| Born: | 06-17-1880 |
| Faculty: | Philosophical School |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Dr. jur. Emil PERELS, born on June 17th, 1880 in Vienna/Austro-Hungarian Empire (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria). He was the son of the famous agricultural economist Prof. Dr. Emil Perels (1837–1893) and his wife Rosa Perels, née Volkmar (1850–1882), lived in Vienna's 8th district, Florianigasse 15.
He had already studied at the Law School of the University of Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century and had received his "Dr. iur." in 1904. He was board member of a number of Austrian companies, director of Gipswerke Schottwien-Semmering and director of Österreichisches Credit-Institut für öffentliche Unternehmungen und Arbeiten. Aged 58 he was enrolled again in the spring term 1938 at the Philosophical School in the 1st year of his studies and took courses in Philosophy and History.
He was persecuted under National Socialism after the Anschluss as a "Jew" (although baptized Protestant AB) and forced to abandon his studies and leave the University of Vienna for racist reasons. He was dismissed as a bank director but could still work in the financial administration of the Protestant Church.
His brother, Ernst Perels, was a professor of modern history and historical auxiliary sciences at the University of Berlin and had already been dismissed in 1935 for racist reasons.
Emil Perels did not manage to escape from Vienna in time and was deported from the apartment of his sister, the physician and women's rights activist Dr.med. Frida von Becher (née Perels, 1874–1951) in Vienna's 8th district, Wickenburggasse 17 to Theresienstadt [Terezín/Czech Republic] on September 24/25th, 1942. From there he was deported to the German concentration and extermination camp in Auschwitz [Oświęcim/Poland] on October 16th, 1944 and murdered.
He is commemorated at the University of Vienna in the "Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna in 1938" (2009) and at the "Memorial to the History Students and Teachers of the University of Vienna Expelled under National Socialism | When Names Shine" (2022).
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1938; Austrian State Archive, OeStA/Archive of the Republic, AdR /E-uReang/VVSt/VA/42466; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 447; POSCH/FUCHS 2022, 134–135; Yad Vashem | Shoah Victims' Names; INSTITUT THERESIENSTÄDTER INITIATIVE/DÖW 2005, 386.
Herbert Posch
