-1984)
Eliyahu Ashtor (formerly Eduard Strauss) was born in Vienna. He attended the Theological Seminar in Vienna for five years. In 1936 he graduated as Doctor of Philosophy in Oriental studies and history at the University of Vienna.
In 1938, following the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, he immigrated to Eretz Israel, then British Mandate of Palestine and changed his name from Eduard Strauss. From 1939 to 1957 he was librarian at the oriental department of the National and University Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ashtor continued his studies at Hebrew University and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy.
He taught at Hebrew University from 1948 until 1954 under a research fellowship and a teaching contract. In 1955 he was admitted to the faculty as a lecturer of Arabic studies. Ashtor was admitted to the Faculty of Law in 1956 as a lecturer in Islamic law. He was in the faculty until 1968. In 1963 Ashtor was appointed to associate professor and then professor, in 1969. From 1967 to 1968 he was Directeur d’etudes associes, at the ‘Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes’, Section des sciences economiques, Sorbonne, Paris. He was visiting professor at the department of history at Harvard University from 1968 to 1969 and from 1972 to 1973 he was visiting lecturer at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Auerbach, Israel ben Shalom (17th century- )
Israel ben Shalom Auerbach was the most significant among the Jewish engravers of the first half of the 17th century. He was a so-called “Muenzjude” and entrusted with minting money by the Imperial Court. In 1616 Auerbach had the distinction of paying the highest taxes of the Jewish community of Vienna. In 1632 he settled in the Hoferische Gruende in dem unteren Werde, later known as District II of Vienna. Eventually the Auerbach family lost its wealth, their house was confiscated and Israel ben Shalom Auerbach died in poverty.
Augenfeld, Felix (1893-1984)
Felix Augenfeld was born in Vienna. He graduated from ‘Realschule’ in 1910. Augenfeld studied engineering at the Technische Hochschule of Vienna until 1914. In World War I he served in the Austrian-Hungarian army and was a prisoner of war in Italy from 1915 until 1919. After his release he resumed his studies at the Technische Hochschule, and was certified in 1920 as a civil architect. From 1921 to 1938, he practiced as a freelance architect in Vienna in partnership with Karl Hofmann. There they worked on architectural commissions and interior designs in Austria and Czechoslovakia and buildings in Vienna. In 1931 Augenfeld worked as assistant to Oskar Strand, theater and stage designer in both Vienna and London. He participated in an exhibition of design in Milan in 1933. Augenfeld published articles in professional journals in Austria, Germany, U. K, Italy and U.S. Among these were Modern Bauformen in Berlin, Die Buehne, and Kunst und Dekoration. He also contributed to Das Wiener Moebel, Stuttgart. Augenfeld was a member of the Central Union of Austrian Architects (1921-1938).
In 1938, because of Nazi persecution he immigrated to the U.K. He lived in London until 1939 on a resident permit, with help from British and American friends. He practiced as a self-employed architect and designer on private commissions.
In August 1939 he moved to the U.S.A., where at first he worked as a freelance architect. From 1941 he had his own studio in New York and became a member of the American Institute of Architect. He received an honorary mention from the organization in 1961 for his work on the Buttlinger Library Building, built in 1952-56.
Felix Augenfeld died in New York in 1984
Auspitz, Heinrich (1835-1886)
physician and dermatologist
Auspitz was born in Nikolsburg, Moravia (now Mikulov, Czech Republic) as a Jew, who later was baptized. He was among the young Jewish assistants of Ferdinand von Hebraz at the Kraetze Klinik in Vienna. From 1872 he was director of the dermatology department at the Policlinic in Vienna and from 1875 was a.Professor of Dermatology and Syphilidology. In 1884 Auspitz became director of the dermatology clinic at the University of Vienna.
Auspitz, who became world famous, wrote a very important work about soap and its use in the treatment of skin-affections. He was the publisher of the Archiv fuer Dermatologie und Syphilis and of the quarterly paper Der Dermatologie. He also wrote the stimulating and gripping book System der Hautkrankheiten (1881.) In the Ziemsen’schen Handbuch he contributed with Die Pathologie und Therapie der Hautkrankheiten (Pathology and Therapy of Skin Diseases).
Austerlitz, Friedrich (1862-1931)
Born in Visoka Libyne, Moravia (Czech Republic), then known as Hochliebin, Austrian Empire. Austerlitz first pursued a commercial career, but in 1887 he turned to journalism, joining the staff of the Vienna Arbeitzeitung, then still a weekly. In the early 1890s he undertook social work for the employees’ union. In 1895 he was made editor of the political section of the Arbeitzeitung, which now became a daily newspaper, and in 1906 he was appointed its editor in chief. Austerlitz held his post for twenty-five years, during which period the paper gained the reputation of being the best organ of the Socialist Internationale.
His total devotion to his journalistic activities made him to refuse, time and again, to become a candidate for the Reichstag. Only in 1919 did he become a member of the National Constitutional Assembly of Austria. In 1920 he was elected to the National Assembly, where he took part in the drafting of the Austrian Press Law.
Austerlitz consistently refrained from participation in all Jewish topics, particularly national Jewish problems. As a Marxist, he altogether opposed national tendency in Judaism, and his attitude in this regard definitely influenced that of the Austrian Social Democrats.
He is author of Wer ist Waahler (Vienna, 1897); Ein Militerurteil in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1901); Presse und Pressefreiheit (Vienna, 1902); Das neue Wahlerecht (Vienna, 1907).
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Bacher, Eduard (1846-1908)
After graduating from the University of Vienna he practiced as a lawyer. Eduard Bacher became the parliamentary reporter of the Liberal Viennese daily Neue Freie Presse (1872), and later he became editor in chief of that paper (1879), and eventually its publisher (1888). He was politically active in the German Liberal Party in Vienna. Theodor Herzl was a staff member of his newspaper, but because Bacher opposed the Herzl’s Zionism, he forbade the Zionist leader to publish articles on Zionist issues in his newspaper.
Bachrich, Ernst (1892-1942)
Ernst Bachrich was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna together with Arnold Schonberg and Carl Prohaska. He became secretary of Shonberg’s circle of music (1918-1920), conductor of the Wiener Volksoper (1920-1925), also of orchestras in Dusseldorf and Duisberg, Germany. He conducted the series “Music at Present Time- Vienna. He composed lieder, chamber music, works for greater orchestras.
On May 15, 1942, Ernst Bachrich was deported to Izbica, where he was murdered.
Bamberger, Heinrich (1822-1888)
Heinrich von Bamberger was born in Zvonarka, near Prague, (now in the Czech Republic) and studied medicine in Prague. Already in 1854 he was appointed professor of pathology and therapy in internal medicine at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, where he remained until 1872. In the same year he became professor at the University of Vienna, in a position filled before him by the renowned professor Oppolzer. Heinrich von Bamberger became famous for his brilliant lectures and for his diagnostic techniques.
Bamberger’s disease, Bamberger’s bulbar pulse, and Bamberger’s sign for pericardial effusion, all bear his name. He is especially known for his textbook on cardiac diseases Lehrbuch der Krankheiten des Herzens (1857), and for his diagnosis of symptoms of cardiac diseases. His other works include Morbus Brighti, a book about kidney diseases (1849) and Die Krankheiten des chylopoetischen Systems (1864), which during his life has also been translated into Italian and Dutch. His findings and methods made headway in internal medicine.
During the last two years of his life H. von Bamberger was president of the Vienna Medical Association. A bust of Bamberger, in memory for his contribution to the medical faculty stood on the compound of the University of Vienna.
Bamberger-Hammerschlag, Lotte (Maria Charlotte) (1904-2005)
Born In Vienna, and studied violin in the Academy of Music in Vienna.
She played viola in chamber groups such as the Busch Quartet.
in 1936 she immigrated to Eretz Israel, and played in the Palestine Orchestra in Tel- Aviv.
Following the “Anschluss” in 1938, her husband Carl Bamberger escaped to the United States, and Lotte joined him. She performed in concerts, and taught at the Mannes College of Music in New York.
Barany, Robert (1876-1936)
otologist
Born and educated in Vienna, he graduated from the University of Vienna in 1900. During the following five years he did research in hospitals at Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg and Freiburg, Germany. He returned to Vienna in 1905 and became privatdozent and assistant in the clinic of Politzer. By 1914 his research encompassed all aspects of the physiology and pathology of the inner ear. His greatest discovery was a method that enables the examination of each of the two labyrinths, separately, by using cold and hot water. He was also the first to describe a practical operative procedure for otosclerosis cases. Robert Barany discovered the connection between the functions of the labyrinth and cerebellum (little brain) that are essential for maintaining the balance of the body and in this way he also laid the basis for diagnosis of diseases of the little brain. Barany was the first to employ new methods of surgery to enable acoustic waves to reach the inner ear.
During World War I, Dr. Barany served as a surgeon in the Austrian-Hungarian army. In 1915 he was taken prisoner of war on the Russian front, where he later found out that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1914. The Russians, on hearing about the prize, released Dr. Barany in 1916 in the course of a prisoner exchange.
Dr. Barany, being a Jew, was never made a full professor at the University of Vienna. However, in 1917, he was appointed professor of otology at the University of Upsala, Sweden. Barany’s scientific works concentrate on labyrinth-pathology and physiology. His major works include Der primaere Wundnaht bei Schussverletzungen des Gehirns, which appeared in the weekly magazine Wiener klinische Wochenschrift (1916,) and Die Radicaloperation des Ohres ohne Gehoergangplastik bei chronischen Mittel-phreiterungen (1923).
Only towards the end of his life, when the Nazis came to power, did Barany begin to show any interest in Judaism and Jewish questions. In his will he left his valuable library to the National Library in Jerusalem.
Barasch, Moriz (1818-1888)
Moriz Barasch was born and educated in Vienna. Already in 1837 he became associated with Bauerle’s theatrical gazette and Saphir’s Humorist. Later he himself founded humorist publications, such as Der Komet (1853), Die Komische Welt and Wiener Feuileten. In 1850 his play Compromittiert was staged in Prague. His drama Marquis was written in 1869.
Moriz Barasch was a talented lyricist as evidenced by his Lieder, Bilder und Geschichten (1854). In his Ueber Land und Meer he depicted the contemporary literary life of Vienna. Noteworthy of his other works are Aus dem Skizzenbuch eines Paedagogen (1875), Ein maerchen aus unseren Tagen and Neuer Decameron (both in 1878); Kleine Wahrheiten (1880); Drollerien und Pikanterien; Lachenden Geschichten and Weltlust. M. Barasch also contributed to many periodicals.
Basch , Samuel Siegfried (1837 -1916)
Physician and pathologist
Born in Prague, (now in the Czech Republic), Samuel Basch was associate professor of experimental pathological Anatomy at the University of Vienna, from 1877. He described the system of a new Sphygmo and Cardiography. In 1880 he introduced the measuring of blood pressure into general medical practice.
From 1865 through 1867 Samuel von Basch was the personal physician of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. He published his memoirs from this period. Professor Samuel Basch died in Vienna in 1916.
Bauer, Julius (Gyula) (1853-)
Humorist, librettist, dramatic critic
Born in Gyoersziget, Hungary. Although he studied medicine at the University of Vienna, he gained fame for his literary activities. He wrote under the pen name Don Spavento, and contributed numerous satirical articles to the Vienna press. In 1879 he became dramatic critic of the Wiener Extrablatt. Bauer is the author of Sieben Schwaben and Der Arme Jonathan. Being the official librettist of the Theater a.d. Wien, he wrote, with Hugo Wittman, the libretto for Milloecker’s Der Hofnarr and ‘Das Sonntagskind’. Julius Bauer translated several Hungarian classics, amongst them Mor Jokai’s Aranyember (“Man of Gold”).
Bauer, Otto (1881-1938)
Otto Bauer was a Socialist leader and the first foreign minister of the Austrian Republic (1918-1919). He was the son of an industrialist who joined the socialist movement. Together with others he founded the socialist monthly Der Kampf (1907), which became a forum of socialist ideas. As an intellectual he studied, and wrote about socialist problems, like nationality. He suggested a new definition for nation: “the totality of men united through a community of fate into a community of character”. Bauer advocated granting cultural autonomy to various national groups of people in the Austria-Hungary Empire (including the Jews who fullfilled a very important role in history but could not be a separate nation). His ideas about assimilation were unacceptable by the Zionist, who criticized him sharply. After WWI Bauer became foreign ministerof the new republic, but resigned after a year when his ideas of merger with Germany failed to materialize.
After Dolfuss took power (1934), Bauer was instrumental in the struggle of the Viennese workers against the government, and after its collapse he fled to Czechoslovakia. In May 1938 he fled to Paris from where he published in the News Chronicle of London “an appeal to world conscience in rescueing three hundred Jews from the Germans in Austria”. Otto Bauer died on the very his appeal was published. He was an intensive writer and published different books on Socialist topics.
Baum, Vicky (1888-1960)
Born in Vienna, Vicky Baum began a music career as a professional harpist. She succeeded more as a short story writer, which caused her to leave the music career. Vicky Baum became an editor in the Berlin publishing house of Ulstein (1921). She wrote 25 novels, of them the most famous are Menschen im Hotel (1929) which was translated as Grand Hotel (1930). This book was a worldwide bestseller and was filmed in many versions.
In 1931 she settled in the USA and continued writing books. She often repeated the pattern of Grand Hotel (several stories for different people all mixed together) and set the characters of her books through different historical and psychological themes.
Baum (formerly Teutelbaum), Siegmund (1920-)
Siegmund Baum was born in Vienna as Siegmund Teutelbaum in 1920. He changed his family name to Baum in 1946. From 1930 to 1938 he attended the Realgymnasium, but due to the implementation of the discriminating Nuerenberg laws in Austria, in 1938, he was unable to obtain the Matura. In July 1938, he emigrated to Italy, where he was denied permission either to study or to work.
In 1939 Baum immigrated to the USA, where he started working in a factory. During WW2 he served in the US Army, from 1942 to 1945. In 1947, Baum was admitted as Associate in Arts at Los Angeles City College. From 1946 to 1950 he also attended UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles.) earning his BA in physiology in 1949, and his MA in 1950. From 1950 to 1960 he was physiologist at the US Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, San Francisco. Concurrently, from 1954 to 1959, he attended the University of California at Berkley, where he received his Ph.D. From 1960 to1962 he was group leader of physiologists and radiologists at Douglas Missile and Space Systems. From 1962 Baum was a member of staff at the Armed Forces Radiobiological Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. From 1962 to 1964 he was head of the cellular radiobiological division, from 1964 to 1947 chairman of the experimental pathological department, and from 1976 chairman of experimental hematology department.
Concomitantly, he was professor at Uniformed Services at the University School of Medicine where he specialized in bio-medical productive research.
Baum was a member of the American Physiological Society; Radiation Research Society; Transplantation Society; International Society of Experimental Hematology; and Sigma Xi. Siegmund Baum received the 1st Annual Scientists Award from the US Naval Radiobiological Defense Laboratory (1960); and the Exceptional Civilian Service Award from the Defense Nuclear Agency (1973). Baum contributed many articles to professional scientific publications.
Beer, Peter (1758 or 1764-1838)
Peter Beer (Perez) (pen name Theophil Nikodem). After attending yeshivot in Prague and Pressburg (now Bratislava) he studied pedagogy at Vienna University. From 1784 he taught at Mattersdorf; then in his native Novy Bydzov; and from 1811 in Prague. He was the first Jew to hold a government appointment when he was appointed ‘teacher of morals’ to Jewish high schools. Highly esteeemed by the Austrian authorities, Beer’s educational work was viewed with suspicion in most Jewish circles. He helped to open the first Reform synagogue in Prague. His Jewish history textbook was the blueprint for such works in enlightened schools throughout Europe for many years.
Beer-Hofmann, Richard (1866-1945)
Richard Beer-Hoffman was born in Vienna, the son of Hermann Beer, a Jewish Moravian lawyer. His mother died while giving him birth. Later, his maternal uncle, Herman Hofmann, a Viennese industrialist, adopted him. In 1884, Beer added his foster-father’s family name to his own.
As a young man he served as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Beer-Hofmann graduated as Doctor of Jurisprudence at the University of Vienna in 1890, but never practiced the legal profession. Occasionally he directed a few plays: in 1928 Goethe’s ‘Iphigenia’ at the Theater an der Josefstadt, Vienna, at the Salzburg Festival in 1930 and at Deutsche Theater, Berlin. In the same year he staged his own one-night version of Goethe’s ‘Faust’ I and II at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
Beer-Hoffmann joined the Young Vienna literary circle. He and his friends: Arthur Schnitzler, Peter Altenberg, Felix Dormann, Felix Salten, Hugo von Hofmannstahl and other artists frequented the Cafe Grienstadl, where they discussed art, religion and politics. He was also on friendly terms with Theodor Herzl.
Beer-Hofmann published his first short story in 1891. More significant was his novelette Das Kind (1893). His most famous lyric Schlaflied fuer Miriam, was written for his first-born daughter, Miriam. Beer-Hoffman disliked his colleagues’ egocentric, pleasure and fame-seeking motives and he sought after meaning in his Judaism. An example of his feelings is his only novel Der Tod Georgs, published in 1900. In the novel the hero, an Epicurean, decides to abandon his self-centered existence, discovers himself as a Jew, and joins his people’s struggle for justice. His first play Der Graf von Charlois (1904) and his poem Altern (1907) also reflect his emphasis on unity of tradition, which binds the individual to his ancestral past. His trilogy of plays: Jaakobs Traum (1918), Der Junge David (1918), and Vorspiel auf dem ‘Theater zu Konig David’ (1936), of which only a small part was ever completed, are based on biblical themes. In his plays Beer-Hofmann expounds his belief that the individual, and people in general, are important only to the extent that their welfare confers with that of humanity at large.
Beer-Hofmann received: the Volks-Schillerpreis, Goethe Bund, Berlin (1905), and the Raimund Preis, Vienna (1921). In 1936 he visited the Palestine. He resumed his work on his trilogy when he returned to Vienna. In August 1939 he fled from the Nazi regime to Switzerland, where he lost his wife, Paula. In November 1939 he emigrated to the U.S.A., and lived in New York with his daughters and son in-law, Ernest Lens. Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Universities and Smith College invited him to join their faculty. His Verse (1941) contains all the poems that he wished preserved. In his posthumous fragment Paula (1949), a tribute to his wife, having also some autobiographical elements, reflects the autumnal mood of Austria, as it influenced his life and shaped his personality.
After World War II, the Burgtheater of Vienna restored Jaakobs Traum to its repertoire. The American Academy of Arts and Letters conferred a distinguished award upon him. He also gained appreciation from Jewish institutions. Within Jewish circles he was considered as a symbol of Jewish dignity, for while still in Austria he placed a Shield of David over the entrance of his house, thus signifying to all that the Jewish fate was his fate. The Jewish National Fund issued a Beer-Hofmann memorial stamp. The Jewish Publication Society of America published an English translation of Jaakobs Traum. In Hebrew it has been played on stage by Habima in Moscow, Tel Aviv and New York.
Beer-Hofmann died in New York in 1945.
Benedikt, Moritz (1849-1920)
Moritz Benedikt was born in present Czech Republic where he studied law and economics. In 1872 he was appointed to the financial staff of the most influential paper in Austria, the Neue Freie Press. Benedikt was promoted to chief financial editor and soon became part owner of the paper. From 1908, after the death of his partner, Eduard Bacher, Benedikt was completely in charge of the paper’s editorial policy. In that position influenced the Austrian affairs. It was said that he influenced the erecting and breaking of ministries. His editorials attacked the prime minister’s electoral reforms in three different issues of the paper. These helped in having them dropped, and caused the PM’s resignation. Moritz Benedikt was a supporter of the German Liberal Party and opposed Zionism. He did not let Dr. Theodore Herzl, who was the literary editor of the newspaper, publish anything in favor of Zionism. Benedikt supported the Austro-Hungary compromise. He was elected to the upper house of the Austrian parliament (1917).
Berg (Weinberg), Jimmy (Samuel) (1909-1988)
Born in Kolomea (now in the Ukraine) as Samuel Weinberg, he immigrated at a very young age to Austria where he grew up in Vienna. He was related to the musician Robert Starer (cousins). Berg studied music with G. Marcus. His speciality was composing popular music for cabarets. Later on he also wrote lyrics. He was the principal composer of the cabaret ABC im Regenbogen. He wrote the music to Jura Soyfer’s plays.
Jimmy Berg and his wife Gertrurd nee Hammerschlag fled to the USA after the Anschluss (1938). In new York he wrote music for Broadway cabarets and his first success was the music of Revue “DC Melody” directed by Maria Ley Piscator and Lein Askin. He also worked for the Juedisch politisches cabaret Die Arche (1943-1945).
Later he abandoned his free-lance composing and lyrics career and joined the The Voice Of America radio station, where he worked for twenty five years. Among his songs the most popular were: Wien ist nicht nur die Walzerstadt, Broadway -Melody 1942, Walzertraum 1944.
Bergler, Edmund (1899-1962)
Born in Kolomea, Galicia, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In World War I Bergler served in the Austrian-Hungarian Army. After the war he studied medicine at the University of Vienna and received his Ph.D. in 1926. Concurrently he worked as a journalist. As a psychoanalyst he was trained with Helene Deutsch. From 1927 Bergler maintained a private practice while he also became staff member of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Institute. From 1933 to 1937 he was assistant director of the Institute.
In 1938, due to the Nazi persecutions Edmund Bergler immigrated, via France to the USA. He established contacts with eminent American psychiatrists, among them Brill and Menninger. In 1941, shortly after passing the New York State board, he opened his private practice and in 1942-1943 and in 1944-1945 he also lectured at the New York Psychoanalytical Institute.
Bergler was a fellow of the Academy of Psychoanalytic Medicine and a member of American Psychoanalysts’ Association; of the New York Psychoanalysts’ Society; the Gerontological Society; the Society for Psychopathology and Psychotherapy and others. Bergler was co-author of Geschlechtskalte der Frau, ihre Wesen und ihre Behandlung (Vienna 1934), the English edition: Frigidity in Women: Its Characteristics and Treatment was published in New York and Washington in 1936. His Die Psychische Impotenz des Mannes was published in Bern in 1937. Other works published in New York included: Divorce Won’t Help (1948); The Basic Neurosis: Oral regression and Psychic Masochism (1949); The Writer and Psychoanalysis (1950, 1954); Counterfeit Sex (1951). The Superego, Unconscious Conscience: The Key to the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis appeared in 1952, Fashion and the Unconscious (1953). The Revolt of the Middle-Aged Man (1954, 1957) and it’s German edition in Zurich in 1955. Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? was printed in 1956 and 1962; Principles of Self-Damage (1954, 1974); Tensions can be reduced to Nuisances: A Technique for Not-too-Neurotic People (1960, 1962); Curable and Incurable Neurotics (1961). Bergler contributed a number of other publications, many books translated, and more than 300 articles to major psychiatric and psychoanalytic journals.
Bergmann, Louis Lawrence (1907-)
Professor of anatomy
Born and educated in Vienna, Bergmann attended the University of Vienna and graduated as Doctor of Medicine in 1932. From 1929 to 1931 he was demonstrator of anatomy and from 1931 to 1934 assistant at the department of anatomy of the University of Vienna. In the years 1934-1935 he was assistant pathologist at the National Medical College, Shanghai. Upon his return to Austria, Bergmann volunteered in internal wards of Vienna hospitals. In 1937 he opened his private practice as physician in Vienna. About a year later, following the Nazi persecutions, Bergmann immigrated to the USA.
From 1939 to 1943 he served as associate professor of anatomy. From 1943 to 1944 he was professor at Middlesex University School of Medicine (later Brandeis University), Waltheim, Massachusettes. Concurrently, from 1940 to 1944, he was guest researcher at Harvard University, Neurological Unit, Boston City Hospital. From 1944 to 1946 he was member of faculty at the New York University School of Medicine. From 1944 to 1950 he rose from instructor to assistant professor; in 1950 he became associate professor and finally in 1956 a full professor. From 1946 he was also professor of anatomy at the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.
L.L. Bergmann was a member of the American Association of Anatomysts; of the New York Academy of Sciences; of the Massachusettes Medical society; Sigma Xi; the American Alpine Club. Bergmann was author of articles on neuropathology, on Parkinson’s disease and other topics.
Bergner, Elisabeth (1897-1986)
Elisabeth Bergner attained wide recognition as an actor in cinema and on the stage. Born in Brohobycz, Ukraine she began her studies in acting in Vienna at the age of 18 (1915-1919). Following her graduation, she appeared in several plays in Vienna and Munich. Her major breakthrough came in 1923 when she acted in Berlin under the legendary producer Max Reinhardt. Bergner’s performance in the title role of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan (1924) brought her international acknowledgement as one of the finest actors in Europe. Over the course of the next ten years she enhanced her reputation by starring in films directed by Paul Czinner, whom she married.
Bergner broke many traditional concepts for women actors with her portrayals of unusual personalities in such productions as Der Geiger von Florenz and Dona Juana (1927). Her meteoric rise halted abruptly in Europe when the Nazis came to power and because of her Judaism, she had to leave Germany. She and her husband settled in London. Her career began to peak in the English-speaking countries, mainly in London and New York. Her first stage appearance in London in Escape Me Never was an immediate success. Two years later, with the same play in New York, Bergner again conquered her audience. For the movie version of the play, also directed by her husband, She won an Academy Award nomination for Best Female Performance. Bergner appeared in about 15 movies under the direction of her husband. The best of these were the silent ones such as Nju. She also acted in films produced in Paris (1931-1933).
Her best-known title roles were The Boy David, written for her by Sir James Barrie (1936) and The Duchess of Malfi. During World War II Bergner lived in New York where she had great success with the movies: As You Like It and Stolen Life. She was, however, less successful in Hollywood movies.
Bergner toured throughout Germany and Austria after World War II where she performed many roles. In 1968 she appeared in a television production of Berthold Brecht’s the Jewish Wife.
Elizabeth Bergner died in London in 1986.
Berk, Fred (1911-1980)
Fred Berk was born in Vienna. At the age of 15 he became an apprentice to a goldsmith at which he worked until the age of 20, in 1931. Around 1929 he started studying dancing with Gertrud Kraus and also performed in her company from 1930-1934. He also studied at the Vienna State Academy of Dance. In 1936 Berk established his own dance school and gave solo performances throughout Europe. In 1938, after the Anschluss, his studio was closed and all his contracts cancelled.
In May 1938 Berk fled to Switzerland, where he gave performances in cabarets. After a short while he moved on to the Netherlands. In January 1939, he moved to the UK, but stayed there for just three months. He then went to Cuba, where he was dance teacher and performer.
In 1941 Berk finally settled in the USA.
Fred Berk, together with Katya Delakova established a Jewish Dance Guild, and was also founder of Palestinian folk dance performers. In 1945 Berk was admitted as teacher at the Jewish Theological Seminar, New York. He came on his first visit to Israel in 1949 and upon his return to New York brought back new dances. Berk actually became a liaison between Israeli and American folk dance. He taught and popularized Israeli folk dance in the USA, Canada and Israel. From 1950 to 1953 he was head of Stage for Dancing at the Brooklyn Museum, New York. Following some health restrictions Berk stopped performing but continued teaching, research and choreography. From 1952 to 1978 he established and directed the Jewish Dance Division at the 92nd street Y.M.H.A. (Young Men’s Hebrew Association). He established in the 1952 and remained until 1978, director of the annual Israeli Folk Dance Festival, New York. In 1954 he formed the Ariel Dance company to present works on modern and folk themes. Berk became director of the Hebraica Dancers in 1958. At the same time Berk was also co-founder of the Merry-go–Round dance company. In 1968 he became director of the Israeli folk dance department at the American Zionist Youth Foundation. From 1968 to 1981 he was founder and editor of Hora magazine. Berk was faculty member at Brooklyn College, New York.
Berk received a grant from 92nd Street Y.M.H.A. to travel and study international folk dance (1959); Citation for the development of Jewish dance (1960).
His choreographic works include Holiday in Israel; Wedding in Austria (for the Merry-Go–Round dancers). He was co-author of several publications about Israeli and Jewish dances, among them Dances of Palestine (1947), Jewish Folk Dance Book (1948) and more.
