Ella Rothfeld, geb. Bier, verh. Abraham

Born:	06-07-1916
Faculty:	Philosophical School
Category:	Expelled student

Ella ROTHFELD (nee BIER, remarried ABRAHAM), born on June 7^th, 1916 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), daughter of Moses Bier (merchant in St. Gallen/Switzerland) and Anna (Hanya) Bier, née Kaner/Kerner (1886-1963), lived with her aunt in Vienna's 9^th district, Dreihackengasse 6. The family emigrated to St. Gall/Switzerland for economic reasons in 1929, but Ella Bier came back to Vienna to get her high school diploma (Matura) and to study psychology at the University of Vienna. She had spent the spring term of 1937 in Switzerland at the University of Zurich, had married her fellow student, the medical student Edmund Rothfeld (1915-1997) on August 1^st, 1937 in Vienna's 2^nd district, Pazmanitentemple, and was last enrolled in the fall term of 1937/38 at the Philosophical School in the 2^nd year of her studies and took courses in psychology. In 1938, after the takeover of power of National-Socialism she was forced to quit her studies for racist reason and to leave the University of Vienna, as was her husband. She was able to leave the country with her husband in time and emigrated to her parents in St. Gallen in neighboring Switzerlandon May 14^th, 1938 with a student visa. There she continued her psychology studies at the University of Lausanne for the time being. After her husband Edmund Rothfeld was able to complete his medical studies at the same university in 1939 and received his medical doctorate, they prepared their emigration from Europe without her being able to complete her studies. Together they were able to leave for the USA via Genoa/Italy on the SS Rex in January 1940, arriving in New York, NY on January 12^th, where a cousin of her husband, Pinkas Samuel, lived. Her parents later emigrated from Switzerland to the USA as well, as did her sister Lilly (1922-1971, later married to Gottfried Krupnik MD).
Her parents-in-law, however, were unable to escape from Vienna in time and were deported to Litzmannstadt [Łódź] in German-occupied Poland in 1941, where they were murdered. Ella Rothfeld moved several times with her husband and his changing internships and employment, from Lackawanna, NY, to Buffalo, NY, Dayton, OH, and finally to Cincinnati, OH, where her husband worked at the Non-Sectarian Hospital and the Cincinnati General Hospital heart clinic. In 1945, he was accepted into the United States Public Health Service as a senior assistant surgeon, primarily treating Coast Guard and Merchant Marine soldiers in Charleston, South Carolina. She became a U.S. citizen on March 20, 1945. She had two children with Edmund Rothfeld: Katie R. Rothfeld (Leon Spitz) and Anita J. Rothfeld (married m. Bob Schneider, Richmond, VA). She worked in a variety of jobs, from maid to practical nurse, ice cream maker to telegraph operator for Western Union, and finally trained as an accountant executive (stock-broker) at the New York Stock Exchange, and then began working as a financial advisor at the Westheimer & Co. investment firm in Cincinnati in 1963. A few months later her mother died and in 1965 she divorced Dr. Edmund Rothfeld. She was involved in setting up Westheimer's offshoot Hayden, Stone & Co. beginning in 1964 and moved to Walston & Co Inc., in 1968 (all financial consulting firms in Cincinnati).
She married Berlin-born Dr. Martin Abraham (1901-1981), widowed since 1968, in 1969 in her second marriage and continued to live with him in Cincinnati, OH/USA. Ella Abraham, née Bier, divorced Rothfeld, died at the age of 101 on March 8^th, 2018 in Cincinnati, OH/USA and is buried at Walnut Hills Jewish Cemetery in Evanston, OH/USA.
Lit: Archives of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1937-1938; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 462; The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 8, 1965, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Nov 8, 1967, The Cincinnati Post, Oct 10, 1983, The Cincinnati Enquire March 8 & 10, 2018; www.geni.com; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de.

Herbert Posch