Bernfeld, Siegfried (1892-1953)
Siegfried Bernfeld was born in Lemberg, Galicia, (now Lviv in the Ukraine). He studied physiology, pedagogy and psychology at the University of Vienna and the University of Freiburg, Germany. In 1913-1914 he published Der Anfang, a youth magazine in Berlin. In World War I Bernfeld served in the Austro-Hungarian Army. After his release from service until 1920 he was a pedagogic reformer, promoting progressive education, influenced by the German educator and philosopher, Gustav Wyneken. Concurrently, in 1917–1918 Bernfeld was active in a Jewish youth movement. The youth rally, which he initiated in Vienna, in May 1918, resulted in founding the Verband der juedische Jugend Oesterreich, of which Bernfeld became president. From 1918 to 1919 he was editor of Jerubbaal, a monthly Jewish youth journal. In 1918 he was also appointed Secretary of the Jewish National Council. In the same year he was co-founder of the Hebrew Pedagogium, Vienna, for training teachers in Jewish subjects, founded by the Joint(American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee). In 1919-1920 Bernfeld was co-founder and director of Kinderheim Baumgarten for Jewish orphans from Eastern Europe, also founded by the Joint. In 1920 Bernfeld became private secretary to Martin Buber. Concurrently he was assistant editor of Der Jude. Bernfeld was the founder of the Jewish Institute for Research into Adolescence and Education. His other works of Jewish interest include Das juedische Folk und seine Jugend (1920).
Bernfeld was a student of Sigmund Freud and from 1920 to 1926 he had a private clinic of psychoanalysis in Vienna. He taught psychoanalysis in Vienna and Berlin, and later also in Menton, France. In 1924 he became secretary of the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society, and vice-director of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Institute.
In 1926 Bernfeld moved to Berlin, where he became a member and training analyst at the Berlin Psychoanalytical Institute.
In 1932 he returned to Vienna. He gave courses during the winter semester of 1932/33, which had the highest attendance figures of all the courses at the Institute. Bernfeld also had close ties to the Vienna Circle philosophers and other humanities.
In 1934 Bernfeld immigrated to France, where he was engaged in private practice and research. In 1936 he moved on to the USA and settled in San Francisco, where he held a private practice until 1952. Concurrently he was a member and training analyst at the San Francisco Psychoanalytical Institute. In 1952 he resigned from his post and became lecturer at the Medical School of the University of California. Bernfeld was also a staff member of Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco. In collaboration with wife he conducted researches and published important papers on the early creative years of Sigmund Freud, incorporated into Ernest Jonh’s biography of Freud.
Bernfeld, Siegfried (1892-1953)
Siegfried Bernfeld was born in Lemberg, Galicia, (now Lviv in the Ukraine). He studied physiology, pedagogy and psychology at the University of Vienna and the University of Freiburg, Germany. In 1913-1914 he published Der Anfang, a youth magazine in Berlin. In World War I Bernfeld served in the Austro-Hungarian Army. After his release from service until 1920 he was a pedagogic reformer, promoting progressive education, influenced by the German educator and philosopher, Gustav Wyneken. Concurrently, in 1917–1918 Bernfeld was active in a Jewish youth movement. The youth rally, which he initiated in Vienna, in May 1918, resulted in founding the Verband der juedische Jugend Oesterreich, of which Bernfeld became president. From 1918 to 1919 he was editor of Jerubbaal, a monthly Jewish youth journal. In 1918 he was also appointed Secretary of the Jewish National Council. In the same year he was co-founder of the Hebrew Pedagogium, Vienna, for training teachers in Jewish subjects, founded by the Joint(American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee). In 1919-1920 Bernfeld was co-founder and director of Kinderheim Baumgarten for Jewish orphans from Eastern Europe, also founded by the Joint. In 1920 Bernfeld became private secretary to Martin Buber. Concurrently he was assistant editor of Der Jude. Bernfeld was the founder of the Jewish Institute for Research into Adolescence and Education. His other works of Jewish interest include Das juedische Folk und seine Jugend (1920).
Bernfeld was a student of Sigmund Freud and from 1920 to 1926 he had a private clinic of psychoanalysis in Vienna. He taught psychoanalysis in Vienna and Berlin, and later also in Menton, France. In 1924 he became secretary of the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society, and vice-director of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Institute.
In 1926 Bernfeld moved to Berlin, where he became a member and training analyst at the Berlin Psychoanalytical Institute.
In 1932 he returned to Vienna. He gave courses during the winter semester of 1932/33, which had the highest attendance figures of all the courses at the Institute. Bernfeld also had close ties to the Vienna Circle philosophers and other humanities.
In 1934 Bernfeld immigrated to France, where he was engaged in private practice and research. In 1936 he moved on to the USA and settled in San Francisco, where he held a private practice until 1952. Concurrently he was a member and training analyst at the San Francisco Psychoanalytical Institute. In 1952 he resigned from his post and became lecturer at the Medical School of the University of California. Bernfeld was also a staff member of Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco. In collaboration with wife he conducted researches and published important papers on the early creative years of Sigmund Freud, incorporated into Ernest Jonh’s biography of Freud.
Biedermann, Michael Lazar (1769-1843)
Michael Lazar Biedermannn was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava). His interest in engraving took him to Vienna where he began his apprenticeship. The talent he exhibited was soon recognized and he won several prizes. Jews were not allowed to live and work in Vienna without a letter of permission. Biedermannn received his first “letter of tolerance,” in1792, that enabled him to reside in Vienna and work in his field. In 1798 he was commissioned to engrave the Imperial seal. His permission to work as a seal engraver and dealer in antiques was extended for another three years in 1801. Biedermann’s work enabled him to rise to the rank of court jeweler. He also acted as banker and merchant, moving away from engraving. He belonged to the enlightened section of Vienna Jews. Biedermann died at Baden bei Wien and was buried in Vienna.
Biedl , Arthur (1869 -)
Physician, endocrinologist
Born in Ostem, then Hungary. He was professor Stricker’s assistant.
In 1896 he became assistant professor at the Propadeutikischen Klinic in Prague and was among the most meaningful researchers in the field of endocrinology.
He was the publisher of the medical periodical ‘Endocrinologie.’ His work about internal secretion (1910) has been translated into English. In 1922 he published a treatise about hypophyse and in 1928 he published the ‘Wirkungen der strahlenden Energien auf die endoctrinen Drusen und auf die innere Secretion’ (Effects of radiation energy on the endocrine glands and on internal secretion.)
The ‘Biedl disease’ is named after Ernst Biedl.
Biel, Erwin Reinhold (1899-)
Professor of climatology and meteorology
Born and educated in Vienna, he earned a PhD in geophysics, geology and meteorology from the University of Vienna in 1926. From 1927 to 1929 he was assistant instructor of geology. From 1929 to 1933 Biel served as head of department of climatology at the Breslau Observatory. In 1932 he became Dozent in climatology at the University of Breslau, then in Germany.
In 1935 he was appointed Dozent in meteorology, climatology and geography at the Volkshochschule, Vienna. In 1938, after the Nazis came to power in Austria, E. Biel immigrated to the USA. In the same year he became a member of the department of meteorology and climatology of the College of Agriculture at Rutgers Univiversity, New Brunswick, NJ. In 1938, he was visiting professor, in 1942 professor, from 1946 to 1963 chairman of department, and from 1963 professor emeritus. Concurrently, from 1942 to 1951 Biel was visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and also served, as a civilian, with U.S. Air Force projects; from 1948 to 1954 he was associated editor of Journal of Meteorology. From 1965 he was visiting professor of meteorology at the Florida State University, Tallahassee.
E.Biel conducted research in applied, general and regional climatology, particularly of Central Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean region; investigated variability of precipitation.
Biel received a number of distinctions: National Lecturer, Sigma Xi; lecturer, National Scientific Foundation (both in 1960); Lindback Foundation Award (1963); citation, Rutgers College of Agriculture.
Biels’ first works such as Klimatographie, des ehemaligen osterreichischen Kustenlandes (Vienna, 1927); Die Veranderlichkeit der Jahressumme des Niederschlags auf der Erde (Leipzig, 1929); Probleme der Schlesischen Klimatologie (Breslau, 1934,) were published in German. Climatology of the Mediterranean Area was published in Chicago in 1944.
Bodenwieser, Gertrud (1890-1959)
Gertrud Bodenwieser was born as Gertrud Bondi in Vienna. She began her studies in classical ballet with Karl Godlewsky. Her first performance in Vienna took place, in connection with an exhibition of modern paintings, in 1919. In the same year she was a teacher at a girls boarding school, and from 1921 she taught at the New Vienna Conservatory. In 1926, Bodenwieser was named professor. She also held solo performances of her own work for classes at the Academie fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst.Concomitantly she developed a new choreographic style of modern expressionistic motives.
In 1924 she founded a dance troupe named Gertrud Bodenwieser Dance Company, with which they toured Europe and Japan. This was the first modern European dance company with Steffy Stahl among its members. Bodenwieser became choreographer for Vienna Schauspiel Theater. She was a member of Soroptimistenklub.
In 1939, Bodenwieser emigrated to Colombia with half of her dance troupe. They participated in the Tri-Centenary celebrations of founding of Bogota.
From May through August 1939, they toured New Zealand. In September of the same year, in Melbourne, Australia, they regrouped with the other half of their original troupe. In 1939-40 Gertrud continued touring but also started teaching. She settled in Sydney and in 1940 established the ballet school in Sydney. She also founded the Bodenwiesr Ballet Company – later known as Modern Expressive Ballet. The company included members of her former company and new Australian dancers. They toured in the U.K., South Africa, and India, inter alia. Bodenwieser has been appointed as choreographer for Australian TV where she created numerous dance works. She greatly influenced the development of modern ballet in Australia and was highly respected as an artist and teacher.
Gertrud Bodenwieser received Grand Prix, Riunione Internationale della Danza, Turin and Florence, Italy (1931), Bronze Medal Concours Internationale de la Dance, Paris (1932). Gertrud Bodenwieser was born Jewish, but later in life converted to the Roman Catholic Church.
Buhler (nee Malachowsky), Charlotte (1893-1974)
Charlotte Buhler (nee Malachowsky) was born in Berlin Germany, on December 20, 1893, the older of two children From 1913 till 1918 she studied at universities in Freiburg/Breigau, in Berlin and in Munich. While in college, she met and married Dr. Karl Buhler, whose work reflected her interest in human thoughts on existence. By 1919, they had two children and Charlotte Buhler graduated as Doctor of philosophy and psychology, Summa cum laudae, at the University of Munich. From1920 to 1923 she was Privatdozent at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden.
Buhler moved to Austria in 1923, and taught at the School of Philosophy of the University of Vienna (which included psychology). She became associate professor in 1929, and was attendant and member of the faculty at the University of Vienna until 1938.
The Institute of Psychology in Vienna was established at the early 1920s within the framework of the Institute of Education of the City of Vienna, which was opened in 1923. Charlotte Buehler, with her husband, Karl Buehler, succeeded in establishing a far reaching network of scientific communications based on behaviorism. While in Vienna, Charlotte focused her research on the cognitive and personality development of children from infancy through adolescence. The goal of this research was to create a unified theory of psychology development of childhood. The Institute was directed by Charlotte Buehler as a modern social, scientific research institution.
In 1924 Buhler received a grant from the Laura Spellman-Rockefeller Memorial Fund for a study visit to the United States of America. She spent some time at the Teachers College of Columbia University, New York and at the Clinic of Child Development at Yale University, New Haven.
Students of the faculty of psychology, under the guidance of Charlotte Buehler, conducted individual research and follow-up of infants and children’s’ behavior. At the famous ‘Wednesdays colloquy’, doctoral students and collaborators continuously reported on their ongoing investigations, upon which the research plans were decided. The results of the research on children’s psychology were published by her in Kindheit und Jugend (“Childhood and Youth”) in 1928.
The Institute of Psychology was also involved in the welfare policies of ‘Red Vienna’ by observing the behavior of small children at a Reception Center for Children, who had been put into public care. From 1925 till 1938 Buhler was editor of the Wiener Arbeiten zur Paedagogischen Psychologie. She was also editor of Quellen und Studien zur Jugendkunde from 1928. Among her numerous published works are Soziologische und psychologische Studien ueber das erste Lebensjahr (1927), Kindheit und Jugend (1928), Kind und Familie (1937), The child and his family (1939), The course of Human Life and A Study of Goals in the Humanistic Perspective (1968).
In 1938, as the Nazis came to power, Buhler and her husband were both arrested for racial and political reasons. They fled first to Norway, where she was admitted as professor of psychology at the University of Oslo and at the Teachers Academy at Trondheim. In 1939 the Buehlers moved on to the UK. In London she became director of Parents Association and director of child guidance clinics. In 1940 they went to the USA to where she accepted the position of professor of psychology at St. Catherine College of St. Paul, Minnesota. Concurrently in 1942/3 she acted as guest professor at Clark College, Atlanta, Georgia. From 1943 until 1945 she was chief clinical psychologist at Minneapolis General Hospital, Minneapolis. Between 1945-1953 Buhler was chief clinical psychologist at Los Angeles County Hospital. Beginning in 1950 she concentrated on private practice of psychology in Beverly Hills, California. Concurrently, in the years 1950-1958 she was assistant clinical professor of psychology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles. From 1958 she was professor emeritus and visiting professor at Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, Hunter College, New York, (C.U.N.Y.), Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, and numerous European universities. Charlotte was director of the child guidance clinic in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was co-editor of the journals, Humanistic Psychology, The Nervous Child, and British Journal of Educational Psychology. She was a member of the the American Psychologists Association and the American Association for Humanistic Psychology serving as president from 1965 till 1966.
Charlottes Buhler’s research and writings concentrated on study of the purpose of human existence. She stressed the concept of personal fulfillment and believed that humans could find personal fulfillment by fully using one’s potential, living constructively, setting goals and periodically assessing progress, and establishing a personal system of values.
In 1971 she returned to the Federal Republic of Germany, and settled in Stuttgart, where she worked in her private clinic, in order to spend the last years of her life with Rolf, her son. Charlotte Buhler received a Honorary Medal from the City of Vienna (1964). She died in 1974.
C
Conrad, Victor (1876-1962)
Victor Conrad was born and educated in Vienna. Upon graduation be became a staff member of the department of Meteorology and Magnetism at the University of Vienna. There he founded a section for the observation of electricity in the air, which was important to the discovery of cosmic rays some years later. Victor Conrad served as head of the department of cosmic physics at the University of Czernowitz (1910), Bukovina, until the World War I. In 1918 he returned to the University of Vienna, to the Institute of Meteorology, where he started a seismographic station for the observation of geophysical problems (earthquakes). Victor Conrad was later (1920-1938) involved with the research of bioclimatic issues. He was editor of the geophysical quarterly Gerlands Beitraege zur Geophysik (1926-1938), and edited 39 volumes. He wrote the chapter of climatic elements and their dependence on terrestrial influences, in the 500 pages Handbuch der Klimatologie published by Wladimir Koppen, a famous meteorologist. After the takeover by the Nazis, Conrad escaped to the USA. He was invited to lecture and do research in the Penn State Meteorology program, where he remained for a little over a year in 1939-40. He then joined Harvard University at Boston where he continued lecturing and conducting research on climatology. In Boston he published Fundamentals of Physical Climatology (1942), and Methods in Climatology (1944) together with Professor L.W. Pollak of Dublin. Conrad died in Boston in 1962.
Cross (Gross), Else (1902-1987)
Cross was Born in Czernowitz. She began her music studies in Czernowitz and in her teens she was sent to Vienna. There she continued studying music history and theory. Cross studied piano with Eduard Steuermann and Anton Webern. In 1933, at the age of thirty-one she made her first solo appearance with the Wiener Konzertorchester. In 1938, when the Nazis took over Austria, she went in exile in Great Britain. There she headed the Chair at the Royal Academy of Music (London). For her outstanding interpretation of contemporary music she was awarded the Brahms Prize.
D
D'Aguilar, Diego (c.1699-1759)
Diego D’Aguilar (Moses/Moshe Lopez Pereira) was born in Spain, descendant to a family of crypto-Jews. His father had a tobacco monopoly. Diego D’Aguilar was separated from his parents and sister during the childhood and baptised. He subsequently was ordained a Catholic priest and was employed as a financial expert by the Inquisition. One day his sister was caught practising Judaism, and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Her mother went to her son Bishop Diego D’Aguilar to beg for her daughter’s life. After she called him Moshe Lopez Pereira he recalled his childhood and left the palace. He did not succeed in helping his sister, and his mother died on their way to Vienna where he had good connections with the Empress Maria Theresia.
At the age of 23 Diego d’Aguilar left for Vienna and returned to Judaism. In Austria he reorganized the monopoly of the tobacco business and headed it for sixteen years during which time he paid the state seven million florins per year. He was enobled as Baron d’Aguilar (1726),and named councilor to the throne. D’Aguilar and others raised large amounts of loans for the treasury (10 million florins, for 1732 alone) and helped the Empress Maria Theresia in rebuilding the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna. D’Aguilar was very influential in the court and helped in Jewish problems: together with others he was instrumental in preventing the expulsion of Jews from Moravia and Prague in 1744. He also helped the Jews of Mantua, Italy, and Belgrade, in 1752, and collected funds for Eretz Israel. D’Aguilar was founding member of the Sephardi congregations in Vienna and Timisoara (now in Romania). After the Spanish government tried to put him on trial for returning to Judaism, he left with his large family (14 children) to London in 1757, where he was active in the local Sephardi community. He died two years later.
Demant, Charlotte (1894-1970)
Born in Tarnopol (now in the Ukraine), Charlotte Demant studied piano in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now in the Ukraine), and vocal studies in Vienna, from 1914. In Vienna, she also studied theory of musical forms, with Anton Webern, and piano with Eduard Steuermann. Demant worked as a concert singer, and music instructor. She left for USSR in 1936 and in 1938 moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia. A year later she settled in Manchester, England, where Demant was conductor of a women’s choir. She returned to Vienna after WWII (1946) and was a music instructor at the Wiener Konservatorium. She married the composer Hans Eisler, and their son was the famous painter Georg Eisler.
Deutsch, Felix (1884-1964)
He was educated in a liberal way and the atmosphere in his parents house was religious free. While studying he was confronted with the anti-Semitic atmosphere at the University of Vienna, and joined the Zionist student organization Kadimah. He played an important role in the organization and advocated the minority rights. He became a friend of Herzl.
Felix Deutsch dealt with emotional factors in physical illness, which brought him to establish a clinic for “organ-neuroses” (1919) in Vienna. From 1921 Deutsch lectured in medicine at the University of Vienna. The subjects of his research connected him with Freud, and they established the first home of the Psychoanalytic Clinic in Vienna (1922). Deutsch published many articles on the interaction of emotional and physical processes, and was one of the pioneers of psycosomatic medicine.
Deutsch emigrated to Boston (1935), where he became research fellow in psychiatry at Harvard University. During the years he published many articles on psychoanalitical topics. He was president of the Boston Psycoanalytic Institute (1951-1954). In his work he invented many scientific terms and enriched the psychological language. Before his death he planned to conduct a project on the art of children that immigrated to Israel from all corners of the world. Felix Deutsch was married to Helene Deutsch who was also a psychiatrist.
Deutsch, Helene (1884-1982)
She was born as Helene Rosenbach in Przemysl, Galicia (now in Poland), where her father was president of the Jewish community. Because of the limitations on female education, she ran away to Vienna to study to be a physician. There in 1912 she married the psychiatrist, Felix Deutsch. She was the first woman assistant in the psychiatric department of Vienna University and later headed the female ward. After encountering the ideas of Freud, she gave up her academic career and was trained by Freud himself, becoming a leading figure of the second generation of analysts.
In 1924 Deutsch established in Vienna a psychoanalytic training institute which she headed until leaving for the USA in 1935. In the USA she was on the staff of the Psychoanalytic Institute in Boston. Her main field of study was on the female psyche, summarized in her two-volume Psychology of Women.
Deutsch-Haspel, Judith (1918-2004)
Judith Deutsch-Haspel was born in Vienna. She joined the Jewish ahtlectic club of Hakoah Vienna, because as a Jewess she was denied membership by most other sports clubs in Austria. Competing for Hakoah, Judith Deutsch became Austrian swimming champion and freestyle record holder, from 1933 to 1935. The Austrian Sports Authority designated her as the Outstanding Austrian Female Athlete of 1935. A year later she was awarded the Golden Badge of Honor, having been recognized as one of the three most outstanding athlets in Austria. Judith Deutsch was selected to the Austrian National team for the Olympic Games of Berlin in 1936, but she refused to participate in protest to the anti-Semitic politicy of Nazi Germany.
She immigrated to Palestine the same year settling in Haifa, at the time the only city with an Olympic sized swimming pool in the country. She continued her career becoming a national champion and winning a silver medal at the World University Games in 1939, when she was a member of the University of Jerusalem team.
Following her emigration, the Austrian authorities stripped her of all her titles. They were returned to her, along with official appologies from the Austrian Parliament, only in 1995, at a ceremony held in Israel in the presence of the Austrian ambassador. Judith Deutsch-Haspel’s story has been inserted in Hakoach lishot (“Watermarks”), a 2004 documentary movie by the Israeli director Yaron Zilberman about the women swimmers of the Hakoah Vienna sports club.
Diamant, Paul Joseph (1887-1966)
Paul Joseph Diamant was born in Vienna to a wealthy Jewish family who owned estates. After WWI, and after he became an ardent Zionist, he turned his estates into a halutzim training center. He was also a leading member of the Revisionist movement in Austria. After the Anschluss, Diamant took an active part in organizing the illegal immigration (1938), and he himself immigrated to Erez Israel. He bought a farm at Moza, near Jerusalem, and begun his genealogical researches. His genealogical interest was stimulated by the fact that many famous Jewish personalities were related to him, including Theodor Herzl and Heinrich Heine. He himself was a direct descendant of Simon Michael, a famous court Jew in the 18th century. He researched enobled Jewish individuals and wrote a book (unpublished) about that subject in order to refute the Semi-Gotha. He collected much material and deposited it with the General Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem. He helped to establish the Herzl Museum in Jerusalem. Diamant published many articles and periodicals.
Diesendruck, Zevi H. Wolf (1890-1940)
Zevi H. Wolf Diesendruck was born in Stryj, Austrian Galicia (now in the Ukraine). He studied at the Jewish Seminary at Vienna, and received the Ph.D. degree at the University of Vienna. Diesendruck showed a lifelong interest in Zionism, particularly in the revival of the Hebrew language. In 1913 he taught in Palestine. He wrote essays in Hebrew, notably the volume Min ha-Safah ve-Lifnim (1933). A great deal of his contribution to the revival of the Hebrew language is in his Hebrew translations of Martin Buber’s Daniel and Plato’s Phaedrus (Warsaw, 1923); Crito (in Ha-Tekufah, (24, 1924); Gorgias (Berlin, 1929), and the Republic (Tel Aviv, 1935-36).
In 1915 he attended the University of Berlin and during World War I he joined the Austrian Army. After the war he joined the faculties of the Jewish Pedagogium (Vienna, 1918-27). In 1919 he was co-editor, with Schoffman, of the Hebrew periodical Gevuloth. He also served, in 1927, at the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. The following year Diesendruck returned to Eretz Israel and taught at the Hebrew University from 1928 to 1930. He was then appointed as professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, which has been the principal institute of study for the American Reform Movement.
Zevi Diesendruck specialized in the philosophy of Maimonides and published a book on Maimonides’ idea of prophecy under the title Maimonides Lehre von der Prophetie (1927). Several of his smaller essays deal with Maimonides’ philosophy, notably: Teleology des Maimonides (in Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 5, 1928); Samuel and Moses Ibn Tibbon on Maimonides’ Theory of Providence’ (ibid., vol. II); Maimonides Theory on the Negation of Privation (Proceeding of the American Academy of Jewish Research, Vol. 6, 1934-35); The Philosophy of Maimonides (Year book of American Rabbis, vol. 45, 1935); an essay on the date of completion of the Moreh Nebuchim (Hebrew Union College Annual, vols. 12-13, 1937-38.) He wrote another work on Plato, Struktur und Charakter der platonischen Phaidras (Vienna, 1927).
Diesendruck was vice-president of the American Academy of Jewish Research, editor of the Hebrew Union College Annual, and contributed in several languages to Jewish scientific periodicals. He died in Cincinnati in 1940.
E
Ehrenfest, Paul (1880-1933)
Paul Ehrenfest was born in Vienna, where he started his studies as physicist with Ludwig Boltzmann, and later continued in Goettingen, Germany. He, along with his wife, Tatiana Afanashewa, carried out an investigation of kinetic theory. Their extensive article on statistical mechanics is still considered one of the classics on that field. From 1912 until his death Paul Ehrenfest was professor of physics at Leiden, Netherlands. His work was characterized by fundamental inquiry. He was an outstanding lecturer, and his enthusiasm for physics effected his students, although he was very strict about his demands for clarity and precision in expositions. Ehrenfest became a symbol of a period in physics characterized by two great advances, the quantum theory and the theory of relativity.
Ehrenzweig, Armin (1864-1935)
Armin Ehrenzweig was Professor of Law at the University of Graz and author of System des Oesterreichischen Allgemeinen Privatrechts (1925-1926), which became one of the most important reference textbooks on civil law for Austrian lawyers.
Ehrenzweig, Albert (1880-1955-1955)
Albert Ehrenzweig was Professor at the University of Vienna specializing in insurance law. He was appointed to the Ministry of Interior in 1915, and moved up to head the Department for Private Insurance. There he composed the bill on private insurance that received parliamentary acceptance. Following the 1938 takeover by the Nazis, Ehrenzweig emigrated to the U.S.A. He was appointed Professor of Law at the University of California in Berkeley. After the defeat of Germany, he returned to Vienna. He was appointed Honorary Professor of Civil Law and Civil Procedure at the University of Vienna.
Albert Ehrenzweig was the author of a number of books, among them Die Rechtsordung der Vertragsversicherung (1929), in which he summarized his views on insurance. This book was a major reference for insurance legislation.
Ehrlich, Jacob (1877-1938)
Jacob Ehrlich was born in Bistrica, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). Ehrlich studied at the University of Vienna, where he became involved in Zionist activity. After moving to Vienna in 1908, Jacob Ehrlich was elected to the board of the Jewish Community, as one of the first Zionists (1912). He served in the Austrian army in the WWI as a high officer, and saved Russian Jews from false accusations. Ehrlich was member of the Vienna city council (1924), Chairman of the Zionist Federation of Austria (1925). He was instrumental in obtaining a Zionist majority in the Jewish Community (1932), and was elected vice president of the Jewish Community (1936). Ehrlich was arrested by the Germans after the Anschluss, and murdered by the Gestapo. The Society of Austrian Jews in England is called after him.
Ehrlich, Georg (1897-1966)
Georg Ehrlich was born in Vienna where he began his first studies in graphics and sculpture. In 1937 he moved to France where he sculpted and exhibited in several galleries. While in Paris, Ehrlich received a gold medal at an international art exhibition. In the mid 1940s he moved to Great Britain, where he worked for about two years. In 1947 he went to the USA but returned to England two years later. Georg Ehrlich held numerous international exhibitions and his works of art are shown at various museums in the USA, England, Italy and Israel. He was honored by Austria for his work and contributions to art with the title of Professor. Ehrlich retired to Luzerne, Switzerland, where he died in July 1966. He is buried in Vienna.
Ehrmann, Salomon (1854-1926)
Physician, dermatologist
Salomon Ehrmann was born in Ostrovec, Bohemia, (now in the Czech Republic). From 1900 he was assistant professor and from 1908 a full professor of dermatology at the University of Vienna. He carried out research on the histology of the skin; examined the microscopic change of the skin caused by internal diseases, industrial damage, and syphilis. He earned special fame for his works about electrotherapy and light-therapy through his comparative Diagnostic Atlas of Skin Diseases and Syphilids.
Besides his medical career Salomon Ehrmann also pursued some other professions: he was a painter and art historian. He also served as honorary president of the B’nei-Brith Lodge of Austria, was head of the Jewish community in Vienna and president of the Freunde des Palestina-Aufbaus. Salomon Ehrmann died in Vienna in 1926.
Eis, Alexander (1832-1921)
Officer in the Austro-Hungarian army
Alexander von Eis was born in Piesling, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). At the age of 16 he joined the army and fought in several wars between 1848-1866. He was awarded many medals of heroism and was one of the first Jewish officers in the Austro-Hungarian army. He was proud of his Jewish background and fought in thirty two duels in order to defend his Jewish identity. Eis was awarded the Order of Iron Crown (1866) and the Order of Maria Theresia. He was promoted to the rank of major-general and retired from the army (1896).
All his life Alexandser von Eis was a proud Jew and rejected offers to convert to Christianity. He was active in the Zionist movement, where he held various positions, including head of the Vienna office of the Jewish National Fund.
Eisenbach, Heinrich (1870-1923)
Heinrich Eisenbach was one of several actors and playwrights who were very important in stimulating the Yiddish theatre. Eisenbach was born in Krakow, Poland where his father was a wealthy Jewish merchant. Like most Jews in Poland at that time, Yiddish, in addition to Polish, was an integral part of the language. This became valuable to Eisenbach when he expanded his theatrical career into the Yiddish theatre movement that grew rapidly in Vienna Eisenbach started in the theatrical world in Budapest as a clown and later incorporated his musical talents to become a comic singer. In 1894, he joined the Budapester Orpheumgesellschaft, a small theater group in the Jewish section of Vienna, founded in 1889 by Joseph Modl, the Ladies Württemberg and Kovats, Max Rott, Armin Springer, Hans Moser, Rolf Wagner and others. This group later became the Jewish cabaret of the city. Eisenbach at first performed short comic songs and danced duets with his wife, Anna. His theatrical talent became more dynamic and he performed every day in the Budapester. When he came on stage the audience, primarily “working class” Jews, greeted him with enthusiastic applause. He personified men who have an unbreakable and unbendable will to live. In his anecdotes, he turned the sad fate of his people into self-mocking, cynical jokes, using a jargon filled Yiddish which was called Jidien. None of this went well with the more educated bourgeoisie Jews of Vienna who looked upon Yiddish as a language of the lower class.
Performances at the Budapester usually started with a march followed by humorous songs and a one-act play written by one of the members of the group. The highlight of the evening came after the intermission with a one-person performance by Eisenbach or his close friend and colleague, Max Rott. Eisenbach’s excellent performance in Die Klabriaspartie, a one-act play by Adolf Bergmann, depicting the struggle of Jewish peddlers and beggars, brought him to the position of leading actor. Later he became the playwright and director of the Budapester. In 1907, Eisenbach founded his own company and performed in the Hotel Stephanie, but a year later moved back to the Budapester, where he continued acting, writing and directing.
In 1911, the writer, publisher Karl Kraus claimed that the real theatrical entertainment goes on in the Budapester and not in the prestigious Hofburgtheatre of Vienna.
Heinrich Eisenbach died in Vienna in 1923.
Eisenstadt, Meir ben Izsak (Maharam Esh) (c.1670-1-?)
Rabbinical authority. Meir ben Izsak Eisenstadt (Maharam Esh) served as a dayan (judge) in Sachtschewar, Posen, (now in Poland), and then as rabbi in Szydlowiec, Poland. He went to Germany and settled in Worms where he headed the yeshiva. When Worms was taken by the French in 1701 he moved to Prossnitz as rabbi. From 1711 to 1714 he returned to Szydlowiece but then moved to Eisenstadt (now in Austria) (adopting the name of the town) serving as rabbi of the Seven Communities.
Eisenstadt’s yeshiva attracted students from far and near and he greatly influenced the nature of the community. An authority on rabbinical law, he was consulted by rabbis from Turkey, Germany and Italy. He was the author of responsa and other works of rabbinical literature.
Ellenbogen, Wilhelm (1863-1951)
Wilhelm Ellenbogen was born in Breclav, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). At the age of seven, his parents moved to Vienna. Ellenbogen studied medicine and became a physician at the age of twenty three (1886). After graduation he entered politics joining the newly established Social-Democratic party, where he was member of the Executive Board, from 1891. He was elected to the Reichsrat (1901), and later (1918) to the Austrian Parliament, until the government of Dolfuss desolved it in 1934. During his 33 years of parliamentary activity, Ellenbogen contributed to a number of important political decissions: he helped passing the Universal Franchise Bill (1907); at the end of WWI he was instrumental in the negotiations with the Hungarian government securing the safety of the population of Vienna from plague. He became Undersecretary for Commerce in 1919, and later in 1921 succeeded Otto Bauer as secretary for socialization in the capacity of Cabinet member. During the 1920s he was chief of the electrification of the state railroads. After the Anschluss in 1938, Ellenbogen fled to France, and then he immigrated to the USA in 1940.
Emil, Sommer (1868-1946)
General in the Austrian Army
Emil von Sommer was born in Bukovina. He graduated the cadets’ school and subsequently advanced to higher ranks in the Austro-Hungarian Army serving with the General Staff. During WWI, he fought on the eastern front ( Galicia), where, in the battle of the Carpathians, he was seriously injured and taken prisoner by the Russians. He was later released and returned immediately to the front, this time in Italy. He was raised to the rank of major general, was awarded numerous decorations and promoted to nobility.
After WWI, von Sommer was the commander of the Austrian army that conquered Burgenland from Hungary. After the conquest, he retired from active service at the age of 50. He headed the Jewish War Veterans, until the split in the organization. After the Anschluss (1938), he was arrested and forced to sweep the streets. He went home, put on his uniform with all the dcorations, and started to sweep the street. But after the protest of the Austrians who saw the scene he was released and sent to house arrest. In 1942, he was sent to Theresienstadt cvoncentration camp. He survived the camp and returned to Vienna, where he was very warmly welcomed. The next year he moved to the USA, where he died.
F
Farkas, Karl (1893-1971)
Karl Farkas was born in Vienna in 1893. At the age of 16, in 1913, he started his training in acting at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wein, Austria. This ended abruptly with the start of World War I in 1914. He served in the Austrian-Hungarian Army and received a number of decorations. Following the war, Farkas went to Olmuetz (Olomoutz) and Mahrisch-Ostrau (Ostrava) in Czechoslovakia (CSR) to start his acting career.
The Cabaret form of entertainment had remarkable growth and popularity following World War I. Vienna, with its background of music and theatre, especially admired Cabaret theatre. Many talented musicians, actors and writers found the Cabaret the ideal scene for developing their work. There were many young Jews among them, one of whom was Karl Farkas. His work became famous throughout Western Europe and gave him prominence in the USA as well. There he both wrote and collaborated on a number of Broadway musicals and plays.
After a short while Farkas moved on to Linz, Austria where he worked in several theatres. In 1919, he became stage director with the Landestheater, in Linz., he was both an actor and director at the Neue Wiener Buehne, Vienna from 1920-26. At the same time, he started writing scripts and working as an emcee in Viennese cabarets. Together with Fritz Grüenbaum, he developed the concept of double emcee (comic team). Farkas was the creator of the Wiener Revue. From 1926 until 1931, he served as head of the Wiener Stadttheater. His success as a writer and actor expanded. Theaters in Vienna and abroad often requested him as guest artist.. He collaborated concurrently writing various reviews and was invited to Hollywood to work on movie scripts. The Revubuhne Casino, Vienna appointed Farkas head of its operation.. He and Gruenbaum made a number of guest tours and appearances in 1932-33, which included an invitation to Prague (1933). Farkas then became head manager of the Viennese cabaret Simpl. The Germans arrested him in 1938 when Germany took over Austria. He moved to France via Czechoslovakia (CSR) after being released. There he served as head of cabaret Imperatrice from 1938-39 . He endeavored to organize such cabarets, with his colleague Oskar Karlweis, as La gaite de Vienna au coeur de Paris. Farkas also guest appearances in the Netherlands. The reknowned Societe des Autheurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques made him a member n 1939. The French arrested him in 1940 and interned Farkas in the concentration camp at Gurs. He reached the USA in 1941 following his being let go. In New York he attempted to establish cabarets with Kurt Robitschek and other musical artists. He performed in many venues in New York including the Majestic Theater. He also did radio broadcasts for Austrian Action and for American O.W.I. (Office of War Information) He wrote the book for the successful Broadway musical Marinka (1945), and in 1946 both the lyrics and book for Yours Is My Heart, adapted from the Viennese operetta, Bei Kerzenleicht, written by Farkas and Roberts Katscher. This was a special collaboration with American artists. Cole Porter composed the music. The renowned Shubert brothers handled the production. The cast included such notable actors as Libby Holman, Clifton Webb and Lupe Valez. Farkas spent the war years in America. He returned to Austria in 1946 , and resumed his artistic carrier in Vienna in theater, film, radio, TV and cabaret. He contributed to the Wiener Kurier and other journals. From 1946 until 1971, he was head of the new Simpl, Vienna.
Karl Farkas was honored with the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen fur Verdienste um die Republik Osterreich in 1956 and with the Ehrenmedaille der Stadt Wien in Gold in 1963. He received the title of Professor in 1965.
Among his most notable works are Zuruek in Morgen, Also sprach Farkas and Farkas entdeckt Amerika. He also wrote some comedies and revues, such as Wien gib acht, Die Wunderbar, Bei Kerzenlicht and Traumexpress.
Federn, Paul (1871-1950)
Paul Federn was born in Vienna in November 1871. His father, Joseph Solomon Federn was a distinguished physician. Federn graduated from the medical school of Vienna and became interested in the work of Dr. Sigmund Freud. With three other physicians, he formed the inner circle of Freud (1904). His early studies mixed biological and psychological viewpoints. Later he wrote on other subjects, sex, night- fears (1912), Sadism, Masochism and dream interpretation (1913). During WWI, he was a physician in the Austrian army. After the war he devoted himself to training of analysts and was chair of the education committee of the Vienna Society. He specialized on social psychology and published Zur Psychologie der Revolution: Die vaterlose Gesellschaft (1919) (Psychology of Revolution). In the 1920’s he wrote many papers on psychoanalytic subjects. From 1924 to 1938 he was Freud’s assistant. At the beginning of World War II, Federn and his son Walter fled to the USA.
Paul Federn made many great contributions in the field of psychiatry. He was a pioneer in the field of ego psychology and the psychoses. He contributed greatly to the psychoanalytical issues of ego as manifestations of ego, sources of its feeling and nature of its attachment to objects. His writings about ego in dreams, neuroses and Schizophrenia brought him to develop new concepts, which sometimes differed from Freud’s way of thinking, and allowed him to develop new methods to therapy of psychoses.
Paul Federn died in May 1950 in New York.
Feigl, Fritz (1891-197?)
Professor of chemistry
Fritz Feigl was born and educated in Vienna. He served a one year with the Austrian-Hungarian Army, after which he studied biology and chemistry earning a diploma of Engineer in Chemistry at the T.H (Technische Hochschule), Vienna, in 1914.
During World War I he served as 1st lieutenant on the Russian front, where he was wounded. He was awarded bronze, silver and other medals for his conduct during the war. After the war, in 1919, F. Feigl became a member of faculty and assistant at the University of Vienna; in 1926 he became ‘Privatdozent’ and from 1936 to 1938 Associate Professor of analytic and inorganic chemistry. Concurrently, in 1920, Dr. of Technical Sciences at the University of Vienna. He received two prizes from the Academy of Sciences, Vienna. In 1926 he received the Haitinger Prize, and in 1931 the 1st Pregl Prize for Microchemistry.
In 1938, after the Nazis annexed Austria to Germany, Feigl was denied access to the laboratories, and his citizenship has been revoked. He received an invitation to St. Andrews University, Scotland, but at the end of 1938 he accepted an invitation from the Societe Belge des Recherches et des Etudes Ghent. He emigrated to Ghent and became director of a research laboratory where he developed an absorbent for gas masks for the Allied Governments.
In 1940 Feigl was interned as enemy alien, and was sent to France.
With the aid of some Free French officers and the Brazilian Ambassador to Vichy, he menaged to immigrate to Rio de Janeiro, via Portugal. In 1941 he was offered a position by the director of Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. From 1941 to 1971 Feigl was head of department in a laboratory for mineral products at the Ministry of Agriculture. Concurrently, from 1953 to 1971 he was professor of chemistry at the University of Brazil. He was one of three Austrian pioneers in the field of microanalytical chemical research and was founder of organic and inorganic spot test analysis. Feigl developed a technique and methodology for the detection of extremely small qualitative analysis. The procedures developed by F. Feigl were based upon the use of reagent-impregnated filter papers, using for the first time catalytic and induced reactions which provided for the low concentrations of test materials needed for the specificity of agents. He developed the use of organic reagents for inorganic analysis and a new system of organic analysis. He also devised hundreds of tests for chemical identification.
Feigl was a member of: Federation of Jewish Societies of Rio de Janeiro; Friends of Hebrew University (1946); the board of governors of the Hebrew University (1950); Conference of Jewish Federations of Brazil (1951); executive of W.J.C. (World Jewish Congress – 1951-1971); Chaim Weizmann Institute (1954); Zionist Organisation of Brazil of B’nai B’rith. He was honorary member of the British Society of Analytical Chemistry; Japan Society of Analytical Chemistry; Verein Osterreichischer, Chemiker; and of the Osterreichische Geselschaft fuer Mikrochemie (that confers a ‘Feigl Prize’ for outstanding work by young Austrian microchemists).
F. Feigl received a Dr. honoris causa from the Technische Hochschule, Vienna (1947); the Emil Medal, Oesterreichische Geselschaft fuer Mikrochemie (1951); Weizmann Prize, City of Tel Aviv (1952); the title of honorary professor at the University of Brazil (1952); Exenar Medal N. Australian Trade Union Association (1957). In the same year he has been elected to the Brazil Academy of Science, and received the Einstein Medal (1957).
Feigl publications include: Analitative Analyse mit Hilfe von Tupfelreakcionen (Leipzig, 1931; 4 editions, translated into Russian, French, and English, 1935-60); Spot Tests, published in two parts, Inorganic Applications, and Organic Applications (1937-72, 6 and 7 editions); Chemistry of Specific, Selective and Sensitive Reactions (New York, 1949); and pharmaceutical patents. Feigl authored over 350 publications.
Frank, Josef (1885-1967)
Josef Frank was born in Baden, near Vienna, Austria. In 1910 he received his diploma as an engineer at the Technologische Hochschule, in Vienna. He operated there as a freelance architect until the early 1930s. He often worked with architect Oskar Wlach, and occasionally with Oskar Strand, on buildings in Vienna and Pernitz, Lower Austria. Among his many projects he designed building interiors including the Museum of East Asian Art, Koeln, Germany (1912). From 1914 to 1925, he was professor at the School of Art and Crafts, Vienna. Frank also collaborated with the ‘Wiener Kreis’ group (Otto Neurath and others,) and Adolf Loos.
In 1925 he worked in partnership with Josef Hoffmann, Peter Behrons, Oskar Strand and Carl Witzmann on the Austrian pavilion at the International Exhibition of Art and Crafts, Paris. From 1924 to 1932 he built a number of municipal housing units, one family house, and other buildings in Vienna including the Karl-Marx-Hof (1930). Concurrently in 1925 he, with Oskar Wlach, founded the interior decoration store in Vienna Haus und Garten. Frank also designed furniture, wallpaper and other items for the home. He was a member of the O.W.B (Oesterreichisch Werkbund, and its vice President in 1929), and organized its 1927 exhibition in Vienna representing Austria at the International Werkbundsiedlung Weissenhof, Stuttgart, with a two-family house. In 1929 he founded the C.I.A.M. ‘Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne,’ and participated in C.I.A.M. conventions. he edited the Internationale Werkbundsiedlung from 1932 to 1934. Frank was a member of the S.P.D. (Socialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – the German Social Democrat).
In 1932, he started his first projects for the interior decoration store Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm, Sweden and iIn 1934 he immigrated to Sweden and settled in Stockholm where he worked as a designer at Svenskt Tenn leaving in 1941. He also received public and private commissions (embassies, banks, buildings and private homes) for furniture, decorative objects, wallpaper, textiles etc. His architectural works included Villa Wehtje Falsterbo (1936). In 1937 he participated in World’s Fair, Paris.
Josef Frank moved to the U.S.A in 1941 where he was professor of architecture at the New York School for Research, New York through 1946. He lived temporarily in London, where he was a member of the architect’s organization ‘The Circle’ (in 1964 honorary member) and in 1952 returned to Stockholm.
Frank received the Grand Prize of Austria in 1965 and an exhibition was sponsored by the Austrian Society for Architects. In 1968 a retrospective exhibition took place at the National Museum of Stockholm, entitled ‘Josef Frank 20 ar i Svenskt Tenn’, another large retrospective exhibition was held in his honor at the Austrian Museum for Applied Art in 1975.
Frank, Philipp (1884-1966)
Philipp Frank was born in Vienna. Following his studies in Vienna he moved to Prague where he was a professor of theoretical physics at the German University of Prague (1912). After the takeover by the Nazis he left for the United States in 1938. He was appointed to the faculty of Harvard University, where he taught mathematics and physics. Frank rose to become a full Professor and was recognized for his integration of physics and philosophy.
Freiherr von Koenigswarter, Jonas (1807-1871)
Head of the Vienna banking firm of Koenigswarter
Von Koenigswarter was born into the wealthy Koenigswarter family involved in banking and philanthropy. The founder of the family was Jonas Hirsch Koenigswarter (d. 1805). He was born in Moravia and lived in Germany, where he opened a successful bank. His third son Moritz (1780-1829), went to Vienna where he established a bank. He also received special rights from the government and was active in Jewish life. He died at age of 49. Jonas Freiherr, his nephew, was the son of Marcus, founder of the Frankfurt branch of the family bank, and second son of Jonas Hirsch. He moved to Vienna, married his cousin Josephine (Moritz’s daughter), and succeeded his father in law and uncle’s bank. Jonas Freiherr established the Koenigswarter and Todasco bank and became head of the Austrian National Bank (1850). He helped the Rothschild family establish the largest Austrian bank, Creditanstalt (1855) and assisted them in building the railway system. Freiherr had many projects in the Jewish community and was elected president in 1868, a position he held until his death. He was ennobled by the emperor and promoted to the Upper House (1870).
Jonas Freiherr took on the name von Koenigswarter. The eldest of two sons was Moritz Baron von Koenigswarter (1837-1893). He was one of the most important figures in the financial world of Vienna during the second half of the 19th century. He continued expanding his father’s business including the railroad system. He was active in politics and was nominated as a liberal to the Austrian upper Legislative House. (1879). With his involvement in Jewish matters he represented the united Jewish community in negotiations to secure the community’s external relations by law in the upper legislative house. (1890). He founded different Jewish institutions, among them the aid for Jewish blind and the Theologische Lehranstalt.
The second son was Hermann Freiherr von Koenigswarter (d.1915). He converted to Christianity. With the wealth he inherited he maintained racing stables, and donated a million gulden to charity. This was due, primarily, to a clause in his father’s will which said that every male descendant of his who converts should donate a million gulden to charity.
Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939)
Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia (now Pribor, in the Czech Republic) as the third son of Jakob Freud, a Jewish wool merchant, and the first child of his second wife, Amalie Nathansohn. In 1859, the Freud family moved to Leipzig, in Germany, but a year after, they settled in Vienna, the city where Sigmund Freud was to live for the next 78 years.
Freud graduated from the Sperl Gymnasium in 1873 and turned to medicine as a career studying at the University of Vienna. There he was in contact with Ernst von Brucke (1819-1892), a leading physiologist of his time. In 1882, Freud entered the General Hospital in Vienna as a clinical assistant and three years later was appointed lecturer in neuropathology.
Freud continued his studies of neuropathology at the Salpetriere clinic in Paris in 1885 under the guidance of Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893). Freud’s acquaintance with Charcot’s theories and practice had a significant influence on his career helping him to concentrate his research on the mind as source of neurotic conditions rather than the brain. A short time after his return from Paris, Freud married Martha Bernays, a descendant of a famous Jewish family whose ancestors included Heinrich Heine and a chief rabbi of Hamburg.
Having settled at 19 Bergasse in Vienna, his home for more than fifty years, Freud began his collaboration with Josef Breuer (1842-1925). One of Breuer’s patients, Bertha Pappenheim, or Anna O., as she is known in the psychoanalytical literature, was later instrumental in developing Freud’s method of free association.
Freud’s fame came with the publication in 1899 of The Interpretation of Dreams who proved to turn into one of the most influential works not only in the field of psychoanalysis, but also in many other scientific, cultural and artistic disciplines. His prolific career is illustrated by a long list of publications, among them the best known are The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 1904; Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, 1905; Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, 1905; The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis, 1910; Beyond the Pleasure Principle, 1920; The Ego and the Id, 1923. However, Freud also disclosed a keen interest in the field of sociology and social psychology, as proven by a number of significant essays: Totem und Tabu, 1913; Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, 1921; The Future of an Illusion, 1927; Civilization and Its Discontents, 1930; Moses and Monotheism, 1938.
Freud was not a practicing Jew, but he never rejected his religion. In an interview with George Sylvester Viereck in 1926 and published a year later, Freud clearly stated his identity: “My language is German. My culture, my attainments are German. I considered myself German intellectually, until I noticed the growth of anti-Semitic prejudice in Germany and German Austria. Since that time I prefer to call myself a Jew.”
Freud encountered many anti-Semitic incidents during his lifetime, but the worst occurred after the Nazis’ seizure of power in Germany. Freud’s books were denounced as “expressions of Jewish science” and were publicly burned as early as 1933. When Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, Freud was forced to flee the country and with the help of friends settled in England. He died of cancer on September 23, 1939, three weeks after the outbreak of the World War II.
Freud, Eli (1914 -)
Eli Freud was born in Triest (now in Italy). He moved to Vienna where he continued his musical studies, studying the oboe with Alexander Wunderer, and conducting with Felix Weingartner and Joseph Krips at the Wiener Musikakademie. After the Anschluss Eli Freud went to Prague in 1938 and a year later he immigrated to Palestine. He played the oboe in the Palestine Broadcasting Orchestra (before the independence of the state of Israel), after the establishment of the State of Israel he founded and conducted the Jerusalem Chamber Orchestra and, in 1955, the Israel Bach Society. Freud played the accordion, piano, saxophone and oboe.
Fried, Alfred Hermann (1864-1921)
Pacifist and publicist, Nobel peace prize winner
Born in Vienna, Fried served in the Austian diplomatic service, but became very much disappointed and left the country for Berlin, where he became a bookdealer and publisher. At the age of 27 he became a pacifist, and his main work was publishing pacifist propoganda. He also founded and edited some pacifist journals, like Die Waffen Nieder, which was owned by an Austrian pacifist. Fried wrote more than 2,000 articles in newspapers and more than 70 books and pamphlets, all dedicated to peace. He was a central figure in the Euroean Peace Movement like: Member of the Berne Bureau and the International Institute of Peace, European secretary of the Conciliation Internationale, founder of the Austrian and German peace societies and other institutes.
During the Hague peace conferences (1899-1907), Fried had intensive discussions with Ivan Bliokh, the person who persuaded the Russian czar to participate in these conferences. All this activity led to two different and contradictive results. On the one hand Alfred Hermann Fried was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1911), but on the other side, on the eve of the outbreak of WWI, he was accused of treason.
He left Austria for Switserland, where after the war he was again involved in pacific activities and took part intensively in the international workers meeting in Berne, which were active in preparing a formula for achieving peace. He tried with others to found an European Union of States in the same guidelines as the Pan- American System.
Friedlander, Kate (1902-1949)
Kate Friedlander was born and qualified in medicine in Innsbruck. She then moved to Berlin where she specialized in mental and nervous diseases. She trained as a psychoanalyst and worked in a juvenile court in Berlin. In 1933 Friedlander moved to London where she cooperated with Anna Freud on the elimination of unhappiness among children. She wrote on the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency notably in The Psychoanalytical Approach to Juvenile Delinquency.
Friedmann, gon Friedell (1878-1938-1938)
Egon Friedell Friedmann was born in Vienna and studied in Vienna and in Heidelberg, Germany. He lived as a versatile bohemian and was a witty critic. He was a regular at the Cafe Central in Vienna with his friends, Peter Altenberg, Franz T. Csokor and Alfred Polgar. It was about this time that he dropped the name Friedman.
His Jesusproblem was published in 1921. His major work, the Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit (Cultural History of the Modern Age) published 1927-1932 in three volumes, covers history ranging from the Reformation to World War I. Friedell sometimes acted in his own plays, like Die Judastragoedie, 1929, and performed in Max Reinhardt’s theater. The Kulturgeschichte des Altertums (Cultural History of Antiquity) was published in the years 1936-1949.
Friedmann was urged by some of his friends to leave Nazi-ruled Austria, but was reluctant to leave behind his life’s work. Two days after the annexation of Austria by the Third Reich in March 1938, SS squads came up the stairs to his apartment. Friedell leaped from the window to his death.
His letters were published in 1959.
Friedmann, Desider (1880-1944)
Desider Friedmann was born in Boskovice (now in the Czech Republic). He became an active Zionist while still in his teens. He moved to Vienna, Austria, and when that community became the first in the Central Europe with a Zionist majority, he was elected its vice-president – and later president. In 1934, he was appointed to the Austrian Council of State. Friedmann fought for Jewish rights and expanded the community’s educational, cultural and social programs. Shortly after the 1938 Anschluss he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to various concentration camps. In 1944, he and his wife were sent from Theresienstadt concentration camp to their deaths in Auschwitz.
G
Gartner, Gustav (1855-1921)
Pathologist
Born in Pardubice, Bohemia (Czech Republic), then part of the Austrian Empire. He was a co-worker of Professor Salomon Stricker at the Experimental Pathological Institute in Vienna. From 1890 Gartner became professor himself at the same faculty.
Like Salomon Stricker, G. Gartner too had an inventive mind. The tonometer for measuring blood pressure, the ergostat and the reostat were his inventions. The Walcher-Gartner Selbstretter, a self-saver devise used by miners, also bears his name. Gartner’s other inventions include the gyroscope centrifuge and the electric two-cell-bath for therapy. He is author of Elektrische Medicinalbader (1893) and the Hirnkreislauf. Gartner wrote in his Diaetetische Entfettungskuren (1899) about the cure of metabolism, which farther enhanced his reputation.
Geiger, Max (1885-1968)
Born in Jaroslaw (today in Poland). He was a descendant of musicians and continued their fame. Geiger studied violin in Zagreb and then in Vienna at the Wiener Musikakademie. He was concertmaster at the Komische Opera of Berlin (1907-1917) and also worked at the Carltheatre Wien, and was bandmaster of RAVAG (on his own show). He was also band master of Radio Warsaw and a composer of popular music for silent movies.
Geioger went on exile to India after the Anschluss (1938), where he founded and conducter the symphony orchestra for the Maharaja of Patiala. Max Geifger returned to Vienna after the WWII (1947).
Gewitsch, Aaron Wolf (c.1700-c.1770)
Born in Posen (Poznan, now in Poland), he settled in Jevicko, from which he got his name Gewitsch. He then moved to Vienna and from about 1724 achieved a reputation through his illustrations for a series of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts. About a dozen of his illuminated haggadot have survived and he also executed other commissions including an illustrated Plaster for an Austrian archduke. In 1735 he was employed by the Imperial Library in Vienna.
Gold (Goldner), Ernest (Ernst) (1921-1999)
Ernest Gold was born as Ernst Goldner in Vienna. At age of sixteen he studied violin and piano at the Wiener Musilakademie. Following the Anschluss, he immigrated to the USA in 1938. From 1945 Gold composed music for the films and worked together with George Antheil, who gave him lessons in music theory (theory of musical forms and counterpoint) free of charge. Ernst Gold started writing his own music (1958) at Warner Brothers, and was awarded an Oscar prize for the music he composed for the film Exodus, directed by Otto Preminger. In addition to to music for the films, he composed choir and chamber music. Ernst Gold died in Pacific Oalisades, California, in 1999.
Goldenthal, Jacob (1815-1868)
Jacob Goldenthal was born in Brody (now in the Ukraine). He was principal of the Jewish school in Kishinev (now in Moldova), in 1843. After three years he left for Vienna were he taught oriental languages, religion and literature at the University of Vienna (1849-1868). Goldenthal published many articles on different subjects including medieval Jewish literature, the Rhetoric of Aristotle, Maimonides, ancient philosophy,
history of Jewish literature and others.
Goldhammer-Sahavi, Leo (1884-1949)
Born in Mihaleini (Romania), he moved to Vienna in 1902 and became a follower of Herzl. He published economic-statistical studies of the Jews, in particular those of Austria. He established and edited early Zionist periodicals in Vienna. In 1907 Goldhammer-Sahavi returned to Romania but lived in Vienna again after World War I. For many years he was president of the Zionist Organization of Austria and was a founder of Poalei Zion. When the Nazis took over Austria he moved to Haifa where he was active in municipal affairs.
Goldmark, Carl (1830-1915)
Carl Goldmark was born in the small town of Keszthely, Hungary, where his father was a cantor. With his recognized musical talent he sent his son to study in Vienna. His half brother Joseph paid for his studies. Both brothers were involved in revolutionary activities in 1848 and consequently were arrested: Joseph managed to flee the country and Carl was saved from being executed thatks to the intervention of one of his friends.
Goldmark settled in Vienna and became a teacher. He was also a conductor and a composer of orchestra music. Some of his works had great success in Vienna and other cities, among them the opera The Queen of Sheba (1875), and his symphony Laendische Hochzeit (1876), on which he worked for ten years. He wrote other operas, violin concertos and chamber music. Goldmark encouraged performances of Wagner in Austria. His autobiography was translated into English as Notes from the Life of a Viennese Composer (1927).
Goldstein, Josef (1837-1899)
He was born and brought up in Neutra where his father was hazzan and Goldstein sang in his choir from age six. His father died when Goldstein was ten and when he was 13 he took his place as hazzan of the community. He officiated in many Hungarian communities and studied in Prague before being appointed at age 18 chief cantor at Vienna’s Leopoldstadt synagogue where he remained for over forty years. He introduced there the Polish style of hazzanut.
Gomperz, Theodor (1832-1912)
Classical philologist and historian of ancient philosophy. Born in Breunn, Moravia (now Czech Republic). After his studies he was apointed professor of classical philology at the University of Vienna. He held this position for twenty eight years (1873-1901). He was elected to the Academy of Science in 1882. Gomperz wrote about the Greek philosophy, and his important work Griechische Denker (3 vols) which discribes the history of the Greek philosophy from its roots until Aristotle, set in the context of the development of the Greek and ancient civilizations, has been translated in many languages and is thought to be one of the basic works in the field. Gomperz was also active in politics, and served as a Liberal member of the Upper House of the Austrian Parliament. In Jewish affairs he opposed Herzl and the Zionism strongly, and was very much in favour of assimilation.
Theodor Gomperz’s biography and letters were published by his son Heinrich Gomperz.(1873-1942), who too was a philosopher. Heinrich was baptised, and was a professor in Vienna until 1934, when he refused to join Dolfuss’ Fatherland Front. He immigrated to the USA (1938). Heinrich published many works in addition to his father’s biography, including a study on the Greek philosophy and a work on Socrates Philosophical Studies (1953).
Gruen, Viktor ( 1903-1980)
Viktor Gruen formerly David Gruenbaum (1903-1980) was born and educated in Vienna. From 1918 to 1923, he studied surface building at the Hoehere Gewerbeschule, Vienna, and following his graduation he attended master classes of Peter Behrens at the Academy of Fine Arts. 1924 to 1933 he worked for Melcher & Steiner, architects and builders.
Gruen was active in the Bund – the Jewish Socialist movement. He, along with Ludwig Wagner and others, founded a Socialist Politisches Kabarett, in 1926. The group disbanded in 1933. He then became director of the Spielgruppe, a model for many cabarets in Vienna during the 1930s. In the field of architecture, from 1934 to 1938, he maintained an office in Vienna where he was recognized as an expert in surface building. He was commissioned to rebuild commercial buildings in Vienna and other projects in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia.
In July 1938, when Nazi Germany took over Austria, Gruen immigrated with his family to the USA. He was employed as a designer and draftsman for Ivel Co. New York, where he designed General Motor’s pavilion for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York.
Gruen did not give up his love of theatre and in October 1938, he founded an antifascist cabaret named Refugee Artists Group (later Called Viennese Theater Group.) The performers, Austrian émigrés, included Herbert Berghof, Elisabeth Neumann and Manfred Inger.
In 1939, he and his wife Elsie Krummeck, established an office of design in New York. They later opened branches in a number of cities including Los Angeles and Chicago. Gruen specialized in interior design of shops, and department stores. In 1950, he was founder and director of a planning group ‘Victor Gruen Associates,’ which included architects, engineers, city planners and sociologists in Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. He was registered as an architect/engineer in over twenty states. His projects included the planning and execution of urban development programs, shopping centers, business buildings. Among his city planning developments were the first regional shopping centers in Northland, Detroit (1954); Southdale, Minnesota (1956); Fort Worth, Texas; Welfare Island, New York He also developed revitalization plans for city centers in the USA and Europe. He founded the ‘Victor Gruen Center for Environmental Planning’, Los Angeles in 1968 and in 1973 established a sister organization in Vienna “Zentrum fur Umwelt Planung.”
Gruen was a member of the White House Committee for Environmental Problems,’ Washington D.C., advisor for the region of Paris, for City Government, Vienna, and for a general plan for a new university city near Louvain, Belgium. Gruen was also advisor to national, state and city governments in USA, Canada, Iran, France and Austria. In 1971 he redesigned the old city of Vienna.
Gruen was a member of ‘American Institute of Architects (1948); National Association Housing and Redevelopment Office; Yale Arts Association (charter member, executive committee); Urban Land Institute and other various professional organizations. He received a Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects; Architecture Prize, City of Vienna (1972), and other citations for significant contributions to social exhibitions in museums in US and in Europe.
Victor Gruen died in Vienna in 1980.
H
Haas, George (1905-)
George Haas was born in Vienna, where he studied zoology and paleontology. After his studies he left to Berlin, where he was visiting investigator at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (1931-1932). In Berlin he did research on protozoancytology. Haas immigrated to Palestine (1933), and joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was appointed professor in 1954. Haas was a dedicated teacher and had much influence on the growth of zoological science in Israel. Many outstanding Israeli zoologists where his students. His main interest was the functional anatomy and evolution of reptiles, but broadened his interest on molluks of Israel, and on fossil reptiles and mammals of the region.
Halban, Josef (1870-1937)
Gynecologist
Josef Halban was born in Vienna. From 1909 he was assistant professor of gynecology at the University of Vienna and from 1910 he headed the gynecological department at the Vienna General Hospital.
Professor Halban gained great credit for his studies in the field of inner secretion of the ovaries. His works include Operative Behandlung des Genitalprolapses (1919), Biologie und Pathologie des Weibes (1924-1929), and Gynaecologische Operationslehre. The Halban’sche Schwangerschaftszeichen (1906), the Halban sign of pregnancy, was named after him. Josef Halban was ennobled in 1917.
Hartmann, Heinz (1894-1970)
Heinz Hartmann was born and educated in Vienna. As a student of S. Freud, Hartmann amplified and elaborated numerous aspects of psychoanalytic theory, including the relation of intrapsychic events and of psychoanalysis to the environment, to society, and to the social sciences. He became a leading theoretician of psychoanalysis and a pioneer in the field of psychoanalytic ego psychology. Hartmann emphasized the activities of that psychic construct, the ego, as no less important than of the drives, the id (the inherited instinctive impulses of the individual as part of the unconscious). He pointed out the importance of man’s adapting to an ‘average expectable environment’ as a function of the ego. Both, Heinz Hartmann and his wife Dora, belonged to one of those groups comprising teachers and students, who had very close professional as well as social relationship.
In 1938 the Hartmanns emigrated to Switzerland and in 1941 they settled in the USA. Heinz Hartmann served as president of the International and New York Psychoanalytic Association (1951-1957 and 1952-1954 respectively). In 1959 he was made honorary president of the International Association.
Hartmann’s paper the Ich-Psychologie und Anpassungsproblem, published in 1939, was translated into English in 1958 as Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation.
Heller, Theodor (1869-1935)
Born in Vienna, Heller was among the first psychologists to deal with therapeutic techniques in educational framework, by establishing the Heilpaedagogische Anstalt in Vienna. His technique was developed under the Freudian theory and thought. Heller is the author of Grundriss der Heilpaeddagogik (1904; 1925), the basic work on heilpaedagogik. The subjects of his research were child, adolescent, abnormal and educational psychology.
Herschmann, Otto (1877-1942)
Otto Herschmann was member of the Austrian team of swimmers at the First Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. He won the bronze medal in the 100 metres freestyle event. Otto Herschmann competed in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and won a silver medal in Team Sabre (fencing). He also served as the President of the Austrian Olympic Committee at the 1912 games – the only president of a national committee to win an Olympic medal while in office. Otto Herschmann served as President of the Austrian Federation of Swimming Associations from 1914 to 1932. Otto Herschmann was arrested in 1942 in Vienna and deported to and then murdered in the Nazi extermination camp of Sobibor.
Herz, Henri (Heinrich) (1802-1888)
Henri (Heinrich) Herz was born in Vienna where he studied music with his father and then with Daniel Huenten. Herz continued his musical studies at the Music Conservatory of Paris, France. He was an elegant virtuoso musician, and was very popular in France as composer and pianist. Herz composed more than 200 piano pieces. He taught at the Conservatory of Paris from 1842 to 1874. Herz also owned a piano factory, and received the First Prize at the Paris Exposition of 1855 for his pianos.
Herz traveled worldwide, including three tours of the USA. He also traveled to Mexico and during his sojourn in that country he composed the national anthem of Mexico. Although his compositions were very popular, other composers, like Robert Schumann for instance, did not apreciate his music. In his book My Travels in America Herz described his experiences during his visits to the USA. Herz was awarded eith the French Legion of Honour.
Herzog, David (1869-1946)
David Herzog was born in Trnava (Tyrnau) (now in Slovakia). He studied in Vienna and in 1900 became rabbi of Smichov (a suburb of Prague). Subsequently he was rabbi in Graz and chief rabbi of Styria, also teaching Semitic languages at the university of Graz. When the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia, they took him from his home and threw him in the river. He was rescued and escaped to England where he lived in Oxford. A scholar, he wrote primarily on medieval Jewish, especially Judeo-Arabic literature and on the history of the Jews of Austria.
Hirsch, Philipp Abraham (c. 1765-c. 1806)
It is believed that Philipp Abraham Hirsch was born in Brunswick. His father was a master engraver and Philipp Abraham Hirsch was trained by him in his craft. Hirsch’s specialty was working in steel. In 1792 he was granted a permit for three years to reside in Vienna and work as a seal engraver in Vienna. He died in Vienna at the age of 41.
Hofmannsthal, Hugo (1874-1929)
Hugo von Hofmannsthal was born in Vienna as the great grandson of Isaac Loew Hoffmann, the first Jew in Austria to be granted nobility by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. His grandfather, however, had already converted to the Roman Catholic Church, but Hofmannsthal never denied his ancestry. He grew up in a wealthy family, where culture and literature were highly regarded.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal matured early and in his late teens published his first literary essays and lyric plays. These included Gestern (Yesterday) (1891), Der Tod des Tizian (The Death of Tizian) (1892), Der Tor und der Tod (The Fool and Death) (1893). He was still a young man when Arthur Schnitzler adopted him as his protégé. Schnitzler introduced him to Theodor Herzl as a promising writer for the newspaper Neue Freie Presse. Hugo von Hofmannsthal studied at the University of Vienna, not for a degree but solely for his pleasure. During this time he also traveled frequently. Hofmannsthal was an outstanding exponent of Viennese impressionism and symbolism. His literary works reflect his delicate, sensitive and melancholy nature. He regarded the decadent, permissive cultural gender prevailing in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century repulsive, and turned for inspiration to old classics.
Many of his works are adaptations of Greek, English and Spanish dramas notably Electra (1903), Oedipus and The Sphinx (1906), Alextis (1911) and others. Among his most successful plays a mention should be made of Jederman (1911) – based on the medieval English mystery play Everyman was commissioned by Max Reinhardt for the Salzburg Festival. Some of his plays served as librettos for Richard Strauss’s operas, such as Electra, the Rosenkavalier (1911) and the Turm depicting a Jewish character called Simon. The music for Die Joseph Legende (The Legend of Joseph), written by Hofmannsthal and Count Harry Kessler for the Russian Ballet, was composed by Richard Strauss.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s complete works, compiled in 12 volumes, were published in 1946-1950.
Horowitz, David Yehoshua (1760-1825)
David Yehoshua Horowitz studied with his father, grandfather and father-in-law, all noted rabbinical authorities. From 1795 he was rabbi of Floss, Bavaria, and from 1822, rabbi of Frauenkirchen. He wrote a commentary on the early midrash, Sifrei, and halakhic novellae.
Horowitz, Lazar (1803-1868)
Rabbi Horowitz Lazar (Eleazar) Ben David Joshua Hoeschel was born in Bavaria, Germany, into a religious family and studied with various rabbis and scholars. Isaac Loew Hoffmann von Hoffmannstahl (1828) invited him to come to Vienna to accept the position of Chief Rabbi. He had to accept, however, a lesser title (supervisor of rituals) because the local authorities did not recognize the Jewish Community. Rabbi Lazar Horowitz was strict in matters of the Halakhah. After his death, his sons published in a book, Yad Eleazar, his responsa to problems that were put before him. An important example to his decisions was his agreement to use a sponge instead of the “mezizah” in the circumcision process. Rabbi Lazar Horowitz tried to reconcile differences between different elements in the community. He, together with others, participated in the campaign for eliminating the oath more judaico. He took an active part in the 1848 Revolution and tried to improve the living social and political conditions of the Jews in Austria. Rabbi Lazar Horowitz encouraged Jews to be involved in agriculture. He succeeded in canceling the expulsion of hundreds of families from Vienna (1851). He was the Archduchess Maria Dorothea’ s favourite teacher; she was interested in Hebrew Literature and believed in the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel. His ambivalent stand on different issues in the Jewish religion, especially his attitude towards Messianism, added to his popularity. He lectured in Adolph Jellinek’s Beth ha-midrash and contributed to different periodicals, bringing him many friends and also many adversaries who, like Ezriel Hildsheimer, were much more conservative in their thinking. Rabbi Lazar Horowitz died in Vienna in 1868.
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Isserlein, Israel (1390-1460)
Rabbinical authority
Israel Isserlein was born in Regensburg and educated at the home of his uncle in Wiener Neustadt. In 1421 his mother and uncle were killed in anti-Jewish persecutions and he moved to Marburg, Styria, returning to Wiener Neustadt in 1445 when he was appointed rabbi and head of the rabbinical court for the city and its environs.
Isserlein spent the rest of his life there and thanks to him, it became an oustanding center of Torah study. Leading scholars from many parts addressed their queries to him. He lived a life of piety and ascetism, refusing to take a salary for his services. His best-known work is Terumat ha-Deshen, a collection of halakhic responsa. His works shed valuable life on the internal life of Central European communities of his time.
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Jellinek, Hermann (1822-1848)
Herman Jellinek, the younger brother of Adolf Jellinek, was born and educated in Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). He continued his studies in Germany and earned a doctorate from the Leipzig University. He first attracted attention when he delivered a lecture on the occasion of Leibnitz’s 200th anniversary (1847) in which he opposed Leibnitz‘s philosophy. Hermann Jellinek was expelled from the university because of extremist activity. In reaction he wrote Das Denunciation System des saechsischen Liberalismus und des kritisch-nihilistische System Herman Jellineks (1847). He moved to Berlin, where together with Bruno Bauer he pursued his radical ideas.
Having been expelled from Berlin, he moved to Vienna in the year of the 1848 revolution. At the same time he contributed articles to Die Grenzboten of Kuranda. Jellinek was more radical than his editor, and left the periodical. He contributed his revolutionary anti Habsburg articles to the Allegemeine Oesterreichische Zeitung and to Der Radikale. Those articles denote the influence of Karl Marx’s ideas on the writer. After the failure of the revolution and the declaration of the martial law, Jellinek’s friends begged him to leave the country, but he refused. He was subsequently arrested for his revolutionary activities and sentenced to death by a military tribunal along with his non-Jewish friend A.Becher. Jellinek was executed on November 23, 1848, but his friend not. It was suggested that Hermann Jellinek was executed because of his Jewishness, while A.Becher was a Protestant.
Hermann Jellinek’s works include Die Taeuschung der aufgeklaerten Juden und ihre Fachigkeit zur Emancipation (1847), in which he mocks the attempt of Jews to describe Judaism as an enlightened religion in order to gain equal rights.
Jellinek, Adolf (1821-1893)
Chief Rabbi of Vienna
Adolf Jellinek, who later adoted the name Aaron, was born in a village in Moravia. (now in the Czech Republic). His ancestral background is believed to stem from Czech peasants (Hussite), who, in the eighteen’s century, converted to Judaism out of religious conviction. His younger brother was Dr. Herman Jellinek, a revolutionary, who was executed after the 1848 Revolution. Jellinek studied at the yeshiva of Menahem Katzin Prossnitz, and moved to Prague in1838. There he continued his studies with major rabbis. He moved on to Leipzig, Germany, four years later where he studied philosophy and semitics. He graduated in 1845 and accepted the position of preacher at Leipzig’s Berliner Synagogue.
While in Leoipzig, Adolf Jellinek devoted special attention to scientific research in religious philosophy, bibliography, Jewish mysticism, Kabbala and Midrash. In 1848 he founded, together with a Christian clergyman, the KirchlicherVerein fuer alle Religionsbekenntnisse. This was an association open to all religious groups. The Saxon minister of religious affairs prevented him from representing his association at the Frankfurt German National Assembly (1848). In 1856 Adolf Jellinek was appointed preacher at the new Leopoldstadter Synagogue in Vienna, and nine years later, in1865, after the death of Chief Rabbi Mannheimer, he was named Chief Rabbi of Vienna and served at the Seitenstetten Synagogue.
Adolf Jellinek was soon recognized as the most gifted preacher in modern Judaism, (about 200 of his sermons were published). He related to problems of the day, making use of Agada and Midrash, which distinguished him from his predecessors. He advocated a moderately liberal line and strove to have unity in the community. He helped to avoid a split in the Jewish community by providing a conciliatory attitude with the Orthodox rabbi Solomon Benjamin Spitzer. In 1861 he ran for a seat in the Diet of Lower Austria but did not succeed. Jellinek promoted the abolition of capital punishment for political offenses, being influenced by the executions of his brother and Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. He expressed his ideas in the Neuzeit, a paper he edited from 1882. Jellinek was Baron M. Hirsch’s trustee for philanthropic activities in Galicia. He opposed the rise of Zionism, and refused to back L. Pinsker’s views. With the emerging of more antagonistic anti-Semitism, he turned to apologetics of the Jewish religion and persuaded Joseph Samuel Bloch to write his Israel und die Voelker.
Jellinek was a prolific writer and published scholarly works in numerous fields, including Kabbalah, Zohar, Talmud and Midrash. Rabbi Dr. Adolf Jellinek died in Vienna in December 1893.
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Kadmon, Stella (1902-1980)
Stella Kadmon was born in Vienna October 15, 1902. She studied acting from 1920-23 at the Vienna Academy of Music at the Volksoper. Her acting career began at the Landestheater in Linz. In 1924-25 she appeared with the German Theater of Maarisch-Ostrau (Ostrava), in Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). Later she studied acting and directing with Armin Seydelmann and Max Reinhardt. In 1926-31 she performed as cabaret singer in Munich, Vienna, Berlin and Koeln. She was co-founder, with Peter Hammerschlag and Gerhart Hermann Mostar, of the political, critical cabaret Der liebe Augustin, in Vienna, in 1931.
Following the take-over of Austria by Germany in 1938, the Nazi regime closed down the cabaret. Later in the year, with the aid of the German Ambassador, Stella Kadmon fled to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where she stayed with relatives. She immigrated to Palestine in 1939. She was director of the English-language Cabaret Papillion in Tel-Aviv from 1940-42. In the following years Kadmon, with Arnold Chempin and Karl Guttmann, organized evenings of chansons and dramatic readings. Due to a ban under the British mandate, public performances of German authors was interdicted. They were compelled, consequently, to perform in private clubs. Their productions included Franz Werfel’s Jacobowsky und der Oberst and Bertolt Brecht’s Frucht und Elend des Dritten Reiches. Kadmon was also active in cultural programs of the Free Austrian Movement in Palestine.
In 1947 Kadmon returned to Vienna. She became director of Der liebe Augustin, which had reopened in 1945. In 1948 the cabaret changed to theatre performances. It took the name Theater der Courage, in which avant-garde plays were performed. Stella Kadmon staged numerous Austrian and world premieres of plays by Wolfgang Borchert, George Roland, Adolf Schutz, Ferdinand Bruckner, Jean Anouilh and others.
Kadmon was awarded the Honorary Silver Medal of the City of Vienna, in 1968, and the title of Professor in 1977. She also received many prizes for her work in staging. She died in Vienna in 1980.
Kaposi, Moritz (1837 -1902)
Dermatologist
Moritz Kaposi was born as Moric Kohn in Kaposzvar, Hungary. He worked at the dermatological hospital in Vienna, Austria. He pioneered in the description of several diseases.
After his conversion to Christianity, he was appointed professor of dermatology at the University of Vienna. He was a noted diagnostician and teacher as well as an author and his books, Pathologie und Therapie der Hautkrankenheiten (1879) and Handatlas der Hautkrankenheiten (1879), were the outstanding works on skin diseases at the time. Kaposi’s sarcoma and Kaposi’s disease were named for him.
Kaufmann, Felix (1895-1949)
Philosopher, lawyer
Felix Kaufmann was born in Vienna. He studied law and political science at the University of Vienna. In 1919 he became doctor of jurisprudence and in 1926 he received his doctorate of philosophy. From 1922 to 1938, Kaufmann was privatdozent in philosophy of law, at the University of Vienna.
In 1938, following the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, Kaufmann emigrated to the U.S.A. From then until his death he was a member of the graduate faculty at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Kaufmann specialized in theory of knowledge, logic, philosophy, mathematics and law. As a representative of the so-called ‘Reine Rechtslehre’ of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, he elaborated primarily the works of Hans Kelsen based on phenomenology. He was greatly influenced by Moritz Schlick a leading member of the ‘Vienna Circle’ and adherent of neo-positivism. Kaufmann was also involved in the early discussions of the Vienna Circle. He never rigidly adopted, however, the main principles of logical positivism. His major concern was to discriminate between the methodology of the social sciences and the methodology of the physical sciences. He believed that the rules, their applications and purposes adopted by social scientists differ from those found in physical sciences, especially being directed toward the clarification of knowledge rather than its acquisition. His most important work relating to this subject: Methodenlerne der Socialwissenschaften (1936) was translated into English in 1944 as Methodology of the Social Sciences. His earlier works include: Logic und Rechtswissenschaft (Tuebingen, 1922); Die Kriterien des Rechts (Tuebingen, 1924, new edition 1966); Die phylosophischen Grundprobleme der Lehre von der Strafrechtsschuld (Vienna, 1929); Das unendliche in der Mathematik und seine Ausschaltung (Vienna, 1930; 2nd edition 1968).
Kaufmann, Philipp Friedrich (1888-1969)
Philipp Friedrich Kaufmann was born in Vienna where he was raised and educated, majoring in art. He is known as a war painter of World War I. Before the Nazis came into power Kaufman had achieved some recognition and he exhibited his works of art in Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam and Switzerland. The Nazi regime, however, compelled him to leave Vienna and in 1937 he emigrated to Great Britain. Here, in British circles, he became a much sought after portrait artist. Philipp Kaufmann died in London in 1969.
Kellner, Leon (1859-1928)
Scholar of English literature
Leon Kellner was born in Tarnow, Galicia (now in Poland). In 1890, after teaching at various high schools, he became a lecturer in English literature at the University of Vienna. From 1904 to 1914 he was professor at the University of Czernowitz, where he also served as a representative of the Jewish-national list to the Landtag (local parliament). At the outbreak of World War I Kellner moved back to Vienna. After the war he served as an English expert in the office of the president of the Austrian Republic.
Leon Kellner became close to Theodore Herzl and served as his aide, adviser and close associate. He assisted Herzl by opening many contacts for him in England. Due to his many obligations Kellner turned down Herzl’s offer to edit the Zionist organ Die Welt. However, he published articles in it and in 1899-1900 edited the paper.
Kellner’s scholarly writings were highly appreciated. His many publications include critical editions of English texts, grammar books, an English-German, German-English dictionary, a dictionary of Shakespeare, and a history of English and American literature. He also published articles, stories and feuilletons in newspapers and periodicals in German and English. After Herzl’s death, Kellner published a selection of Herzl’s writings in two volumes. He started to write a comprehensive biography of Herzl, of which only the first part – Theodore Herzl’s Lehrjahre – was published (1920).
Kerpel, Leopold (1818-1880)
Leopold Kerpel was born in Eisenstadt, Burgenland. His talent in art took him to Florence, Italy, where he studied painting for eight years. In 1846 he moved to Vienna. There, he exhibited five paintings at the “Knight’s Hall” of the Hofburg, Vienna. This success was followed by an exhibition of two of his paintings in Budapest. In 1849 Kerpel began to travel. He started at Prague, where the Dowager Empress Anne purchased one of his sketches. At Teplitz, in northern Bohemia, the Duke of Clary bought several of his paintings. He exhibited in Dresden, Geermany, where the King of Saxony purchased some of his works. In Berlin the King of Prussia commissioned two paintings from Kerpel. His journeys took him to Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Finland. Kerpel then returned to Vienna where he remained. His paintings are shown both in the Eisenstadt Museum and in the Oedenburg Museum in Hungary. Leopold Kerpel died in 1880 and is buried in Vienna.
Klang, Heinrich (1875-1954)
Heinrich Klang was born in Vienna where he was raised and attended school. Following his studies in law at the University of Vienna, Klang went into practice and became an expert on civil law. He was appointed an Austrian judge and jurist. Klang taught civil law at the University of Vienna. He edited ,together with others, Kommentar zum Allegemeinen Burgerlichen Gesetzbuch (1931-1935). At the time of the annexation of Austria by Germany (1938), he was presiding judge of the High Court of Vienna. Heinrich Klang was pensioned and in 1942 deported to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. He survived and returned to Vienna (1945), where he was appointed President of one of the divisions of the High Court.
Klausner, Abraham (-1407/08)
Abraham Klausner was a leading Austrian rabbi during the latter part of the 14th century. His principal teacher was Moses of Znaim. He spent much of his life in Vienna where he served as rabbi together with Meir Halevy (1380). Halevy called Abraham Klausner “morenu” (“our teacher”). Klausner was surrounded by well known scholars including Aaron of Neustadt (Blumlein), one of the greatest scholars of Austria who was his brother-in-law. Jacob Moellin (the Maharil) was his student and Klausner was also Isaac Tyrnau’s foremost teacher. Klausner’s reputation is based on his book Sefer ha-Minhagim (Riva di Trento, 1558). This is the first intensive writing about local religious customs. He did not devise the minhagim, but adapted an earlier book, which was written more than fifty years earlier by Hayyim Paltiel. He changed, added his notes and arranged it differently. The editor of Mölln’s Minhage Maharil added in several cases some of the minhagim collected by Klausner. His responsa are referred to by Isserlein in his Pesahim u-Ketabim (No. 6). Klausner also wrote responses to important questions of religion and practice. Rabbi Abraham Klausner died in Vienna around 1407-08.
Klein, Salomon (1845-1937)
Ophthalmologist
Salomon Klein was born in Miskolc, Hungary, then part of the Austrian Empire. He graduated in 1870 and practiced in Vienna. From1883 he lectured in various capacities at the University of Vienna and from 1902 as associate professor of ophthalmology. Klein was also head of the ophthalmic department of the Rothschild Hospital at the Hohe Warte, near Vienna, and from 1895 also at the General Policlinic of Vienna. During his long life professor Klein performed over 5,000 glaucoma operations. In 1916 he retired.
His Augenspiegel und seine Anwendung was published in 1876. Another of professor Klein’s major works, the Lehrbuch der Augenheilkunde was first published in 1879 and since then has been reprinted many times. It is still a standard work. He was also author of the Das Auge und seine Diaetetik (1882), and Grundriss der Augenheilkunde (1886). Professor Klein published scores of articles in scientific magazines and wrote special features for several encyclopedias and manuals, among them the results of researches concerning the syphilitic disease of the eyes and the effect of mental illness on the eyesight.
His scientific contribution to ophthalmology brought about his outstanding reputation amongst his colleagues, and the title of Hofrat granted to him by Emperor Franz Joseph.
Kraner, Cissy (1918-)
Cissy Kraner was born on January 18, 1918 in Vienna into a Roman Catholic family. Following the occupation of Austria by Germany in 1938, she immigrated to Columbia. She went on to Caracas, Venezuela in 1939, where she began to perform with the Jewish writer, composer and librettist, Hugo Wiener. He too had escaped from Vienna following the occupation by the Nazis. Weiner accompanied Kraner at the piano with her songs in English, French, Spanish and Dutch. The couple soon became known as ‘Cissy and Hugo” and married in 1943. They settled in Mexico In 1946, but a year later had to return to Caracas because of Kraner’s illness. The couple continued to appear in cabarets and revues, and later at the Jockey Club restaurant in Caracas.
In 1948, Weiner visited Vienna where his plays were again being produced. A year later, following the premiere of one of his operettas, the couple returned to Austria. He became a writer for cabarets like ‘Casanova’ and ‘Simpl,’ both in Vienna. In 1951, they also performed at ‘Simpl’. In 1954, after brief engagements in Venezuela, the couple resettled in their native Vienna. Weiner expanded into writing for cinema. Kraner had acting and signing roles in twelve German language films, produced in West Germany and Austria, most of which were written by Weiner. The couple performed in many countries through the middle 1980’s, after which they retired in Vienna. Hugo Weiner died on May 14, 1993.
Kraus, Karl (1874-1936)
Karl Kraus was born in Jicin (Gitschin), Bohemia, (now in the Czech Republic). His family moved to Vienna when he was a child where he lived for most of his life. Kraus is considered one of the greatest stylists in the German language. In 1899 he founded Die Fackl, a satirical magazine, one of the most important journals in Vienna, which he edited until his death. As a conservative moralist he tirelessly attacked liberalism and the permissive intellectual atmosphere. His most pungent criticism, however, was turned against the corrupters of the German language. In 1898 he converted to Catholicism. He had no kind words for Judaism or Jews either, and he blamed the Jews themselves and the Jewish press for anti-Semitism.
His satirical essays have been collected in six volumes (1908-1937) amongst them Sittlichkeit und Kriminalitaet (Morality and Criminality) published in 1908 and Heine und die Folgen (Heine and the Results), in 1910. His epigrams and aphorisms appeared in four volumes (1909-1927). One of his most important works Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The last Days of Mankind), a gigantic stage drama, could not be produced on stage due to it’s length. It wasn’t recognized until 1980 after which it appeared in nine volumes, entitled Woerte in Versen. Auswahl aus dem Werk, a selection from 11 of his works was published in 1961.
K. Kraus died in Vienna in1936.
Kraus, Gertrud (1901-1977)
Gertrud Kraus was born in Vienna. G. Kraus started her career in the 1920s when she achieved fame, having performed in expressionist dance shows such as ‘The Town is Waiting’ and ‘Dream of a Musician.’ She performed both in Austria and in Germany. In 1935, following the Nazi takeover, she immigrated to Eretz Israel. In Tel-Aviv she founded a private ballet school and also taught theatrical studies. Gertrud Kraus was a co-worker with the Israeli Opera, the Habimah and the Ohel theaters. In 1968 she was awarded the Israel Prize. G. Kraus died in Tel-Aviv, in 1977.
Kreisky, Bruno (1911-1990)
Politician, Chancellor of Austria (1970-1983)
Bruno Kreisky Kreisky was born in Vienna in 1911. His father was a large clothing industrialist. Kreisky studied law and was political active since the age of 15, while joining the youth movement of the Social Democratic Party. During the Dollfuss reign, he was arrested for two years. After the Anschluss (1938), he immigrated to Sweden, where he stayed until after the war (1945). He returned to Vienna in 1946 and for ten years was nominated to several positions, including Member of the Austrian mission to Sweden, Assistant Chief of Staff, Undersecretary in the Foreign Affairs Department in the Office of the Chancellor. Kreisky was elected to Parliament as a Socialist (1956), and after 1959 served as Foreign Minister in the coalition government of Julius Raab. In that capacity he was very active in founding the European Free Trade Association, and together with Italy in solving the South Tyroll problem. After seven years, in 1966, Kreisky left office, as the Christian Conservatives won an absolute majority in the Parliament. Kreisky was elected Chairman of the Socialist party in 1967 and in the elections of 1970, the Socialists won the elections, but not an absolute majority. Bruno Kreisky became the first Jewish Chancellor of Austria for the next thirteen years, while he won the elections of 1971, 1975 and 1979.
As Chancellor Kreisky’s policy was of a social and liberal character. He changed family laws and prison laws, and the legal attitude toward homosexuality and abortion. He reduced the length of military service, and tried to bridge the gap between the Catholic Church and the Socialist Party. He cut the work hours to 40, increased salaries of employees, pursued laws for gender equality, and tried to develop nuclear power after the oil shock of 1974. He was very active in international affairs and and thought of Austria as a link between East and West.
Bruno Kreisky was an anti-zionist Jew. As a leader of European politics he tried to mediate between Israel and the Arab countries, but with little result. In Israel many Jews did not accept his attitude. Kreisky’s attitude toward the Jewish world was ambigous: on one side four of his 1970 cabinet ministers had ”Nazi- backgrounds” (according Simon Wiesenthal), and on the other side he opened Vienna as a transit point for Jews leaving the Soviet Union for Israel or western countries.
Kreisky founded the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights (1976) which marked his 65th birthday. Every two years a prize is awarded in that area. Bruno Kreisky was an outstanding orator, and he won all the TV debates before elections. His intensive dealing with international affairs was not liked by the voters of the 1983 election and Kreisky lost his parliamentary majority. He did not want to form a minority cabinet and resigned from his office and was made honorary chairman.
Kreisky was a controversy statesman. His supporters considered him as the last Socialist, who helped to rise the standard of life for the people of Austria. His opponents saw him as a state budget expender, and blamed him for the difficulties of the Austrian economy in the 1980s.
Kremenetzky, Johann (1850-1934)
Johann Kremenetzky was born in Odessa, Russia (now in the Ukraine) and at age of thirty moved to Vienna, where he founded the first electric bulb factory. That factory grew to become one of the largest in Europe. Later (1920) he established a factory for electric instruments, and the Silikat factory in Tel-Aviv, in partneship with Boris Goldberg.
Kremenetzky joined Herzl after the publication of Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”) (1896), and because of his capabilities and friendship with Herzl, he was elected to the Zionist Executive from its beginning until it moved to Koeln, Germany, after Herzl’s death (1897-1905). Kremenetzky was involved in establishing the Jewish National Fund (J.N.F.), after he wrote a memorandum to the Fifth Zionist Congress (1901) and consequently he was the first chairman of the Jewish National Fund. Kremenetzky headed the new organization until its headquarters moved to Koeln (1907). From 1905 to1913, Kremenetzky was member of the Zionist General Council. Herzl nominated him as one of the executors of his will. He was also one of the founders of Herzl’s Archive. Kremenetzky was made honourary citizen of Vienna (1930), to mark his 80th birthday.
Kriss, Ernst (1900-1957)
Ernst Kris was an employee of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna when he met S. Freud who asked him for help on some subject (1924). After three years E. Kris became associate member of the Vienna Institute of Psychoanalysis. At that time he was still an art historian and wrote an important work on the history of stone-cutting (1929). On Freud’s request he stopped medical studies to resume the task of editor for the Journal Imago (1933). The same year he published his first important analytical work A Psychotic Sculptor of the Eighteenth Century. He wrote series of books aplying psychoanalysis to art. After the Anschluss (1938) E. Kris and his wife, also an psychoanalyst, left for England together with S. Freud. When the WWII started Kris established a government department for analysing the enemy broadcats and later he did the same in Canada and USA.
While in America his main interest wondered towards psychoanalysis, although he was still interested in art history. Kris was one of the first to conduct group research in psychoanalysis, and wrote many papers together with Heinz, Hartmann and Rudolph Loewenstein. His publications include Comments on formation of Psychic Structure (1946). He later integrated newer developments of psychoanalytical theory in his writings. Kris was in a team who formulated ideas underlying the interdisciplinary child study project at Yale University (1950).
Kuranda, Ignaz (1812-1884)
Ignaz Kuranda was born in Prague, where his family had a business of second hand books. He studied for a while at Aaron Kornfeld’s yeshivah in Gulcov Jenikov. He moved to Vienna (1834) where he started writing plays, of them was performed. He moved to Brussels, Belgium, after having lived in different German cities. He became a philo-German, and admired everything German. He founded the liberal German periodical Die Grenzboten (1841), in which he published his opinion about Austrian internal policy issues. He moved with the paper to Leipzig (1842), but still wrote on the same issues. He smuggled his periodical into Austria, to keep people there informed about the strength of Liberal forces in Germany and the rest of the world. Kuranda had good connections with Jewish Austrian writers who helped him, and were helped by him. After returning to Vienna in 1848, Kuranda was elected to the German National Assembly in Frankfurt, where he suffered from Czech nationalists anti-Semite activities. He failed in his efforts together with others to persuade the Czechs to participate in the assembly, and had to flee from the town. He returned to Vienna and founded the Ostdeutsche Post (which appeared until 1866.
After the failure of the 1848 revolution, Kuranda was kept under police supervision, and was acquited by a jury on anti-Semite issues (1860). This caused Kuranda to be very popular among East European Jews. He was elected to the Diet of Lower Austria in 1861, and remained in that position for twenty years. At the same time he devoted much time to internal Jewish affairs and was elected to the Board of the Jewish Community of Vienna, in 1860, and to its president in 1872. Kuranda tried to introduce liturgical reforms but nearly caused a crisis. He was vice-president of Israelitische Alianz, and a supporter of Jewish studies.
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Lamarr, Hedy (1913-2000)
Hedy Lamarr (Hedwig Kiesler) was born in on November 19, 1913 in Vienna , Austria. She was named, “Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. Her father was a Jewish banker. Cinema fascinated her and she dropped out of school as a teenager to go into acting. Her first role was in 1932 in the German Movie, Geld Auf Der Strase.” She was discovered by the renowned stage director Max Reinhardt, and gained international notoriety by appearing naked in the Czech film ‘Ecstasy’ (1933). In the clerical-rightist regime in Vienna, the film was a sensation and caused a scandal. The film was banned in Germany because Kiesler was Jewish and in the USA because of film censorship by the Hays Office. She made five films in Europe under the name Hedy or Hedwig Kiesler. Her reputation preceded her to London before she immigrated to Great Britain in 1937. A year later, she boarded the ocean liner ‘Normandie’ on her way to the USA. The renowned movie producer Louis B. Mayer saw her work and gave her a screen test. He gave her a contract for seven years and changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, in honor of the silent film star, Barbara La Marr. Soon afterwards, not yet 20 years old, she married Fritz Mandel thirty years her senior. He was a wealthy munitions manufacturer and a Nazi sympathizer. It was while married to him that Lamarr gained insight into munitions that was to be so important for her work during World War II.
Lamarr’s first Hollywood film was ‘Algiers’ (1938), in which she played with Charles Boyer. It brought her immediate stardom. Following this success she was cast with top leading actors like: Robert Taylor in ‘Lady Of The Tropics’ (1938), Spencer Tracy in ‘I Take This Woman’ (!940), Clark Gable in ‘Boom Town’ (1940), and ‘Comrade X’ (1940). In the 1940s she was among the stars of MGM and was thought the most beautiful and glamorous woman in Hollywood. Her performance opposite Robert Young in ‘H. M. Pulman Esq.’ (1941) was probably her best. During her Hollywood film career, Lamarr played in over 25 movies. Among the most notable were ‘Tortilla Flat’ (1942) and ‘White Cargo’ (1942). Her contract with MGM terminated with the comedy ‘Her Highness and the Bellboy’ (1945). Lamarr then formed her own production company to play a femme fatale in ‘The Strange Woman’ (1946) and in ‘Dishonored Lady’ (1947). Her popularity began to decline even after De Mille chose her as Victor Mature’s devious mate in ‘Samson and Delila’ (1949). She played in ‘Lady Without Passport’ (1950) and in Bob Hope’s ‘My Favorite Spy’ (1951).
About the beginning of World War II Lamarr became acquainted with a musician, George Anthiel. They discussed what they could do to aid the USA war effort and Lamarr, based on the knowledge she gained during her marriage to Mandel, knew that a torpedo that could be guided was more effective than the radio-controlled used by the USA. Between them, they came up with the idea of how to change frequencies using a player-piano roll developed by Anthiel. They offered their invention to the USA but it was never taken seriously. Lamarr, however, continued working for the war effort and raised money for bonds by selling kisses for $50,000.
Following her successes through the 1950s her movie career continued to suffer .Miss Lamarr’s somewhat stiff and unyielding personality did not match her beauty. She was temperamental and choosy about her roles. She turned down acting in Casablanca,’ ‘Gaslight’ and ‘Saratoga Trunk’. Her part as Joan of Arc in ‘The Story of Mankind’ (1957) was badly miscast. In ‘The Female Animal’ (1957), she virtually played herself as an aging movie star.
In the 1950’s the Sylvania Company came across Lamarr’s and Anthiel’s invention and used it during the Cuban Missile crisis. In 2000 Lamarr was given the Electronic Frontier Foundation award for their invention. Anthiel however, also honored, had died much earlier. One of Lamarr’s sons accepted the award for her. Lamarr had been married and divorced six times and had three children with her third husband, John Loder. She died, in retirement, in Florida on January 19, 2000
Landsteiner, Karl (1868-1943)
Hematologist, bacteriologist, Nobel Prize laureate, discoverer of the basic human blood groups
Karl Landsteiner was born in Vienna, where he studied medicine. From 1898 to 1908 he served as professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Vienna. Thereafter he taught pathology for ten years at the University’s Wilhelminenspital and then spent three years in Holland.
In 1922 he immigrated New York and became a member of the Rockefeller Institution for Medical Research where he worked for the rest of his life. His most important discovery (1911) is the Iso-Agglutination, which enabled him to define the four blood groups: A, B, AB, and O. For this revelation, setting the ground for transfusion of matching blood types from donor to recipient, he received the Nobel Prize in 1930. His second important discovery (together with Prof. Alexander S. Wiener) is the so-called Rhesus-Factor, which endangered many new-born babies by massive bleeding. This discovery saved numerous affected children by transfusion of negative Rhesus blood. In 1927, together with Philip Levine, Landsteiner described the M, N, and P factors in human blood. These hereditary factors were later used to determine cases of doubtful paternity. Landsteiner also introduced darkfield illumination for demonstrating spirochetes in syphilitic lesions and discovered that the Rhesus monkey could be infected by the poliomyelitis virus. This finding was the basis for the later development of the Salk vaccine. Landsteiner’s book The Specificity of Serological Reaction (1936) has become a classic.
Landsteiner converted to the Catholic Church and died in New York, in 1943.
Lang, Edward (1841-1916)
Edward Lang was born in Klacsan, Hungary, (now Jesenove in Slovakia). From 1886 Lang was professor of dermatology and venereology at the University of Vienna. In 1898 he established healing stations of lupus. He wrote about the operative and physical treatment of lupus and about skin cancer and its relationship to lupus and to psoriasis. He also wrote about syphylitic diseases of the central nerve system, and published a textbook of venereal diseases. Professor Lang was the first to introduce oleum cinereum into therapy.
Langer, Ruth (1921-1999)
Ruth Langer was born in Vienna. She started her swimming career at the age of eleven with the Hakoah Vienna Jewish sports club and at the age of 14 she already became a celebrity following her breaking of the Austrian records for the 100-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle. Having been selected to the Austrian national team for the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, she decided not to compete and thus to express her protest at the anti-Jewish persecutions in Nazi Germany. As a result, the Austrian sports authorities decided to sanction her by banning her from participating in sports competitions.
After the Anscluss, Langer fled to Italy crossing the border with false documents. She eventually was permitted to enter Great Britain, where she continued her swimming achievements by setting a British record for swimming the 5 mile event on the River Thames from Kew to Putney Bridge. As an “enemy national”, she was sent to Bath at the outbreak of WW2, but later returned to London where she married John Lawrence and spent the rest of her life. In 1995, the Austrian Swimming Federation decided to restore all her titles along with apologies for the discrimation she suffered during the 1930s.
Lehmann, Lotte (1888-1976)
Lotte Lehmann was born in Perlenberg near Hamburg, Germany. She studied singing and her first role was at the Hamburg Opera in 1910. She later left to Vienna were she became a member of the Wiener Staatsoper (then Hofoper) in 1916. She remained in Vienna for 23 years. Lotte Lehmann sang in the role of Forbersfrau at the world premiere of Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss. From 1922 on she went on music tours through Europe and the USA gaining international fame. Lotte Lehman performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1934 and 1935, and at the Salzburg Festival from 1928 to 1935, where she sang under the conductor A. Toscanini. After rhe rise of the Nazi regime in Germany, she was ordered to sing only in her native country- Germany. After her refusal she left Germany while on tour in Austria.
Following the Anschluss (1938), she left Austria and the Vienna Opera and immigrated to the USA. She performed in operas until 1946, and sang in recitals until 1951, when she gave her farewell performance at the New York Town Hall. She taught at Masterclasses for singing until her 73 rd birthday (1961), and a year later she directed the Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss at the Metropolitan Opera, her last performance.
Lessing, Erich (1923-)
Erich Lessing was born in Vienna, son of a dentist and a concert pianist. In 1939, because of the Nazi regime, he emigrated to Palestine. His mother remained in Vienna and died in Auschwitz. Lessing worked in several kibbutzim as a kindergarten photographer. During World War II, he was a photographer with the British Army.
In 1947, two years after the end of World War II, he returned to Austria. He worked as a photographer for the Associated Press and in 1951 joined Magnum Photos, a photographer’s cooperative with offices in both Paris and New York. He worked primarily for LIFE, Picture Post, Paris Match and Quick Magazine. Lessing covered political events in Europe, particularly in the former Communist countries. In the early 1960s he endeavored to bring historical personalities and epochs alive through photography. These included the lives and times of great musicians, poets and physicians. Discoverers of the Universe is a selection from his photographs of astronomers. Erich Lessing published more than 40 books, including such classics as a history of Austria – Imago Austriae.
Lessing has taught photography in Arles, at the Venice Biennale and at the Salzburg Oskar Kokoschka Summer School. After 1976 he was employed as an instructor at the school of photography at the Academy of Applied Arts in his native city, Vienna. An important archive of photography, The Eric Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archive, has been established in Vienna.
Loebel (Lobl), Kurt (1921-)
Kurt Loebel was born as Kurt Loebl in Vienna, where he attended the Volkskonservatorium, and then studied violin at the Akademie fuer Musik of Vienna with Ernst Morawetz, from 1935 to 1938. During his studies he performed along with George Kreisler. Following the Anschluss, Loebel immigrated to the USA in 1939, where he has since resided.
As a young immigrant he took various jobs like telegram delivery boy, door-to-door salesman and temporary worker at Columbia Records. He got a scholarship at Juliard School of Music in New York in 1941. Loebel started his career with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and then he was first violin with the Cleveland Orchestra for fifty years (1947-1997), and first violonist with Symphonia Quartet.
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Machlup, Fritz (1902-1983)
Fritz Machlup was born in Wiener Neustadt, he became a partner in a paper manufacturing business. He left for the US in 1933 and was a research fellow at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. From 1935 he was professor of economics at the university of Buffalo, from 1947 professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, and from 1960 professor of economics and international finance at Princeton University. One of his main interests was the expansion of international liquidity. Machlup was president of the American Association of University Professors, 1962-64 and the American Economic Association, 1966. He published many works on economic subjects.
Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911)
Gustav Mahler was born in Kaliste (Kalischt, in German), Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), son of an Austrian-Jewish tavern keeper. He spent his childhood and youth in the town of Jihlava (Iglau, in German) (now in the Czech Republic), where his family moved soon after his birth. His musical talent became evident already at the age of four when Mahler started to compose piano pieces. He made his debut as a pianist at the age of ten in Jihlava, and consequently was accepted to the Vienna Conservatory at the age of fifteen. After graduation, he started a career of conductor with various provincial orchestras and opera houses, then in Hamburg, Germany, and in 1888 he was appointed director of the Budapest opera. Mahler eventually became artistic director of the Vienna Court Opera at the age of 37, having converted to Catholicism. He was widely acclaimed as a conductor, but his compositions were less welcome by the public of his time. In 1907, Mahler resigned from his position with the Vienna opera and traveled to the USA, where he was engaged as chief director at the Metropolitan Opera House and at the Philharmonic Society of New York. His failing health compelled him to come back to Europe, first to Paris, where he received medical treatment, and then he returned to Austria, staying for some time in the countryside where he composed his last works. Mahler died in Vienna at the age of 50.
Although Mahler spent most of his career as an opera conductor, his compositions are symphonic, including 40 lieder that are considered by most critics to be rather short symphonic movements. His musical output includes 10 symphonies: Symphony No 1 – “The Titan”, (1888), Symphony No 2 – “The Resurrection” (1894), Symphony No 3 (1896), Symphony No 4 – “Ode to Heavenly Joy” (1900), Symphony No. 5 – “The Giant” (1902), Symphony No. 6 – “The Tragic Symphony” (1906), Symphony No. 7 – “Song of the Night” (1905), Symphony No. 8 – “Symphony of a Thousand” (1908), Symphony No. 9 (1910), Symphony No. 10 – unfinished. Mahler is also renowned for his cycles of songs with orchestra of them the best known are Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (“Songs of a Wayfarer”) (1884), Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Youth’s Magic Horn”) (1899), Kindertotenlieder (“Songs on the Deaths of Children”) (1901-1904), and Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth”) (1908).
Mannheimer, Isaac Noah (1793-1865)
Isaac Noah Mannheimer was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied at the Copenhagen University and, concurrently, concentrated on Jewish studies. The Danish government appointed him head teacher of religion after he introduced the reform in Jewish religion instruction (1816). His main work was preparing and examining students for confirmation. The first ceremony was held in presence of high officials of the government and accompanied with organ music (1817). He gave lectures and preached in the Danish language. Between 1821 and 1823, he worked in different towns where he helped to establish reform rituals. In 1824, he left Copenhagen for Vienna where he officiated at the new Seitenstetten Synagogue. The religious school council named him as headmaster. Mannheimer was known as one of the leading preachers of the 19th century, attracting many segments of the Jewish population. This was especially important since Jews could not live as a community at that time. In his sermons, which were inspirational more than teaching, he used the aggadah but translated it in modern terms. In later years, Mannheimer found a middle course between the orthodox way and the radical reform of conducting services, by eliminating some traditions without destroying their essence. The prayers were conducted in Hebrew. Organ music was not used and the prayers of Zion and Jerusalem were retained. He defended circumcision as a basic ritual of the Jewish religion. His new way was called “worship according to Mannheimer”. This prevented a split in the Jewish community in Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. Mannheimer was also active in Jewish social community and with others achieved the abolishment of the “more Judaico” oath. He prevented the limitation of the number of Jewish medical students, proposed by Professor Rosas (1842). In 1848 he published a Declaration on the Jewish Problem and sent a draft law to the political commission. He was elected to the Reichstag, where, with others, succeeded in removal of the “Jewish Tax”. He pleaded for abolishing the death penalty and was active in Liberal ideas. This brought him into a clash with the Jewish Viennese community and forced him to resign from political life. He opposed demanding emancipation by the Jews and thought that it should come from the non-Jews. Mannheimer was active in literary work and wrote German translations to the prayer book and festival prayers. A number of his sermons have been published.
Mattersdorf, Yirmiyahu (-1805)
Yirmiyahu Mattersdorf was born in Oswiecim (now in Poland). Originally he was called Rosenbaum, but took the name Mattersdorf when serving as rabbi to that community (1770-1801). He spent his final years as rabbi of Abaujszanto, in Hungary. He was a noted authority on religious law and was approached for his decisions by rabbis and communities from much of eastern Europe. In Matterdorf he headed a famous yeshiva; one of his students was Aaron Chorin, who was to become a pioneer of Reform in Hungary
Mautner, Ludwig (1840-1894)
Ophthalmologist
Ludwig Mautner was born in Prague. In 1890 he became the head of the Eye Department at the Viennese General Hospital and in 1894 was appointed manager of the Eye Clinic of Vienna. Unfortunately, in the same year, he passed away.
Dr. Mautner was the most important eye doctor in Vienna of his time, especially in the fields of ophthalmoscopy, the study of refraction and eye-muscles paralysis. He was also an outstanding surgen. He introduced sclerotomy in the treatment of glaucoma. Dr. Mautner’s textbook of ophthalmoscopy appeared in 1868, and his lectures about the optic failure of the eye were compiled and published in a book (1872-1876); his Farbenlehre (“Study of Colors”) was published in 1894, after his death. The Mautnerische Membran is named after him.
Meisl, Hugo (1881-1937)
Manager of the Austrian national soccer team
Hugo Meisl was born in Maleschau, Bohemia (now Malesov, Czech Republic), into a wealthy family. He moved with his family to Vienna in 1893, where he attended a commercial school and eventually started his business career as a clerk with the Laenderbank. Nevertheless, Meisl decided to abandon what was supposed to be a promising financial career and dedicated himself to soccer. He started playing soccer already during the childhood, and later he became a referee and journalist.
However, his achievements were linked to his position in the leadership of the Austrian Soccer Federation from 1912 to 1937, and especially during the 1920s and 1939s, when he was its General Secretary. Hugo Meisl was the founder of Mitropa Cup in 1927, the first international club competition. As manager of the Austrian national soccer team – the Wunderteam, he led Austria to a long series of victories against leading soccer teams that included an impressive appearance in the 1934 World Championship, when it was stopped in the semi-finals by Italy, that competition’s champions. In total Hugo Meisl coached the Austrian national soccer team for 155 international matches, including 78 victories.
Meitner, Lise (1878-1968)
Lise Meitner was born in Vienna. At the age of thirty nine, already a known physicist, she moved to Berlin to conduct researches into radioactive substances with the famous chemist Otto Hahn. She became professor at the University of Berlin in 1926, one of the first women to reach that status. She stayed there for more than 20 years and served as the head of the physics department.
After the Anschluss (1938), she left for Sweden, where she joined the Nobel Institute in Stockholm. She remained in contact with Otto Hahn and received a letter from him describing the discovery (jointly with Fritz Strassmann), that when an uranium atom was disintegrated by a neutron, an atom of barium was thereby produced. Meitner discussed this discovery with her nephew Otto Frisch, who worked with Niels Bohr in Denmark. They understood the importance of the discovery, that during the process of splitting an atom of uranium into two roughly equal parts there is also a release of a great quantity of energy. Frisch called this procedure “fission”. Lise Meitner visited the USA in 1945, but returned to Sweden where she became a citizen in 1949. After she retired she left to Cambridge, England where she died.
Mises, Ludwig Heinrich (1881-1973)
Ludwig Heinrich von Mises was born in Lemberg (now Lviv, in the Ukraine), where his father was a railway engineer. Ludwig Mises studied and later taught economics at the University of Vienna (1913-1938). He was known for his work on monetary issues. Ludwig Mises opposed central planning and governmental intervention in economics, being a true representative of the Austrian economic school of thought. His public functions as consultant of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and founding the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research (1926) took place during the same period. In 1934 he left Austria and settled in Geneva where he was a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies until 1940. Ludwig von Mises left Europe for the USA, where he taught in New York, from 1940. Together with other economists he founded the Mont Pelerin Society, an international association of free market economists and sociologists. Mises’ works include: Human Action, Socialism, Liberalism, The Theory of Money and Credit, Bureaucracy, and The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality.
Mises, Richard Martin (1883-1953)
Richard Martin edler von Mises(1883-1953) was born in Lemberg, Galicia (now Lvov, in the Ukraine). Mises was brought up Jewish and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1930. From 1901 to 1906 Mises attended the Technologische Hochschule in Vienna. In 1907 he became doctor of philosophy, and in 1908 was appointed as lecturer at the Deutsche Hochschule in Bruenn, Moravia (now Brno, in the Czech Republic). From 1909 to 1918 Mises was associate professor at the University of Strasbourg, France (then in Germany). Concurrently, in 1913 he gave the first university course on mechanics of powered flight. During World War I he served as flight officer in the Austrian-Hungarian Army. He organized the Austrian Airforce and built 600 h.p. airplanes. After the War, in 1919, Mises was employed as full professor at the T.H. in Dresden, Germany. From 1920 to 1933 he was professor at the University of Berlin and director of Institute fuer Angewandte Mathematic. In 1920 he founded the Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Mathematic und Mechanik, and was its editor until 1933. In addition, Mises was an active member of the ‘Vienna Circle’ and a member of the Prussisch Akademie der Wissenschaft.
In 1933 Mises moved to Turkey and was full professor of pure and applicable mathematics at the University of Istanbul.
In 1939 R. M. Mises immigrated to the US. From 1939 to 1953 he was member of faculty at Harvard University, and in 1939 he was appointed professor of mathematics. From 1944 he was professor of aerodynamics and applicable mathematics at Gordon Mackay. In 1953 he became professor emeritus.
Concurrently 1940-1943 he lectured at M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); during 1948-1953 he was co-editor of Advances in Applicable Mechanics; worked as a civilian with US Army, US Navy and National Advisory Committee Aeronautics.
Mises was an authority on powered flight, doing research in aerodynamics, aeronautics, and also related fields of probability and statistics. He also did scholarly work in philosophy and literature. Mises was fellow of Institute Aeronautical Society; Institute of Mathematics and Statistics; of A.S.M.E. (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
He received: Honorary Dr. from Universite Libre Bruexelles (1934); Technische Hochschulle of Vienna (1951); University of Istanbul (1952), and M.A. honoris causa from Harvard University (1946).
Mises’ main publications include Elemente der Technischen Hydromechanick (Leipzig, Berlin, 1914); Fluglehre (Berlin, Vienna, 1918). He was co-editor of Die Differential und Integralgleichungen der Mechanik und Physic (Braunschweig, 1925-27, 2nd ed: 1930- 1935, New York, 1943; Braunschweig, New York, 1961); Wahrscheinlichkeit, Statistik und Wahrheit (Vienna, 1928; 2nd ed. 1936; trans. London, New York, 1939). His Vorlesungen aus dem Gebiet der angewandten Mathematik appeared in Leipzig and Vienna in 1931; and in New York, in 1945; Kleines Lehrbuch des Positivismus was published in The Haag and Chicago in 1939; Cambridge, U.K, 1951; Fluid Dynamics (Providence, R.I, 1942; New York, 1971); Theory of Flight (New York, 1945).
His writings on other subjects include Briefe an Baronesse von O by Rainer Maria Rilke (New York, 1946); Briefe, Verse und Prosa aus dem Jahre 1896 (New York, 1946); Rilke in English, a Tentative Bibliography (Cambridge, Maas, 1946, 1947); Positivism: A Study in Human Understanding (Cambridge, Mass, New York, 1951; New York 1956). R. M. Mises also contributed a number of articles to professional journals.
Morgenstern, Oskar (1902-1977)
Oskar Morgenstern was born in Gorlitz, Germany. He taught at the University of Vienna from 1928 to 1938 and directed the Austrian Institute of Business Cycle Research from 1931 to 1938. When the Germans took over Austria in 1938 he moved to the United States, taught at Princeton University (full professor 1944), and from 1948 directed its econometric research program. From 1955 to 1957, he was advisor to the US Atomic Energy Commission and in 1959-1960 was White House advisor on atomic energy matters. Morgenstern published many books, his main fields of expertise being econometrics and business cycles.
Mueller, Ernst (1880-c.1947)
Born in Miroslav (now in the Czech Republic), he taught in Jaffa, Israel, at the Kiryat Sefer agricultural school from 1907 to 1909 and from 1911 worked in the Jewish communal library in Vienna, Austria. When the Nazis closed the library in 1938, he migrated to England. His main scholarly was on Jewish mysticism including a book on the Zohar, a translation of sections of the Zohar into German and History of Jewish Mysticism, which appeared in London in 1946 (translated from the German by Maurice Simon). Mueller translated into German works by Abraham Ibn Ezra and Bialik and prepared a stage version of Plato’s Symposium.
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Natzler nee Amon, Gertrud (1908-1971)
Ceramic artist
Gertrud Amon was born in Vienna. In 1937, Gertrud won the Silver Medal at the Exposition Internationale in Paris, along with Otto Natzler, whom she married the same year. In 1938, following the Anschluss, Gertrud and Otto Natzler immigrated to the USA. At first they settled in Los Angeles. They opened a ceramic workshop in Santa Susanna (?), California.
Gertrud Natzler held a number of exhibitions in the US and abroad, including at the Fine Art Gallery in San Diego, California, in 1940 and 1942; at San Francisco Art Museum, in 1943 and 1963; at Los Angeles County Museum, in 1944 and 1966; at the Art Institute, Chicago, in 1946 and 1963 and at the Jewish Museum, New York, in 1958. Gertrud Natzler also exhibited at the Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, in 1959 and in Haifa; at Kunstgewerbemus, Zurich, and at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Gertrud Natzler won many regional, national and international prizes for ceramics, including 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1956 purchase prizes at National Ceramic Exhibition, Syracuse Museum of Art, New York. In 1948, 1949, and 1951, she won first prizes at Los Angeles County Fair; 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957 at the California State Fair. In 1962 she won the Silver Medal at the International Ceramic Exhibition, Prague. In 1966 there was an extensive retrospective exhibition of works of both Gertrud and Otto Natzler at the Los Angeles County Museum. In 1968 the Natzlers were subject of the documentary film: The ceramic Art of the Natzlers produced by the Los Angeles County Museum, (received Christopher award), and of the book about Natzler ceramics by Otto Natzler.
The works of art of Gertrud and Otto Natzler are on display in permanent collections of a number of American and European museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, and the Kunstgewerbemus, Zurich.
Neuberger, Max (1868-1955)
Max Neuberger was born and educated in Vienna. He worked as a physician at the Rudolf Spital, and at the Allgemeine Krankhaus. At first he dealt with neurology, and brain and spinal physiology. In 1898 he went to teach at the University of Vienna, where he devoted himself more and more to medical history. In 1904 he was appointed as professor of history of medicine. He developed his department into a proper institute for the study of medical history, in which he also built up a library and a museum. His lectures were sought after not only by European and American scholars but also by those from India, China and Japan.
From 1901 through 1913 he collaborated with J. Page on a revised and enlarged edition of the History of Medicine by his mentor, Theodore Puschmann. It appeared in three volumes, under the title Handbuch der Geschichte der Medizin (1902-1905,) a comprehensive account of medical history. At the same time he wrote Geschichte de Medizin (Vol. I 1906; Vol II 1911; English translation 1910-1925), which served at the time as the most authoritative textbook of the ancient and medieval period. It also aroused much interest in its treatment of Arabic and Jewish medicine. He wrote especially about the development of medicine in Austria (1918), about the old medical Vienna (1921), and about the Viennese medical school in Vormartz. His other works include Die Medizin in Flavius Josephus (1919), a biography of Hermann Nothnagel, author of Leben und Wirken (1922). In 1926, he published Die Lehre von der Heilkraft der Nature im Wandel der Zeiten (The Healing Power of Nature in the Course of Time).
In 1928, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, he was presented with a commemorative publication Festschrift zur Feier seines 60. Geburtstages, which was published in his name by his colleagues, friends and disciples, with articles in nearly all European languages.
Neuberger showed an interest in Jewish aspects of medicine writing in his Die ersten an der Wiener medizinischen Fakultaet promovierten Aerzte Juedischen Stammes (1918). In 1936 he wrote an article on Jewish Doctors at the International Congress for the History of Medicine in Jerusalem, which was published as Die Stellung der Juedischen Aerzte in der Gescichte in der medizinischen Wissenschaften (1936). In the same year appeared his Gomez Pereira, ein spanischer Arzt des 16. Jahrhunderts.
Neuberger was a member of a number of academic societies in Europe and in America. He was awarded with honor and decorations from many institutions. Neuberger fled from the Nazis in 1938, settling in England, where he worked in The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum (1938-1948). In Britain he continued his research. In his British Medicine and the Vienna School (1943), he showed the mutual influence of the two countries in the field of medicine during the 18th and 19th centuries. He also wrote about British and German Psychiatry in the Second Half of the Early Ninteenth Century (1945).
In 1948, on his retirement, Neuberger was presented with a Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstage in his honor (containing a bibliography).
Following his retirement he moved the US, where he lived until 1952. His last years were spent in his native Vienna where he died.
Neumann, Henrik (1873-1939)
Physician, otolog
Henrik Neumann von Hethars was born in Hethars, Hungary (now Lipany, Slovakia). In his early years he worked together with Barany and Alexander at the Politzer Clinic, Vienna. From 1912 he headed the ear department at the Unversity Clinic of Vienna and held the title of professor of otology. He was the most famous otologist of his time. Professor Henrik Neumann trained many physicians from all over the world, mainly from the USA. His method of surgery to open the labyrinth was generally employed.
Professr Neumann’s works Die Kraniotomie ohne Narkose (1909) and Der otitische Kleinhirnabszess were especially apprciated. He was one of the most decorated physicians in the world. In 1938, following the annexation of Austria by Germany, H. Neumann fled to Great Britain. In 1939 he immigrated to the USA and died there in the same year.
Neumann, Isidor (1832-1906)
Physician, dermatologist
Isidor Neumann, Edel von Heilwart, (Knight of Hochwart), was born in Misslitz, Moravia (now Miroslav, in the Czech Republic). In 1875 he became associate professor and in 1893 full professor of dermatology and syphilology at the University of Vienna. He published several treatises on skin diseases: Lehrbuch der Hautkrankheiten (5th ed., 1880), which has been translated into many languages; Atlas der Hautkrankheiten (2nd ed., 1895); Die Syphilis (appeared in Nothnagel’s Spezielle Pathologie und Therapie, 2nd ed., 1899).
Skin and venereal diseases, the two subjects that he helped to bound together, were accepted as such in the learning plan for the University. Neumann worked on the histology of skin diseases stressing its connection with the clinic aspects of those diseases. He was an expert in a number of skin diseases, such as Pemphigus Vegetans and the Dermatitis Circumscripta Herpetiformis. As a teacher he was a brilliant lecturer and as a physician an excellent diagnostician, who won international fame. Neumann was the director of the Vienna Clinic for Dermatology and Syphilis. Isidor Neumann died in Voeslau, near Vienna in 1906.
Neumann, Paul (1875-1932)
Swimmer, Olympic champion
Paul Neumann was born in Vienna, the son of a renowed physician. He achieved his first sportive victory by winning Austria’s National River Swimming Championship in 1892.
Neumann was a member of the Austrian Olympic swimming team at the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. He won the gold medal in the 500 meter free style competition, one of the only two Austrians to win a medal at those games.
He immigrated to the USA where he became a member of the sport team of the medical school of the University of Chicago. He continued his sportive career in the USA as a member of Chicago Athletic Association setting world records in the Two, Three, Four, and Five-Mile swimming events in 1897 and winning both the American and Canadian National Freestyle Swimming Championships. In 1897 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the water polo team.
Neumann-Viertel, Elisabeth (1900-1994)
Elisabeth Neumann was born in Vienna, where she graduated the high in 1917 and then studied acting privately from 1917 to 1919. In 1919 she got a contract at the Kammerspiele in Munich, Germnay. In the following years she was a renowned character actress at various Berlin theaters, including those of Max Reinhardt, Leopold Jessner and Victor Barnowsky. In 1934 Elisabeth Neumann returned to Vienna, where she acted at the literary and political satirical cabaret Literatur am Naschmarkt, from 1935 to 1937.
In 1938 Elisabeth Neumann immigrated along with her parents to the UK. After six months, following the Home Office’s denial to grant them work permit, the family immigrated to the USA. At first they were supported by a Jewish relief organization. During 1939-1940 Elisabeth appeared in Victor Gruen’s antifascist revue theater, the Refugee Artists Group in New York. She also participated in German language broadcasts of Aufbau, New York (1941-1942 Aufbau- Radio-Stunde, !942- We fight back), and until 1945 in productions of the Tribuene fuer freie deutsche Literatur und Kunst in Amerika, New York. Later she performed in Fekix G. Gerstan’s and Gert von Gontard’s German language theater The Players from Abroad in New York. Thereafter Elisabeth Neumann acted on Broadway and in movies in Hollywood.
In 1949 Elisabeth Neumann returned to her native Austria, and appeared in various theaters in Vienna, later also in West Berlin. In 1955 she did some film work in Munich, Germany.
Elisabeth’s first husband was Siegfried Bernfeld, she then married Berthold Viertel in 1949.
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Oberlander, Fred (1911-1996)
Fred Oberlander was born in Vienna. He started his career in 1930 at the Hakoah Vienna Jewish sports club and already in 1935 he won the gold medal at the European Championships. In the same year he participated in the World Championships, where he was listed as “stateless”, thus enabling him to compete against a wrestler representing the team of Nazi Germany. Having been selected to the Austrian National team to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, he refused to participate in protest to the anti-Jewish persecutions in Nazi Germany.
Fred Oberland immigrated to Great Britain before WW2, where he continued his career. He was the captain of the English wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Over a career of twenty years, from 1930 to 1950, he won two Austrian junior titles, five French heavyweight titles, seven British heavy weight titles, and one Canadian heavyweight title. Following his immigration to Canada in late 1940s, Fred Oberland became active in the Jewish sports organizations in that country. He was the captain and flag bearer of the Canadian team at the 1950 Maccabiah Games, and at the 1953 Maccabiah Games he won the gold medal in the heavy weight competition. Fred Oberland was designated Outstanding Jewish World Athlete in 1954, an award grated to him by the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. He was a member of the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association and in 1974 was named to the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame. A section of Pierre Gildesgame Maccabiah Sport Museum in Israel is named in honor of Fred Oberlander.
Oesterreicher, Manes Joseph (1756-1832)
Joseph Manes Oesterreicher was born in Ofen (Obuda) in Hungary. J. M. Oesterreicher was the first Jew in Hungary to receive the degree of M.D. in 1781, having been accepted to the medical school of the University of Buda at the intervention of Emperor Joseph II, as Jews were not allowed to attend medical schools at the time. His thesis analyzed the mineral springs of Buda.
Dr. Oesterreicher served as physician in the hospital of Obuda. Subsequently, he became chief physician of Zala county, and by order of the emperor, chief physician of Balatonfuered (Platensee-Baden), in Hungary. Due to his efforts Balatonfuered became a popular spa, where a memorial plaque has since been erected in his honor. Dr. Oesterreicher also created a fundation for soldiers at Balatonfuered. He published a work describing the springs of Balatonfuered, as well as a book (in Hungarian) on the sodium sulfate he found in Hungary.
From 1803 to 1832, Dr. Oesterreicher lived in Vienna, where he practiced as a much sought after physician. In 1810 he invented several chemical processes that enabled the examination of food quality. For this discovery he received a golden case from Emperor Franz, handed to him personally by the emperor, and his discovery of producing artificial sulfate of sodium he was awarded with a gold medal. Dr. Oesterreicher also found a method to produce bicarbonate of soda.
Dr. Oesterreicher was named imperial and royal chamber physician and was permitted to work at the Institute of Medical Technology at Vienna. He died in Vienna in 1832.
Offner, Julius (1845-1924)
Julius Offner was born in Horshenz, Bohemia into an orthodox Jewish family He received his Jewish education from his father which was later a major factor in his ethical and legal thinking and writing.
Offner developed an interest in politics while practicing law and was elected member of the House of Representatives (1901). There he worked with others for changes (three additions) in the civil code (1914-1916). Offner was active with Emil Steinbach in making fundamental changes in legislation and judicial practice, during the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.
Offner was also active in introducing many social and economic new bills in the Austrian Parliament. His work in developing legislation, prompted his colleagues to refer to Offner as the “Conscience of the Parliament”. Among the laws he initiated one was called after his name “Lex Offner” (1914). This law dealt with the amounts on which was based the classification of crimes against property. Offner attempted to abolish the old marriage law, which gave advantage to the Catholic majority. His Jewish origin brought him enemies both from the Jews who were afraid of anti-Semitism, and from non-Jews who accused him of intervention in religious matters.
Offner was unsuccessful in the election of 1919, and was replaced by another Jew and Zionist candidate, Robert Sticker. Julius Offner was active in the Senate and the new Federal Constitutional Court until his death in 1924.
Oppenheim, Maurice (1876-1949)
Maurice Oppenheim was born in Vienna, a descendent of the court factor, Samuel Oppenheimer. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Vienna in 1899 and after being assistant professor he became full professor in 1915. During World War I he served in the Austrian-Hungarian army as a surgeon major. From 1927 on he was acting professor of dermatology and siphilology at the University of Vienna. He was also head of the department of skin and venereal diseases of the Wilhelminen Hospital (1918-1938).
In 1939, after the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, Oppenheim immigrated to the United States, where he became full-time professor and head of the dermatological department of Chicago Medical School. Oppenheim was a member of many dermatological societies and he received several gold medals and distinctions for his research on occupational disorders of the skin. A major part of his publications dealt with skin diseases which derived from vocational or circumstantial causes, including Die Schaadigungen der Haut durch Beruf und Arbeit (3 volumes; Ullmann and Pille, co-authors; 1922); Die Schaadigungen der Haut durch Beruf, Sport, Jahreszeiten, Kosmetik und erste Hilfe bei ploetzlichen Hautschaadigungen (1937). Maurice Oppenheim died in Chicago, USA, in 1949.
Oser, Leopold (1839-1910)
Leopold Oser was born in Mikulov (then Nikolsburg), Moravia, (now in the Czech Republic). In 1872 he became a lecturer in internal medicine at the University of Vienna and in 1885 was appointed assistant professor at the same faculty.
Oser wrote about stomach diseases for Eulenburg’s Enzyclopaedie der gesammten Heilkunde and about pancreas diseases in Professor Nothnagel’s Handbuch. He also researched and published articles about intestinal syphilis, intestinal stenosis and about the enlargement of the stomach. For many years Leopold Oser was chief of the general dispensary and physician at the Rothschild Hospital in Vienna.
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Pappenheim, Bertha (1859-1936)
Bertha Pappenheim was born in Vienna. Following her father’s death, she suffered from a psychosomatic paralysis, which was treated by the psychoanalyst Joseph Breuer. Sigmund Freud described her case in one of his most celebrated studies, in which she is identified as ‘Anna O’, and regarded her case as a major breakthrough in psychoanalysis.
In 1888 she arrived as a healthy young woman in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where her mother lived. Becoming involved in social work, her passion for social justice was aroused and she founded a national federation for Jewish women, the Juedischer Frauenbund, affiliated to the German women’s movement.
Pappenheim headed an orphanage for Jewish girls and founded a home for disturbed Jewish girls and unwed mothers. She fought the white slave trade and the selling of Jewish girls into prostitution. She traveled throughout Europe propagating her views.
Pappenheim translated into German the memoirs of her ancestor, Glueckel of Hameln.
Pauli, Wolfgang (1900-1958)
Nuclear physicist
Wolfgang Pauli was born in Vienna, son of Wolfgang Josef Pauli, a renown professor of physics. He received his basic education in Vienna and continued his academic studies in Munich, where he was tutored by Arnold Sommerfeld. After receiving his doctor’s degree in 1921, Pauli spent a year at the University of Goettingen, Germany, and an other year with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. From 1923 to 1928 he was lecturer at the University of Hamburg, Germany. In 1928 he moved to Zurich, Switzerland, where he was appointed as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Federal Institute of Technology.
In 1935-1936 Wolfgang Pauli was visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, where in 1940 he was elected to the chair of theoretical physics. He was visiting Professor also at the University of Michigan (1931 and 1941), and Purdue University (1942).
At the end of World War II (1945), Professor Pauli returned to Zurich. Pauli was the first to recognize the existence of the neutrino, an uncharged and massless particle, which carries off energy in radioactive B-disintegration. His exclusion principle crystallized the existing knowledge of atomic structure, which led to the recognition of the two-valued variable to characterize the state of an electron. Pauli helped to lay the foundations of the quantum theory of fields and consolidated field theory by giving proof of the relationship between spin and “statistics” of elementary particles.
Pauli has written many articles on problems of theoretical physics in scientific journals in various countries. His Theory of Relativity appeared in the Enzyklopaedie der Mathematischen Wissenschaften, Vol. 5, Part 2 (1920), his Quantum Theory in Handbuch der Physik, Vol. 23 (1926), and his Principles of Wave Mechanics in Handbuch der Physik, Vol. 24 (1933). W. Pauli was a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London and a member of the Swiss Physical Society, the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was awarded the Lorenz Medal in 1930.
In 1945 Professor Wolfgang Pauli became a Nobel Prize Laureate of Physics. He died in Zurich in 1958.
Penisch, Enoch (-)
Art dealer
Enoch Penish was born in Austria, probably during the later part of the 16th century. He was well established as a trader in art objects. Both Ferdinand III and Leopold I appointed Penish as Court Jew. In 1639, the Emperor purchased from him a golden chain, a golden necklace studded with diamonds and a diamond-studded plume of feathers. Penisch also served as stampcutter (stempelschneider) at the Breslauer Muenze (the mint of Breslau).
Perez Chajes, Hirsch (Zevi) (1876 -1927)
Grandson of Zevi Hirsch Chajes a well known rabbinic scholar, and nephew of Isaac Chajes, rabbi of Brody, Galicia (now in the Ukraine). Perez Chajes was born in Brody where he received education from his father and uncle both in Jewish studies (Talmud) as well as in general studies. At a later age he studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Vienna and at the University of Vienna. He was teacher of religion in Lemberg (now Lviv, in the Ukraine), teacher of Jewish history and Bible at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Florence, Italy; teacher of Hebrew at the University of Florence (1904), rabbi of Trieste (1912), where he founded a Jewish periodical and was his only contributor. During his activity in Italy, Perez Chajes was the champion of the Italian Zionist movement and contributed in writing to the Zionist ideas (he was a favourite of the movement from his youth).
In 1918 he returned to Vienna where he became Deputy Chief Rabbi, and shortly thereafter Chief Rabbi of Vienna. This post he held for nine years till his death (1927). Rabbi Perez Chajes was the foremost spiritual leader in Jewish Austria. In his work with the Jewish Community he helped the Jews who suffered during WWI, both in Trieste and in Vienna and continued to do so during the depression years after the WW1. He was very interested in Jewish education and founded two Jewish elementary schools and one high school (which was named after him following his death). He was also involved in other projects and also taught Biblical Studies at the Hebrew Paedagogium. As a Zionist leader Perez Chajes attended the San Remo Peace Conference (1920), where he was elected chairman of the Actions Committee(1921-1925).
His Zionist views were not accepted by the wealthy assimilationists, and his liberal and Zionist attitude towards religion were not accepted by the Orthodox Jews. However, his ideas were very much accepted by the youth. Perez Chajes was very charismatic and an exellent orator.
Pick, Alois (1859-1945)
Alois Pick was born in Karolinenthal (Karlin), near Prague (now in the Czech Republic), and studied medicine in Prague and Vienna, grraduating in 1883. After 1887, he served as army surgeon, and was chief physician at the military hospital. He also presided over the Military Sanitary Committee. In 1891, Dr. A. Pick became head of the ward for stomach and intestinal diseases in the Vienna General Hospital.
During World War I he was attached to the general staff, became General in the army medical corps, the highest rank attainable for military physicians. During his service in Herzegovina he was the first to describe a form of Pappataci fever and later to research the disease.
In 1918, Dr. A. Pick was appointed lecturer and professor at the University of Vienna. He wrote books and numerous articles on internal medicine, among them Vorlesungen ueber Magen und Darmkrankheiten (1895-1897), and he was co-author with Adolf Hecht of Klinische Semiotik (1908). His works were translated into English and Russian. Dr. A. Pick also wrote poetry and plays.
From 1920 to 1932, Prof. A. Pick was President of the Jewish community of Vienna. He was assisted by two vice-presidents; one from the non-nationalist and the other of the Zionist groups.
Pick, Ernst Peter (1872-1960)
Ernst Peter Pick was born in Jaromer, Bohemia, (now in the Czech Republic) E. P. Pick was a student of the renowned professor Mayer. In 1917 he became assistant professor and in 1924 a full professor of pharmacology at the University of Vienna. His works in the fields of physiological chemistry, pharmacology as well as serology were all pioneering efforts. He wrote about antigens and heart pharmacology; about the pharmacology of sleeping pills and diruresis, and studies of immunity.
In 1938, as a result of the Nazi persecutions, Professor Pick immigrated to the USA. He taught as professor of pharmacology at the Columbia University, New York. He died in New York in 1960.
Popper, Josef (1838-1921)
Social philosopher, engineer and inventor
Josef Popper, also know by the pseudonim of Lynkeus, was born in Kolin, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). He studied at the University of Prague, but he was refused a teaching post there because of his Judaism. He worked during a short period with the Hungarian national railroads. Later he left for Vienna, where he did different simple works.
Josef Popper invented a device which was very important in the engine industry (1868). He could live on the profits he earned from his inventions, and dedicated his life to writing on social reform. He took the pseudonim of Lynkeus, (a mythological figure). As an inventor, he was far ahead of his time and invented objects and systems to be used years later. His bigger fame was, however, as a writer on social reform. He defended the right of people to live in freedom and dignity without being exploited by the state. He believed that social problems can be solved when every member in the society will contribute to the total welfare of society. His ideas are incorporated in the policy of the modern welfare state. Popper suffered a lot from his being a Jew, but refused to convert. He accused Bismarck of anti-Semitism and came to the conclusion that only a Jewish State could eliminate anti-Semitism. But even with those Zionist thoughts, he did not take an active part in the Zionist movement.
Popper was a very close friend of Albert Einstein, and was regarded as a genius. He donated a great part of his books to the Jewish National Library in Jerusalem. His bust, which was erected in the Rathauspark in Vienna, was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938.
Preminger, Otto (1905-1986)
Otto Ludwig Preminger was born in Vienna, Austria on December 5, 1905. He made his acting debut in Max Reinhardt’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1922. In the mid.1920s. Preminger became assistant director to Reinhardt and stage director at Komedie and Schauspielhaus, Vienna. At the same time, he studied law and obtained his degree as Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1928. From 1928 to 1934, he was producer and director at Reinhardt’s Theater in der Josefstadt. In the meantime, in 1931, he directed the German speaking film ‘Die Grosse Liebe.’
In 1934 he left for England and in 1935 move abroad to the USA. From 1935-51 he worked for 20th Century Fox, first as assistant director to Ernst Lubitsch. In 1936-42 he also acted on stage and in films and directed the ‘Libel’ (1936), he then directed and produced ‘Outward Bound’ (1938); ‘Margin for Error’ (in which he also acted, 1938); ‘My Dear Children’ (1940), and ‘In Time to Come’ (1941). As film actor he appeared in ‘Pied Piper’ (1942), ‘They Got Me Covered’ (1943) and ‘Stalag 17’ (1953).
Preminger was appointed an associate professor at Yale University from1938-41. After that he turned to directing for Fox Studios. Films directed by him included: ‘A Royal Scandal’ and ‘Laura’ (both 1944); ‘Fallen Angel’ and ‘Centennial Summer’ (both 1945); ‘Forever Amber’ (1947); ‘Daisy Kenyon’ (1948); ‘Whirlpool’ (1949); ‘Where the Sidewalks Ends’ and ‘The 13th Letter’ (both 1950) and ‘Angel Face’ (1952).
In 1953 Preminger became, an independent producer His major productions were: ‘The Moon is Blue’ and ‘River of No Return’ (both 1953); ‘Carmen Jones’ (1954); ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ and ‘The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell’ (1955); ‘Saint Joan’ (1957); ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ (1958); ‘Porgy and Bess’ and ‘Anatomy of Murder’ (1959); ‘Exodus’ (1960); ‘Advise and Consent’ (1961); ‘The Cardinal’ (1963); ‘Bunny Lake is Missing’ (1965); ‘Such Good Friends’ (1972); ‘Rosebund’ (1975); and ‘The Human Factor’ (1980).
He also staged, directed and produced a number of Broadway plays including ‘The Moon is Blue’ (1951); ‘Critic’s Choice’ (1960) and Erich Maria Remarque’s ‘Full Circle’ (1973).
Preminger became one of the most controversial and important directors of his time breaking many Hollywood taboos. These included subjects filmed (such as drug addiction in ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’,) words used such as: virgin, seduced and pregnant in ‘The Moon is Blue’, which were unspoken on screen before, and employing well known writers who were on the Hollywood blacklist (for instance screen writer, Dalton Trumbo, who wrote ‘Exodus’.)
During his illustrious prolific career Preminger directed thirty-seven films, produced twenty-seven and acted in seven. He was honored with the Grand Cross by the Republic of Austria (1961), the Grand Cross of Merit and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre by The Vatican for ‘The Cardinal’ (1963).
Otto Peminger died in New York on April 23, 1986
Pribram, Karl (1877-1973)
Karl Pribram was born in Prague (then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire). He studied law at the universities of Prague, Breslau, Berlin and Vienna. In 1900 he graduated as Dr. of jurisprudence from the University of Prague. In 1907 started working at the University of Vienna and from 1914 became associate professor. From 1909 to 1921 he was an Austrian civil servant, ultimately Ministerialrat. From 1921 to 1928 he was director of statistics at the International Labor Office, Geneva; from 1928 to 1933 professor of economics at the University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
In 1933 Pribram left for Mexico and in the same year immigrated to the USA. He was member of a research staff at Brookings Institute, Washington, DC, till 1936, from 1936 to 1942 he served as economics expert at Social Security Board, and from 1942 to 1951 as chief economist at the US Tariff Commission. At the same time Pribram was Ass. Professor at American University, Washington, DC, from 1939 to 1952. Pribram conducted research primarily on economic theory and political economy and excelled as sociologist and social philosopher.
Karl Pribram was a member of the International Statistical Institute; of the International Sociological Association; the Economic Society; the American Economists Association, and other organizations.
His main publications include Geschichte der oesterreichischen Gewerbpolitik (1907); Die Entschehungen der individualistischen Socialphilosophie (Leipzig, 1912); Probleme der internationalen Arbeitstatistik (Jena, 1925); Probleme der internationalen Socialpolitik (Leipzig, 1927); Cartel Problems (1935); and Conflicting Patterns of Thought (1949).
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Rank (Rosenfeld), Otto (1884-1939)
Otto Rank (Rosenfeld) was born in Vienna. After he met Freud, he joined his inner circle (1906). Together with others, he edited the psychoanalytic journal Image and Intenationale Zeitschrift fuer Psychoanalyse (1912-1924). He founded and was director of the Internationale Psychoanalytische Verlag (1919-1924). He was talented in explaining dreams legends and myths. He published a great work on incest myth (1912).
During the First World War he was in Galicia, mainly in Krakow, where according to other people, he suffered from melancholia, which caused to changes in the years later in his thoughts. He wrote a book The trauma of the birth (1923), in which he emphasised other elements than Freudian theory, especially the determination of anxiety, and underemphasised the role of incest and the Oedipus complex. After publishing his book, Rank broke with Freud, and left Vienna. He settled in the USA in 1935.
Redl, Fritz (1902-1988)
Fritz Redl was born in Klaus, Austria and studied at the Psychoanalytic Training Institute in Vienna.
He found it difficult to work under the Nazi regime and immigrated to the USA in the late 1930’s. There he became a research associate at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Redl had a deep interest in juvenile delinquency and was at the forefront of working in those areas that effected their emotional growth. He, along with a former student, David Wineman, developed many approaches for sophisticated intervention to help children and their parents. His work and writings are still the foundations from which many child psychologists approach problems of emotionally disturbed children. Redl was a professor of social work at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, from 1941 to1953. He was then appointed chief of the Child Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, a position he held until 1959. He was then appointed a professor of behavioral science at Wayne State University. The modern Psychoeducation movement derives from the work of Fritz Redl.
Redlich, Joseph (1869-1936)
Lawyer and politician
Born in Hodonin (Gnoedin) (now in the Czech Republic), son of a prominent Jewish industrialist, he was a leading authority on Austrian and British parliamentary procedure. He was professor in the University of Vienna. From 1906 to 1918 he sat in the Moravian provincial legislature and the Austrian Reichstat. Redlich was minister of finance in the last Hapsburg government in 1918. In 1929 he was appointed professor of law at Harvard, United States, but was recalled to Vienna in 1931 to become minister of finance, holding the post until 1934. He was the author of many major works on legal and political subjects. Redlich was baptized in 1903.
Reich, Wilhelm (1897-1957)
Wilhelm Reich was born in Dobrzny, Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in the Ukraine). He attributed his later interest in the study of sex and the biological basis of the emotions to his upbringing on his father’s farm where, as he later put it, the “natural life functions” were never hidden from him. He was taught at home until he was 13, when his mother committed suicide after being discovered having an affair with one of his tutors. Wilhelm Reich joined the Austrian Army, serving from 1915 to1918, for the last two years with the rank of a lieutenant. In 1918, when World War I ended, he entered the medical school at the University of Vienna. As an undergraduate, he was drawn to the work of Sigmund Freud, who became aware of Reich’s work in 1919, when Reich organized and led a seminar on sexology. Reich was accepted for membership of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Assocation in October 1920.
In his early years he made significant contributions to psychoanalytic theory. He broke away from the orthodox Freudian approach, believing that neurosis is due to undischarged sexual energy and that of blocking of sexual discharge causes actual physiological disturbance of sexuality. Die Funktion des Orgasmus, 1927. According to Reich mental health is the ability to achieve full orgasm. The sexually satisfied person would have already released his aggressions and thus behave in a socialized manner. He related his ideas to the prognosis of treatment in his paper Concerning genitality from the standpoint of psychoanalytic prognosis and therapy (1924, Eng. 1925). Another important contribution was Reich’s focus on character and character formation. Previously psychoanalysis dealt mainly with the interpretations of unconscious material. In his study of character resistances he concentrated on the whole person, his habits, tensions, and mannerisms. His books that deal with character are Der triebhafter Character (1925) and Characteranalyse (1933; English 1945), his most important work. Reich’s theories, which combined sexuality and politics, became increasingly unpalatable to the Freudians, and the International Psychological Association expelled him in 1934. The publication in 1933 of his The Mass Psychology of Fascism categorized Fascism as a symptom of sexual repression and the book was banned by the Nazis when they came to power.
Reich was also involved in politics and was active in exposing the dangers of the Fascist regime. Subsequently he was expelled from the International Psychoanalytic Association. Reich realized he was in danger and hurriedly left Germany, spending a couple of years in Denmark and Norway, before his arrival in the USA in 1939. There he developed the idea of orgone, a material found in the air, which according to Reich had therapeutic powers. He founded and became director of Orgon Institute in Rangeley, Maine. After selling ‘orgone boxes’ he was convicted of fraud and died in prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania in 1957.
Reik, Theodor (1888-1970)
Theodor Reik was born in Vienna where he studied medicine. It was during this time that he developed an interest in psychiatry. He met Sigmund Freud in 1910 who encouraged him. Reik went on to receive his training in analysis from Karl Abraham in Berlin. After World War I Theodor Reik worked as an analyst in Vienna and then in Berlin, until he moved to The Haag, Netherlands, in 1934.
His many publications cover a vide spectrum of subjects including clinical and anthropological themes, psychological theory and also many psychoanalytic articles on literary and musical figures, such as Flaubert and G. Mahler. Four of his best known papers of the 1920s were collected in Das Ritual, psychoanalitisches Studien (1928), Ritual Psychoanalytic Studies (1931). The studies ranged from primitive rituals and folkloristic customs to Jewish religious rituals and customs. His papers on problems of crime, including the compulsion to confess, and on Freud’s view of capital punishment were developed in Der unbekannte Moerder (1932) (The unknown Murderer, 1936). In these papers Reik sets forth as a major concept that unconscious guilt motivates the crime itself and also the criminal’s need to be caught and punished. Reik believed that analysts’ theoretical assumptions may interfere with treatment and that the therapeutic relationship should be an “unconscious duet” between patient and analyst, in which surprises to both parties provide important insights. He explained his new technique in Der Ueberraschte Psychologe (1935) (Surprise and the Psychoanalyst, 1936) and Listening with the Third Ear (1948). In Aus Leiden Freuden (1940), Masochism in Modern Man (1941) Reik stated his theory that masochistic suffering is a search for pleasure. He therefore regarded masochism and the associated death instinct as secondary rather than primary as seen by Freud.
Among his more than 50 books are the autobiographical From Thirty Years with Freud (1940), Fragment of a Great Confession (1949), and The Search Within (1956). His biblical tetralogy included The Creation of Woman (1960), and in 1962 he published Jewish Wit. In Pagan Rites in Judaism he endeavors to show that much of the pagan and prehistoric survives in the rites of Judaism as professed today.
In 1938 Reik immigrated to the US. In 1946 he was elected president of the National Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology. He was the founder of the Theodor Reik Clinical Center for Psychotherapy. He died in New York in 1970.
Reinhardt, Max (1873-1943)
Max Reinhardt was born as Maximilian Goldmann in Baden, Austria. He began his career at the age of 17 as actor and assistant director at the Salzburg State Theater. In 1894, he moved to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin that he directed from 1905. Later he built the Kammerspiele next door for intimate productions and modern plays. He became famous throughout Germany with his staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1905. All in all, he staged 600 productions including 22 Shakespearean plays.
Reinhardt exerted an enormous influence on German and international cinema as many of the most famous directors of the 1920s and 1930s trained under him. When the Nazis came to power, he went to the US and founded an acting school and theater workshop in Hollywood.
Rimalt, Elimelekh (1907-1987)
Elimelekh Rimalt was born in Bochnia. He received a doctorate at the university of Vienna in 1931 and in 1932 was ordained rabbi at the Vienna Rabbinical Seminary. From 1933 to 1938 he was rabbi of Innsbruck and other communities in the Tirol and Vorarlberg. For a year he directed the Emigration Department of the Vienna Jewish community and in 1939 moved to Ramat Gan in Palestine.
In Israel he headed schools and directed the Ramat Gan Department of Education. In the Knesset from 1951, Rimalt sat until 1977 on behalf of the Liberal party. He served on various committees and from 1965 chaired the Education and Culture Committee of the Knesset.
Robinson, Isak (1876-1932)
Physician, roentgenologist
Isak Robinsohn was born in Brody, Galicia, then under the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. He was the first roentgenologist at the Allgemeine Krankenhaus (General Hospital) in Vienna (a student of professor Holznecht). Robinsohn constructed the first device, the throchtoscop, to scan patients while lying down, and later the tube screen. He also had meaningful achievements in urological roentgenology. The calcification of the pelvic nerves, the so called Robinsohnische Flecken (“Robinsohn Spots”) are named after him. He, among others, also pioneered dental roentgen diagnosis.
Rose, Alma Maria (1906-1944)
Alma Maria Rose was born in Vienna into a musical family. Her father, Arnold Rose, was the founder of the Rose Quartet and her mother was Justine Mahler, the sister of Gustav Mahler, her brother was a pianist, conductor and composer and was considered a pioneer in music therapy. Alma Maria studied violin and was a solo performer. She married the famous violinist V. Prihoda and was the center person of the ladies ensemble Wiener Walzermondl.
After the Anschluss she fled to London (1938), but later left for Holland. When the Germans occupied Holland she managed to escape to France, but was later arrested by the Germans and sent to the concentration camp Auschwirz-Birkenau. In the camp Alma Maria Rose was engaged in music and conducted the Modchenorchester (fall 1943). Alma probably died of food contamination. After Alma’s death the orchestra and its members were transferred to Bergen-Belsen. Only 11 of a total of 47 musicians of the orchestra survived the Holocaust.
Rose (Rosenblum), Arnold Joseph (1863-1946)
Rose was born in Jassy, Romania. In his late teens he converted to Catholicism. Rose became concertmaster of the Vienna Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic at the young age of 18 (1881). He stayed in that position for over fifty years (1938). Rose was active in other musical enssambles and in 1982 he founded, with others, the Rose String Quartet which achieved noteriety throughout the western world. He also taught at the Vienna State Academy of Music until 1924. After the Anschluss, Rose fled to England (1938). He was married to Gustav Mahler’s sister Justine. His brother and his daughter, also musicians, died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Rosen (nee Friedjung) , Elise (1895-1975)
Painter, graphic artist
Elise Friedjung Rosen was born in Vienna in 1895. From 1913 to 1915 she attended the Lehr und Versuchsanstalt. At the same time, she attended private lectures by architect A. Loos and from 1916 to 1917 studied painting in a private school. She moved on to do architectural drawings for the studio of architecture F.Schoen, the Austrian State Railways and received several commissions for book designs and etchings. She then established a studio for teaching and research for putting graphic art to practical use. She was one of the first to use the airbrush technique. She married Maximilian Rosen in 1928. With increased recognition of her various creativenesses, exhibitions of her works of art were shown in Vienna, Paris and in New York.
Elise Rosen and her husband felt compelled to leave Austria in 1939 with the rise of Nazism and they immigrated to the USA. She was first aided by the National Refugee Service, New York, and by friends. She then worked at various jobs, until 1941, when she became an embroidery designer with Caroline S. Meyer. Rosen became an American citizen in 1945. From 1950 to 1952, she studied serigraphy at City College of New York, and from 1955 to 1959 studied lithography at the New York Trade School.
Rosen is noted for her drawings, industrial designs, watercolors, etchings, serigraphs and woodcuts. She was editor of the book, Career Opportunities in Art. Her many individual exhibitions include the Roerich Gallery (1957) and Stefen Wise Free Synagogue (1974), both in New York, the group-shows include Genossenschaft der bildenden Kunstler, Vienna (1921); Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs, Paris (1925); Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, Kunstlerhaus, Vienna (1926); Austrian Institute, New York (1966). Collections: Serigraphs and prints in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Albertina, Vienna; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C; Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, and others. She was member of the Amalgamated Lithographers of America; National Serigraph Society (member of board of trustees), and Agni Yoga Society. Rosen was also a recipient of the pretigious Diplome de Medaille d’Argent, Paris (1925).
Rosenfeld, Jakob (1903-1952)
Physician, general in the Chinese army
Jakob Rosenfeld was born in Lemberg (now Lviv, in the Ukraine), the son of an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. His family settled in Woellersdorf, in Lower Austria in 1910, where Jakob Rosenfeld attended the school and then continued his education at the gymnasium in Wiener Neustadt. He studied and then practiced medicine in Vienna.
Following the Anschluss, he was arrested by the Nazis who confiscated his house in central Vienna. He was detained in the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, was released in the autumn of 1939 and given a few days to leave the country. Rosenfeld succeeded in immigrating to Shanghai, China, where he joined the Communist army of Mao Tze Dong serving as a physician. Known in Chinese as Luo Shengte (“Long Nose”), he took part in the battles against the Japanese occupation forces and then against the Nationalist army of Chiang Kai-shek. Rosenfeld’s efforts and contribution were acknowledged and he was eventually granted the rank of general in the Chinese Communist army. He returned to Vienna in 1950 where he tried to continue his practice, but left a short period with the hope to come back to China. He immigrated to Israel, where he started working in a Tel Aviv hospital and died there in 1952. Jakob Rosenfeld has been acclaimed as a national hero in China
Rosenthal, Moritz (1833-1889)
Moritz Rosenthal was born in Nagyvarad (Grosswardien), Hungary (now Oradea, in Romania). He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, where in 1863 he became a lecturer. Dr. M. Rosenthal, together with Dr. Benedikt, were the founders of electrotherapy (1865) for treating nerve and muscle diseases. From 1875 he was assistant professor. His Klinik der Nervenkrankheiten, published in the same year, has been translated into English, French, Italian an Russian, and was a standard work of the time. Professor Rosenthal published over seventy treatises in medical journals. Other books he wrote dealt with brain tumors, cervical paraplegia, the cortical centers of the brain, post-luetic myelitis and tabes, the affection of the stomach, stammering and apparent death. Moritz Rosenthal died in Vienna in 1889.
Rothstein, Irma (1896-1971)
Irma Rothstein was born in Rostov, Russia and moved to Vienna to study and work in art and sculpture. She studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (Academy of the Arts) and at the Vocational School for Woodcutting. In 1938, she immigrated to the USA to escape the Nazi regime. She settled in New York, where she continued her studies while teaching at the City College. Her style was classic and her main media were wood, cast stone, terra cotta and bronze. She exhibited at various individual and group exhibitions, at the New York Metropolitan Museum, the New York World’s Fair, at the Syracuse Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy and other exhibitions. After World War II, her sculptures were exhibited in Vienna. She won first prize of the Mint Museums, second prize of the American Artists Professional League and of the Ellen Rose Memorial Prize for painting and sculpture. Twice she won the first prize of the Springfield Kunstliga. She held membership in various artists’ organizations. Amongst her masterpieces are the busts of G. Bernard Shaw, of Ernest Hemingway and of the music conductor, Dimitri Mitropoulos.
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Salander, Berthold (1887-1959)
Salander was born in Vienna, where he studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music Vienna. He joined the Philharmonic of Vienna at the age of 26 and performed with them for 25 years (1913-1938). After nineteen years he became leader of the second violin section. During his last six years with the Philharmornic (1932-1938) he also served as President of the Orchestra.
After the Anschluss (1938), Salander was fired from the Philharmonic and fled to the USA (1941). There, he obtained a position with the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, he and his family moved to New York where he played with the New Friends of Music and with the Salzburg Chamber Players. He was honoured with the Nikolai Medal. Salander was also honoured with the Philharmoniker Ring (the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Ring of Honour).
His son, William, was a clarinetist, who had studied at the Vienna Academy of Music before the war and managed to escape to the USA before his father. Berthold Salander’s grandson Roger is a clarinet soloist and teacher at the Wiener Konservatorium.
Salomon Philipp, Salomon Philipp (c.1763-1793)
Stone engraver, gem cutterץ Salomon Philipp Abraham served his apprenticeship as an engraver under his father Philipp Abraham. He was recognized for his artistry and two pieces of his works, a magnificent chalcedony cameo, showing the head of Emperor Leopold II and a cornelian cameo depicting Empress Maria Theresia in widow’s weeds, are preserved at the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna. Both cameos bear on the back a dedication from a Jewish community. Abraham died in 1793.
Schneid, Otto (1900-1974)
In 1900, Schneid’s father, a Jewish law court director in Vienna, moved with his family to Jablunkova, Slovakia, where Otto was born. In 1918 the family returned to Vienna. Schneid studied art history, philosophy, and Oriental studies at universities in Vienna and Paris from 1918 to 1926.
From 1926-1936 he worked as a freelance artist, studied and traveled in Europe lecturing on art. At the same time he wrote a book on Chinese art that was published in 1934. During the following two years Schneid established an art museum in Vilnius, Lithuania (then in Poland), where he remained until 1938, after which he returned to Vienna.
In 1939, following the annexation of Austria to Germany, he emigrated to Palestine with an appointment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1946 he published a book on biblical frescoes of the Dura Europus Synagogue in Syria. From 1947 until 1960 he was teacher of art history at the Technion in Haifa. Alongside he continued to paint and sculpt, and designed models for monuments.
Schneid emigrated to the USA in 1960. In 1962 he introduced turntable paintings and opticism, two techniques, to revise or abolish conventional perspectives and the way a painting is seen. In 1963 Schneid moved to Canada.
His works of art included portraits, landscapes and sculptures done in various media, such as pastels, oils, stone, bronze, wood and clay. He often used biblically influenced motifs.
Schneid’s individual shows included Galleria d’arte internazionale, Florence; International Gallery and Columbia University both in New York; Topovow, Hollywood, California; Cascone, Toronto and others. His works of art are part of the collections of Pitti Palace, Florence; Albertina, Vienna; British Museum, London; Roosevelt Memorial Library, Hyde Park, New York; Skopje Museum of Modern Art, Macedonia (formerly Yugoslavia), and also in private collections.
Schnitzler, Arthur (1862-1931)
Arthur Schnitzler was born in Vienna, son of a famous laryngologist, he was early attracted to the theater and began to write plays. He obtained his medical degree at the university of Vienna and practiced psychiatry for a few years, editing a medical journal.
However, Schnitzler became increasingly involved in literary activities writing playlets and then full-length plays, often centering on the problems of married life. In some of his writings, notably his play Professor Bernhardi, he grappled with Jewish subjects, primarily assimilation, anti-Semitism and Zionism (which he did not accept despite his friendship with Theodor Herzl). He became a central figure of Jungwien, the literary movement that dominated Austrian letters until World War I.
Schoenberg, Arnold (1874-1951)
Arnold (Franz Walter) Schoenberg (also spelled Schönberg) was born in Vienna, son of a shoe shop keeper and a mother who used to give piano lessons. Schoenberg began to compose musical pieces for violin already at the age of nine. He studied various musical instruments, especially the cello and at the same time continued to compose a range of musical pieces, especially string quartets.
From 1890 to 1895, following his father’s untimely death, Schoenberg worked as a bank clerk in order to sustain his family. In 1901 he moved to Berlin, where he worked as musical director of the Ueberbrettl, an artistic cabaret. He returned to Vienna in 1903, when he met Gustav Mahler, who became one of his main supporters. In Vienna he worked as a teacher, his students included the Austrian composers Alban Berg and Anton Webern. It was during his stay in Vienna in the 1900s that Schoenberg pioneered a new method of composition based on a row, or series, of 12 tones, that became known as atonality. His piano piece Opus 11, Nr. 1, finished in 1909, is considered to be the first composition that totally disregarded the tonal methods. In 1911 Schoenberg moved again to Berlin, where he was a composition teacher at the Stern Conservatory, and remained there until 1915, when he returned to Austria for the military service during WW1, from which he was discharged in 1917 because of medical reasons.
After WW1 Schoenberg spent his time between Vienna and Berlin, where he was a teacher at the Prussian Academy of Arts, after 1925.
The rise to power of the Nazis in 1933 forced him to leave Germany and to immigrate to the USA, after a short sojourn first in Spain, and then in Paris. The same year Schoenberg returned to Judaism, which he had abandoned earlier in his life, in solidarity to the anti-Jewish persecutions in Nazi Germany. In the USA he first worked at the Malkin Conservatory in Boston (1934), but soon afterwards he moved to California. Schoenberg held major teaching positions at the University of Southern California, from 1935 to 1936, and at the University of California at Los Angeles, from 1936 to 1944. Arnold Schoenberg died in Los Angeles in 1951.
Schoenberg’s major compositions include: Verklaerte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”) (1899), Pelleas und Melisande (1902-1903), Chamber Symphony in E Major (1906), Pierrot Lunaire (1912), Die glueckliche Hand (“The Hand of Fate”) (1924), Moses und Aron (unfinished, 1930), Von Heute auf Morgen (“From Today to Tomorrow”) (1928-1929), Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (“Accompaniment to a Film Scene”) (1929-1930), Violin Concerto, Opus 36 (1934-1936), Piano Concerto, Opus 42 (1942), and Fantasia (1949). During his later years, Schoenberg also composed a number of pieces inspired from the Jewish tradition and the Holocaust, including Kol Nidre (1938), Prelude to the Genesis Suite (1945), A Survivor of Warsaw (1947), and Moderne Psalmen (1950), set to his own texts.
In addition, Schoenberg wrote a number of important textbooks about his musical method: Harmonielehre (“Theory of Harmony”) (1911), Models for Beginners in Composition (1942), and Fundamentals of Musical Composition (1967).
Schumann, Elisabeth (1888-1952)
Born in Merseburg (Germany), she studied voice and music in Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin. At the age of 31, in1919, she joined the Wiener Staatsoper. For 13 years she participated at the Salzburg Festspiele (1922-1935). She was also guest performer with many orchestras in Milan, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, London etc.
After the Anschluss she left for the USA(1938), and continued her musical carreer. Elisabeth Schumann was teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and also she performed as an interpreter of lieder. She started to perform again in Europe in 1947. Elisabeth Schumann was married to Carl Alwin, a Jewish Austrian musician.
Schutz, Herbert (1903-1964)
Herbert Shutz was born in Vienna, and following his studies in art he turned to ceramics and mosaics. He received commissions in laying mosaics in community buildings. In 1938, because of the discriminating anti-Jewish laws of the Nazi regime, he immigrated to Palestine. After World War II, he returned to Austria in 1946, where he worked and lived until his death. .
Schwarz, Adolph (Aryeh) (1846-1931)
Born in Hungary, he studied at the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and from 1875 was rabbi in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1893 he was appointed head of the newly founded Vienna Rabbinical Seminary (Israelitische-theologische Lehranstalt). Here he trained generations of rabbis and was a strong force in the Vienna community. His vast scholarly output was devoted primarily to the study of the Talmud and its methodology.
Schwarz, Arthur Zechariah (1880-1939)
Arthur Schwarz, son of R.Adolph Schwarz, was born in Karlsruhe (Germany), graduated from the Israelitische-theologische Lehranstalt seminary in Vienna and was district rabbi and teacher in Vienna. When the Nazis took over in 1938 he was arrested and tortured. On his release he went to Palestine but died soon after. Like his father he was a distinguished scholar with especial interest in bibliography and the study of Hebrew manuscripts.
Singer, Erwin (1898-1962)
Erwin Singer was born in Vienna. He emigrated to the USA where he practiced painting in Boston. His art has been shown in numerous exhibitions. One of his best known works is his Haggadah for children. Singer was a co-worker with publishers and was considered an expert authority on illustrations. He died in the USA.
Sonnenfels, Joseph (1732-1817)
Joseph Sonnenfels was born in Nikolsburg, Moravia (now Mikulov, in the Czech Republic), the son of Lipman Perlin aka Alois Wiener aka von Sonnenfels and grandson of Rabbi Yechiel Hassid. Joseph Sonnenfels was baptised to Christianity during his childhood.
Joseph Sonnenfels was professor of applied political science at the University of Vienna (1763), and succeeded his father as Court interpreter. He was appointed to Aulic Councellor and V.P. of the commision of Judicial Reform (1779). The commission was responsibe for writing the Austrian civil and criminal codes. He was a strong supporter of the abolition of torture and capital punishment, and risked personal hazards for this cause.
Joseph von Sonnenfels was also a famous publicist and wrote in clear, simple and pure juristic language. He formulated the Austrian Civil Code Ober Die Aubschaffung der Folter (1775) and published more than 150 books and pamphlets. His textbooks on economy were very inflentual for years
Sonnenthal, Adolf Ritter (1834-1909)
Adolf Sonnenthal was born in Budapest, Hungary, to a wealthy Jewish family in December 1834. As a young man he first studied lithography at the school of arts. His father, lost his wealth and Sonnenthal began working as an apprentice tailor. At the age of 16, he moved to Vienna.
He was fascinated seeing a play with the famous actor Bogumil Dawison in a lead role at the prime of his career. Sonnenthal decided that he too wanted to become an actor. He presented himself to Dawison, who was surprised by the daring of the young man. After the audition Dawison recommended him to Heinrich Laube, the director of the Burgtheatre. By 1851 Sonnenthal, had appeared on stage in Temesvar (now Timisoara, Romania). For two years he acted in German speaking theaters in Hungarian towns. Later he performed in Austria and in Germany. In 1856 Laube invited Sonnenthal to act in the Burgtheatre. His first role there as Martimer in the play ‘Stuart Maria’ was negligible. He was, however, a tremendous success in ‘Don Carlos’ which resulted in a permanent contract. This became a lifelong bond with the Burgtheater. In 1870 Sonnenthal began directing plays. He became chief stage director and in 1887 was appointed general manager of the Burgtheatre.
Sonnenthal was an outstanding artist of the old pathetic style. At first, he excelled in modern plays but later gained his great reputation in Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, Ibsen and Shaw. Among his most remarkable roles were: Romeo, Mackbeth, Wallenstein, Nathan the Wise, Othello, Fiesco, Faust, Wilhelm Tell, Clavigo, Richard the II, Henry the VI and others. His best-known role was Uriel Acosta.
His work enabled him to achieve a respected position in high society as well as access to the Imperial court. Sonnenthal’s twenty-five years of activity in the theater was honored in a celebration by the Viennese. He was ennobled by Emperor Franz Joseph. In 1896, by contrast, his jubilee of forty years at the Burgtheatre was marred by anti-Semites, who opposed his receiving honorary citizenship of Vienna.
Sonnenthal was a practicing Jew all his life. He resisted recurring attempts to convert him to Christianity. In the 1890s, he took part in an organization aimed to preserve Jewish art and relics of Jewish history.
Adolf Ritter Von Sonnenthal died in Prague in 1909.
Steinach, Eugen (1861-1944)
Eugen Steinach was born in Hohenems. He became professor of physiology at the German University of Prague, establishing a laboratory for physiology, especially of the sexual organs. From 1912 he directed the department of experimental biology at the Vienna Academy of Science. Steinach made many contributions to physiology and coined the name ‘puberty gland’. He devised an operation for rejuvenation on which he wrote a book. He spent his last years in Montreux, Switzerland.
Steinbach, Emil (1846-1907)
Emil Steinbach was born in Vienna. Following his studies in law, he was on the faculty of College of Commerce in Vienna. He was appointed to the Department of Justice in 1874 by Julius Glaser then Minister of Justice. Steinbach then converted to Christianity. He rose to become Head of the Department of Justice in 1887 and then Minister of Finance from1891-1898. He was Chairman of a division in the Supreme Court in1899 and then President of the Supreme Court, from 1904 to1907. This was the first and last time in Austrian history that a jurist of Jewish descent held such an important juristic post. During his service with Glaser, he helped with legislation on health, accident and disability insurance for workers. As Minister of Finance, he changed the Monetary System, from the Florin to Gold Standard and Crown System. Steinbach also drafted a law on moving the tax burden from financially weak to wealthy individuals. The law was rejected, and the government fell (1898). Steinbach was also known for his writings. Among them: Die Rechtskenntnisse des Publikums (1878), Erwerb und Beruf (1890), Treu und Glauben in Verkehr (1901). Der Staat und die modernen Privatmonopole (1903).
Steinbach’s Jewish origin religious feeling and ethical conviction, underlined his legislative philosophy and individual conduct.
Stekel, Wilhelm (1868-1940)
Wilhelm Stekel was born and educated in Vienna. His interest in psychiatry led him to join a small group of physicians, who, starting in 1902, gathered around Dr. Sigmund Freud to learn the practice of psychoanalysis. In 1895, before he even knew of Freud, Stekel wrote a paper on sexual activity in childhood. He became acquainted with Freud and his techniques in 1902, when he was treated successfully by Freud for a neurotic complaint. Stekel was a strong believer in Freud’s theory of dreams and he began practicing psychoanalysis.
In 1909 Stekel published the Dichtung und Neurose, and in 1911 his extensive Sprache des Traumes. Ernest Jones, the president of the International Psychoanalytic Association, found in it “bright ideas but also many confused ones”. He observed and wrote that Stekel had very little interest in theory, was very practical and had a ready access to the unconscious.
Stekel contributed much to our knowledge of Symbolism. He was recognized in this field as, “…having greater intuitive genius than Freud.” Jones, however, felt he relied too much on judgment and his intuition and speculations were not dependedable. Freud found Stekel’s paper “mortifying”. Still, when Freud founded the monthly Zentralblatt fuer Psychoanalise und Psychotherapie, Stekel became its joint author. When he resigned his membership from the Vienna Society in 1912, Freud’s group of followers withdrew their subscription from the periodical, and its publication ceased the following year.
Stekel wrote prolifically in many fields publishing papers on a wide range of subjects extending from the psychology of everyday subjects to the psychological treatment of epilepsy. His books include Der Wille zum Schlaf (1915), Der Wille zum Leben (1920) and Storungen des Trieb- und Affektlebens (9 vol., 1924-27). In 1933 he wrote Der Seelenarzt.
In 1938, following the take over of Austria by Nazi Germany, Stekel fled to England. There he wrote his last book Technick der Analytischen Psychotherapy. In the preface of his book he criticized the cult of the orthodox psychoanalysis with its lengthy and expensive treatment and propagated more efficient methods. Stekel considered medical training indispensable to the psychoanalysis “since the boundaries between psychic and somatic determination can never be easy to establish”. His work and writings, while contributing much to the files, are still controversial.
Stekel committed suicide in London in 1940.
Stengel, Erwin (1902-1973)
Born and educated in Vienna, he studied with Freud and in 1937 became senior lecturer in psychiatry and neurology at the University of Vienna. The following year he fled as a refugee to England where he became reader in psychiatry in the university of London. In 1956 he was appointed to the newly created chair of psychiatry at the university of Sheffield. Stengel served as president of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association and also of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. He was a world authority on the subject of suicide and suicide prevention.
Stoehr (formerly Stern), Richard (1874-1967)
Richard Stoehr was born in Vienna. Innitialy he studied medicine and became medical doctor (1898). He also studied music composition at the Konservatorium of Vienna. After graduating, he became a teacher at the Konservatorium of Vienna, from 1904 to 1908. Stoehr was a member of the instructing personal at the Wiener Musikakademie for forty years (1908-1938).
After the Anschluss he immigrated to the USA, where he instructed music at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia. During his years as a teacher, more than ten thousand students were taught by him, including Leonard Bernstein, Marcel Rubin, Fritz Spielmann, and Erich Zeisl. Richard Stoehr had a long life and died in Montpellier, France, at the age of 93.
Stricker, Robert (1879-1944)
Robert Stricker was born in Brno (now in the Czech Republic). He was a cofounder and president of the student Zionist society, Veritas. After moving to Vienna, he edited the official Zionist journal Die Juedische Zeitung. During WW1, he founded the Jewish War Archives. After the War Stricker headed the Jewish National Council and in 1919-20 was a member of the Austrian parliament. He founded the Jewish daily Wiener Morgenzeitung and the weekly Neue Welt.
Originally a strong supporter of Chaim Weizmann, he became disillusioned and joined the Revisionists. In 1933 he co-founded the Jewish State Party. Stricker was a cofounder of the World Jewish Congress and president of its Austrian section. Refusing chances to leave Austria after 1938, he was arrested, sent to concentration camps and eventually he and his wife were gassed in Auschwitz
Sulzer, Salomon (1804-1890)
Born in Hohenems, Austria, to a family of rich manufacturers, he was appointed cantor at the main synagogue in his hometown when only 16.
Sulzer studied music in Vienna where he was chief cantor of the new synagogue from 1825 to 1881. His baritone voice attracted non-Jewish as well as Jewish admirers, among them Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt.
In 1868 he was appointed knight of the order of Franz Josef. Sulzer’s synagogue compositions became the models upon which congregations based their services throughout the year. His “Schir Zion” appeared in two volumes and while his music and innovations won only limited acceptance in Eastern Europe, they became standard in central Europe.
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Tandler, Julius (1869-1936)
Anatomist and medical reformer
Born in Jihlava, he studied medicine in Vienna and became an assistant to Emil Zuckerkandel whom he succeeded as head of the Anatomical Institute in 1910, remaining there until 1934. He was dean of the medical faculty, 1914-1917 and contributed to the reform of medical education . His important researches into various fields of anatomy were reflected in his standard textbooks.
He was an active Social Democrat and in 1919 was appointed under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Social Administration. Tandler was a Vienna city councillor from 1920 to 1934 and his welfare system was copied in many other places in the world. In his latter years he worked on social medicine and hospital reform in China and Moscow.
Tauber, Richard (1892-1948)
Richard Tauber was born as Ernst Seiffert in Linz in 1892. He studied in Frankfurt and in 1913 received a five-year contract with the Dresden opera where he sang tenor roles. He also sang at other Central European opera houses. From 1925 Tauber turned to light opera, especially the works of Franz Lehar winning especial popularity in The Land of Smiles. From 1928 he also appeared in musical films. From 1938 he lived in England, appearing in Covent Garden and being a favorite on stage and radio and in films. He took the lead in the operetta Old Chelsea which he himself composed.
Teller-Blum, Friedl (1932-)
Tyrnau, Isaac (1380/1395-?)
Rabbi Isaac Tyrnau is believed to have been born in Vienna between 1380-1395. In his early adult years he moved to Tyrnau, in Austria. It appears that later on he moved to serve as rabbi in Pressburg (now Bratislava, in Slovakia), where he was known as the Rabbi from Tyrnau.
Rabbi Isaac Tyrnau is acknowledged for having compiled the first book of minhagim (customs of behavior). He identified customs and codes of behavior to be followed throughout the year that were adopted in most Jewish communities in Austria, and Hungary. Rabbi Isaac Tyrnau wrote in his book’s preface, that his objective was to create a common minhag. He activated in the decades that followed the Black Death (1348–1350) and the ensuing destruction of most of the Jewish communities of Germany: “….scholars became so few… I saw localities where there were no more than two or three persons with a real knowledge of local custom.”
The book was well accepted among German and Polish Jewry. Some additions were made by a Hungarian scholar, whose identity is not certain, and were added in the printed edition of the book. The first edition was printed in Venice in 1566, and has been frequently republished often as an appendix to the orthodox prayer book. A German translation by Simon Guenzburg (Mantua, 1590) has been reprinted several times.
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Unger, Joseph (1828-1913)
Joseph Unger was born in Vienna into a Jewish family that converted to Christianity. Unger was baptized while very young. He was educated and studied law in Vienna and achieved his Ph.D. from the University of Koenigsberg (1850) and Doctor of Law from the University of Vienna (1853). In 1855 he was appointed Assistant Professor and Full Professor at the University of Vienna in1871. Unger worked with Julius Glaser in writing The Classics of Austrian Jurisprudence. Joseph Unger was also known for his contribution to civil jurisprudence.
From 1871 to 879 he served as Minister without portfolio and President of Reichsgericht, from 1880 to 913.
He is considered the first Austrian jurist to use scientific methods to Austrian Civil Law. He was a prolific writer. Among his more important works are two volumes of System des Oesterreicischen Privatrechts, in which he showed the development of legal institutions.
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Waisman, Friedrich (1896-1959)
Born in Vienna, where he was assistant of the neopositivist philosopher Moritz Schlick at the University of Vienna (1929-1936), Friedrich Waisman was one of the original members of the Vienna circle.
He left for the UK, where he lectured in Cambridge (1937-1939), and than moved to Oxford, where he taught Philosophy of Mathematics and Philosophy of Science. His philosophic ideas were in the beginning a very orthodox version of logical positivism, but later on and under the influence of Witgenstein he changed radically. During his early work, he emphasised formalism and later his thoughts were a type of extreme informalism. He tried to make philosophy more acceptable and easy to understand for his readers. In his work How I see Philosophy in Contemporary British Philosophy (1956), he claimed that philosophy is “very unlike science in that in philosophy there are no proofs, no theorems and no questions that can be decided”.
Warren, Eduard (-)
Eduard Warren was born as Wolf Aarons in Altona (Hamburg), Germany. During his early journalistic carreer he was assigned to the US. He helped the American President James Polk in his election campaign (1844), and in turn got a job as US counsul to Trieste (then the southern harbour of Austria). He edited the paper The Triester Lloyd, and impressed Count Stadion, the Austrian provincial governor, who brought Warren to Vienna (1848). He was nominated editor of the Oestereichische Lloyd by Count Stadion in order to disseminate anti-revolutionary ideas. Warren succeeded in his editorship and showed that Jewish journalists could write for the conservatives as for the liberals. In his column he justified returning to absolutism and advocated the intervation against the Second French Republic. In spite of his success in writing about French politics he did not manage the same way in internal politics, and his paper was suspended (1854), six years after he became editor. After his failure in political journalistic, he turned to financial papers: Warrens Wochenschrift, Escomptegesellschaft.
Weigl, Vally (1889-1982)-Weigl, Vally (originally Valerie Pick) (1889-1982))
Born in Vienna where she studied piano privately with Richard Robert and Karl Weigl whom she married. Then Vally Weigl studied music at the University of Vienna.
After the Anschluss she left for the USA (1938), where she taught at different colleges (from 1942). Weigl studied at the Teachers College of Columbia University (1951-1953), and became Music therapist at the at the Roosevelt Cerebral Palsy School in Roosevelt N.Y. (1955-1976). She was also music therapist at the Jewish Home for the Aged in New York (1966), and different other institutions. Vally Weigl also composed music; her best known works are: Hymn for 5 part choir a capella (1944); New England Suite for clarinet, violin and piano (1955).
Weininger, Otto (1880-1903)
Otto Weininger was born in Vienna and attended the University of Vienna where he studied a broad array of subjects that included biology, physics, mathematics, philosopy and psychology. The day he received his Ph.D.(1902), he converted to Christianity, and changed all his earlier thoughts and views on life. Through his studies he became aquainted with the opinions of Plato, Kant, St. Augustine, Wagner and others, which influenced his way of thinking. His most important work Geschlecht und Charakter (“Sex and Character”) (1903), which included a philosophical justification to his attitude toward male supriority, anti-feminism and anti-Semitism. After the publication of the book, he became very depressed and had problems with following his own philosophy and eventually he killed himself.
Many of his essays and works were published after his death. His first book became well known and had more than 30 editions in German. The theory of Otto Weininger is based on the relationship of sex and character. Every human being is a combination of male and female elements. The male elements are all positive whereas the female elements are all the opposite (negative). The female is interested in sexual pleasure (prostitute) or in procreation (motherhood). Therefore the Woman is depended on Man. The Jew is even worse than the Woman. The Jew as a common characteristic, does not believe in anything. So the Jews are the major participants in extreme movements like: Communism, Anarchism, Materialism, Atheism and others. Zionism, according to Weininger could only be born as a result of rejecting Judaism. Weininger’s views of anti-Semitism and Jewish self hate served as a justification for Nazi-thinkers for their behaviour.
Werbezirk-Webisek, Gisela (1875-1956)
Gisela Werbezirk was born in Bratislava, Slovakia, then Pressburg or Pozsony in Hungarian. She began her stage carrier in Pressburg. From there she went to Vienna, Berlin and numerous other German cities,. Some of the plays in which she acted were directed by the famous Max Reinhardt. In the 1920s she began performing in cabaret, among them the ‘Simpl’ Vienna, where she achieved acclaim for comic and tragic-comic roles. She also acted in silent movies.
After the Germans incorporated Austria into the Third Reich, Gisela escaped to the C.S.R.(Czechoslovak Republic) in 1938. She acted there in German language theaters. During that year she also performed in Abbazia, Italy, Opatija Yugoslavia, and Prague. She then immigrated to the USA with her husband, Johann Piffl, and their son. In 1939 Giselle Werbiseck (her name in the USA) settled in Hollywood. There she appeared in Walter Wicclair’s exile theater the ‘Freie Buehne,’ Los Angeles; at cultural evenings of the ‘Jewish Club of 1933,’ Los Angeles; in Felix G. Gerstman’s and Gert von Gontard’s German language émigré ensemble and ‘The Players from Abroad,’ New York. Her long acting career also included appearances in Kurt Robitschek’s cabaret ‘Kabarett der Komiker’ and heavily accented European character types in American movies. In 1953 she retired due to serious illness and died three years later.
Werfel, Franz (1890-1945)
Franz Werfel was born in Prague where he was raised. Among his friends were Max Brod and Franz Kafka. His father had hoped that he would join the family industry. Werfel had no interest in this and chose literature instead. Their disagreement is well reflected in his story ‘Not the murderer but the murdered is guilty’. He moved to Leipzig, Germany, in 1911 where he attended the university. While studying he worked as a publisher’s reader. During this time he became more prolific in his writing. His earliest verse collections: ‘Friend of the world’ (1911), ‘We are’ (1913) and ‘Together’ (1915) attest to his inclination towards religious mysticism as opposed to the skepticism and sophistry typical of his contemporaries in Viennese cultural circles. Werfel was deeply influenced by Christian Catholic beliefs and morality but never officially left his Jewish faith. During World War I he served for three years in the Austrian army on the Russian front. His war experiences confirmed his pacifism. His literary works reflect his yearning for love and universal brotherhood in harmony with nature.
After the World War I Werfel became a freelance writer in Vienna and Berlin. Werfel and Alma (Schindler) Mahler (widow of composer Gustav Mahler) were married in 1918. She is largely responsible for introducing him to Viennese cultural society. Among Werfel’s theatrical works are: the trilogy ‘Spiegelmensch’ (“Mirrorman”), ‘Paul among the Jews’ (1928), ‘The Eternal Road’ (1935), a biblical play set by Kurt Weil and staged in New York by Max Reinhardt. ‘Verdi’, a novel of the opera (1925) promoted a Verdi revival in Germany. Werfel mainly portrayed the lowly and the defeated. His epic novel the ‘Forty days of Musa Dagh’ (1933) depicts the Armenians’ hopeless struggle against their Turkish perpetrators of their massacre. The idea came to him when he met Armenian refugees in Jerusalem during a visit to Palestine.
The Werfels were in Italy at the time of the Anschluss (annexation of Austria to Germany 1938), when they fled to France. In Paris, Werfel, with other émigré writers, founded the League de l’Autriche Vivante as a forum for Austrian anti-Nazi intellectuals. When the Germans invaded France, Werfel and his wife moved southwards. In 1940 they managed to reach the USA and settled in California. His book The Song of Bernadette about the girl saint, Bernadotte Siborius, of Lourdes, France (1941), and the film based on it brought him fame in the English-speaking world. Geschichte aus den Jahren 1908-1945, a collection of Werfel’s best poems was published in 1946.
Wertheim, Ernst (1864-1920)
Ernst Wertheim was born and educated in Vienna. From 1910 he was full professor of gynecology and obstetrics. E. Wertheim also worked in bacteriology and he succeeded to find a good breeding ground for the clean culture of gonococcus. He worked out a method for the removal of womb neck carcinomas and his method became known as the Wertheim Operation. He also introduced other new techniques, such as operating on abnormal position of the womb and separation of the uterus. During his tenure Ernst Wertheim was regarded as the most competent surgeon in the gynecological field.
Wertheimer, Joseph (1800-1887)
Pedagogue, philantropist and merchant
Joseph Wertheimer was born to the Wertheimer family of which the founder, Samson Wertheimer, was a Court Jew during the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. Joseph first aided his father in the family business, and became partner and was turned into a successful merchant.
In his free time Joseph Wertheimer studied pedagogy. In his twenties he was sent abroad to broaden his cultural background. He was interested in pedagogical matters, especially in English kindergartens, which he wanted to adopt for Austria. After his return home he translated a work on kindergarten (1826-1828), and together with a Catholic priest founded the first kindergarten in Vienna (1830). Later he founded many kindergartens in other cities and also established a society for assistance to released criminals.
Joseph Wertheimer was also involved in Jewish pedagogic matters. He founded an organization to teach thousands of Jewish children an useful occupation, established a Jewish kindergarten in 1843, and a foundation to help Jewish orphans in 1860. During the 1870s-1880s, in his different capacities in the community (trustee, president), Joseph Wertheimer played a key role in the struggle for attaining equal social and political rights for the Jews. Already in 1842 he advocated emancipation of the Jews in a book he published anonymously, because writing such works was prohibited at the time. He wrote different books on Jewish issues and was editor of the Jewish Yearbook (1855-1865). In 1868 he was enobled by the Austrian emperor and got the Iron Crown in recognition of his services to Austria.
Wertheimstein, Josephine (1825?-1894)
Josephine von Wertheimstein was related to the Arnstein family by their common ancestors, the Gomperz family. Her husband, Leopold, was a descendant of Samson Wertheimer-“the prince of the Jews”. He was considered an economic genious and managed the Vienna branch of the Rothschild Bank. Josephine von Wertheimstein brough together, in her villa in Doebling, the most talented people of literary, musical and artistic fields in Vienna. Hugo von Hofmannsthal mentioned her in his early writing as the “old lady in Doebling”. The circle of her friends who came to her afternoon parties and musical evenings included the most famous artists and members of nobility, including Countesses of Salm, Donhoff and Wickenburg- Almassy, the singer Mary Wilt and famed musicians and artists, among them Anton Rubinstein, Leschetitzky, Penter, and Lenbach, as well as writers of the old and new generation, and famous scientists, such as Ernst von Fleischl – one of the first mentors of Sigmund Freud.
Wilder, Billy (Samuel) (1906-2002)
Wilder was born in Sucha, Galicia, (now in the Ukraine), but raised and educated in Vienna. He attended the University of Vienna for a year where he had wanted to study law. He decided, however, that he preferred writing and obtained a position with Die Stunde. In 1926 he moved to Berlin where he felt the opportunities were greater. There he wrote for the Nachtausgabe newspaper and supplemented his income as a tap dancer. Wilder cooperated in writing screenplays for German language films until 1933.. In 1929 he wrote for Robert Siodmak’s semi-documentary Menschen am Sonntag, as well as scripts for Emil und die Detektive, Ihre Hoheit befiehlt, Siodmak’s Der Mann, der seinen Moerder sucht (all in 1931), Das Blaue vom Himmel, Ein blonder Traum, Scampolo (all in 1932), Was Frauen Traumen, and Madame wuenscht keine Kinder (both in 1933).
In 1933, after the Nazis rose to power in Germany, Wilder, realizing that his Jewish heritage mould be a problem, left for France. While in Paris, he wrote and co-directed Mauvaise Graine. He made his way to the USA via Mexico in 1934. He obtained a contract with Paramount for 1934-35 but this was not too lucrative. During the first four years in the USA he lived in poverty, sharing a room with Peter Lorre, and occasionally having a script accepted. He married Judith Coppicus 1n December 1936. Twins, Victoria and Vincent, were born in 1939 but tragedy came when Vincent died soon after he was born. The marriage to Judith Coppicus ended in divorce in 1946. Wilder and Audrey Young were married in 1949. She had been a singer with the old Tommy Dorsey band. They remained together until his death.
From 1938-50 he collaborated on 14 scripts with Charles Bracket, starting with two Lubitsch comedies, Bluebird’s Eighth Wife (1938) and Ninotchka (1939). Other films included Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and Ball of Fire (1942). In 1942-50 Wilder directed, Brackett produced, and both collaborated on scripts for films, including The Major and The Minor (1942). Five Graves for Cairo and Double Indemnity (both in 1943), and The Lost Weekend (1945) which won the Academy Award for directors and script.
In 1945, during World War II, Wilder was sent to Germany where he served as a colonel in the US Army in the Psychological Warfare Division. Wilder had not seen his parents since his move to Berlin. After the war he remained hi Germany to search for them. He found his mother and grandmother had been killed in concentration camps. After the war he resumed his work in Hollywood. His post war films included The Emperor Walz and A Foreign Affair (both in 1948,) and Sunset Boulevard (1950,) which won an Academy Award for the script. This ended his collaboration with Brackett. In 1950 Wilder became producer, director and co-script writer of his own films, including Ace in the Hole (1951,) Stalag 17 (1953,) Sabrina (1954) and The Seven Year Itch (1955). In 1957 he collaborated with I.A.L. Diamond as co-script writer and director of Buddy Buddy. In 1958 Wilder became a partner in Mirisch Co. Films which included Love in the Afternoon and The Spirit of St. Louis (both 1957,) Witness for the Prosecution (1958,) Some Like it Hot (1959,) The Apartment which won three Academy Awards (1960,) Ferenc Molnar’s One Two, Three (1961,) Irma La Douce (1963,) Kiss me Stupid (1964,) The Fortune Cookie (1966,) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970,) Avanti (1972,) The Front Page (1974,) and Fedora (1978).
During his entire career, Billy Wilder directed twenty-seven and produced fourteen films from 1934 to 1981.He was the writer or co-writer on over seventy screenplays from 1920 to 1990, more than twenty of which, from 1932 to 1934, were in German or French.
Billy Wilder died of pneumonia in Hollywood on March 27, 2002.
Winkler, Leo (17th century-)
Leader of the Vienna Jewish community
Leo Winkler (Judah), Leader of the Vienna community around 1670. He studied at the University of Padua, Italy, and became a physician.(1629). He was leader of the Jews in Vienna while Emperor Leopold I decided to expell all the Jews in Vienna. The Emperor was influenced by his Bishop’s advice, his wife’s fanatism and the money he could earn for the treasury while expelling the Jews. Leo Winkler corresponded with famous people around the world on behalf of the Vienna Jews and together with others signed a letter to ask for the intervention of Queen Christina of Sweden. He also offered with others 100,000 gulden to the Emperor Leopold to allow 1,000 Jews to continue to stay in Vienna. All those requests did not help as the poor Jews were exiled in 1669, and the rich ones in 1670. He was also among those who asked for assistance for the Venice Jewish community. In his latter days he left for Posnan (now in Poland) where his son was a physician.
Winternitz, Wilhelm (1834-1917)
Wilhelm Winternitz was born in Josefstadt (now Jaromer or Josefov, in the Czech Republic). In 1898 he was appointed full professor of hydrotherapy at the University of Vienna. He was the founder of scientific hydrotherapy based on clinically proven physiology. He published his findings and theories in the Wissenschaftlichen Hydrotherapie (1890-1892), a two volume book which has been translated into many languages. From 1891 Winternitz was the publisher of the Blaetter fuer Klinische Hydrotherapie.
Wilhelm Winternitz was the owner of the much favored, magnificently located, institute for water-cure at Kaltenleutgeben near Vienna.
Wolf, Gerson (1823-1892)
Gerson Wolf was born in Holesov (Holleschau) (now in the Czech Republic). He first intended to be a rabbi but then went to the University of Vienna to pursue secular studies. He was engaged in the political struggles of 1848-1849 and because of his radical articles was ordered to leave Vienna. When this order was revoked, he abandoned journalism and became a teacher. In 1852, he was imprisoned for a few weeks on suspicion of being a revolutionary. Two years later, he was appointed religious instructor to the Jewish community of Vienna. Wolf was very active in communal cultural and educational projects and was inspector of Jewish religious schools in Vienna. He wrote extensively, especially on the history of the Jews in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria, particularly on Vienna.
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York-Steiner, Heinrich (1859-1934)
Born in Senica, he became a prominent journalist and editor in Vienna. One of the first to join Theodor Herzl in launching the Zionist movement, he participated in a small conference early in 1897 which decided to convene the first Zionist Congress. From then on, York-Steiner worked closely with Herzl and helped him to publish Die Welt, the first official periodical of the World Zionist Organization. He also assisted Herzl in his political activities. In 1933 he settled in Tel Aviv. During his last years he was a member of the Revisionist movement.
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Zeisel, Eric (Erich) (1905-1959)
Erich Zeisel was born in Vienna. Durin the 1930’s, he was one of the most famous composers and was awarded with the Austrian State Award, for his Requiem Concertante.
After the Anschluss (1938), he went into exile, first to France and later to the USA. In Austria he composed the chamber opera Leonce and Lena, whose premiere was cancelled because of the Anscluss. Before 1938 Zeisle composed more than a thousand Lieder, but not even one after his escape.
In the USA he composed his Requiem Ebraico (1944-1945), and film music for MGM. He taught music at the Southern California Music School, Los Angeles City College. His works include Lieder, chamber music, ballet music, operas and orchestral music.
Zuckerkandl, Emil (1849-1910)
Emil Zukerkandl was born on September 1, 1849, in Raab, Hungary. He moved to Austria and in 1867 and started his studies in medicine at the University of Vienna.
He obtained his doctorate in medicine in 1874 and was licensed in 1880. He was one of the favorite pupils of the anatomist Joseph Hyrtl.
Zukerkandl worked for a period as an anatomist in Amsterdam. In 1873 he returned to Vienna to become an assistant at the pathological-anatomical chair under Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky (1804-1878) and assistant demonstrator at the Zuckerkandof under Karl von Langer. He became a full professor in 1879 and, in 1888, following the death of von Langer, assumed the chair Zuckerkandof.
Emil Zuckerkandl distinguished himself in his sharp observational powers and critical mind. As a researcher he worked in almost all fields of morphology, making notable contributions to the normal and pathological anatomy of the nasal cavity, the anatomy of the facial skeleton, the hearing organs, teeth, blood vessels, the brain (development des Balkens and the Gewoelbe), as well as the chromaffine system. He took topographical and comparative anatomy to new heights. In 1876 he discovered the aquaeductus vestibuli, which had been described by the Italian physician Domenico Felice Antonio Cotugno in 1775, but had fallen into oblivion. This is now referred to as Cotunnius’ aquaduct. In 1882 Zuckerkandl was named Professor of anatomy at Graz where he published an important paper on problems of fetus and the diameter of the mother’s uterus. During the period 1882-1892 he wrote two volumes of his important book Normale und Pathologische Anatomie der Nassenhoehle und ihrer pneumatischen Anhaenge which entitled him to be called the founder of rhinologie.
Emil Zuckerkandl may also be remembered as much for his wife, as for his achievements in medicine. His wife, Bertha Zuckerkandl-Szeps one of the remarkable personalities of the intellectual Jewish society in Vienna during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and worked tirelessly to aid refugees during World War I.
Prof. Zuckerkandl remained as chair at Zuckerkandof until his death in May 1910 in Vienna.
Zuckerkandl, Otto (1861-1921)
Otto Zuckerkandl was born in Raab, Hungary, as a younger brother of the renowned anatomist Emil Zuckerkandl. From 1912 he was assistant professor of the surgical department at the Jewish Community Hospital in Vienna. He was the most important assistant of professor Leopold Dittel, a surgical urologist.
Zuckerkandl worked primarily on and wrote about hypertrophy of the prostate, about the muscular system of the bladder, the histology of zystitis, and about tumor in the bladder.
He is the author, with Julius Tandler, of Handbuch der Urologie, (1903-1905). He was coauthor on a number of textbooks on urology and surgery, among them Handbuch der Therapie der Tukerkulose.
Zweig, Stefan (1881-1942)
Stefan Zweig was born in Vienna, son of an affluent industrialist, he devoted his entire life to literature. His talents were first recognized by Theodor Herzl who tried in vain to win him over to Zionism. After obtaining a degree in Romance languages, Zweig traveled through Europe and came under a strong French influence. In World War I he advocated pacifism in support of which he wrote his anti-war drama Jeremiah. In 1919 he settled in Salzburg where he passed his happiest and most productive years. He wrote a series of biographical studies which were very popular and his novel Beware of Pity, which – like his story Letter to an Unknown Woman – was made into a film.When the Nazis took over Austria, Zweig found himself a refugee – in England, the US and finally Brazil. In 1942 he wrote his autobiography The World of Yesterday and shortly afterwards committed suicide in Petropolis near Rio de Janeiro.