Margot Schidloff

Margot (Alice) SCHIDLOFF, born on December 2^nd, 1911 in Vienna, (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship: Austria), daughter of Arthur Schidloff (1878-1950, merchant) and his wife Johanna (née Saxl, 1882-1942) and living in Vienna's 2^nd district, Zirkusgasse 38/14. She had passed the school-leaving examination (Reifepruefung/Matura) at the Commercial Academy in 1930 and on March 21^st, 1933 at the Reform Realgymnasium in Vienna the additional Realgymnasium-examination and in the spring term of 1933 began to study psychology in conjunction with philosophy and as a minor subject German studies at the School of Philosophy and was last enrolled in the fall term of 1936/37 and since then was in the final phase of her studies and was working on her dissertation under Prof. Karl Buehler and Charlotte Buehler and was conducting intensive testing of girls at numerous schools.

After the "Anschluss", however, she was not allowed to submit her already completed dissertation for licensure for racist reasons, and for the time being she was not allowed to sit for the final examinations ("Rigorosen")

After petitions to the faculty (April 14^th, 1938), the Rectorate (April 24^th, 1938), and the Ministry of Education (May 25^th, 1938), she was still allowed to register for the final examinations ("Rigorosen") in psychology on July 2^nd, 1938. Her dissertation, "The Development of Material Treatment in Girls from the 8^th-15^th Years of Life with Special Reference to the 11^th-15^th Years of Life" was not reviewed until 27^th September by the successor to the already expelled Buehlers, the newly appointed Otto Tumlirz. September and used to discredit the working methods and contents of his predecessors who had supervised the dissertation: "Since the question, the overestimation of the tests and the statistics do not characterize the author, but the former institute management, it only remains to state here that the author has taken the greatest pains to master the brittle material and to evaluate it statistically in as many ways as possible." On October 12^th, 1938, second examiner Robert Reiniger agreed and the dissertation was approved. On October 26^th, 1938, she passed the two-hour viva voce with her dissertation examiners, and on October 31^st, 1938, she also passed the one-hour viva voce in German Studies with Prof. Josef Nadler and Prof. Emil Kralik. Thus, after a long period of uncertainty, she was able to complete her studies after all and receive her doctorate on October 31^st, 1938, amidst numerous symbolic discriminations in the context of a "non-Aryan doctorate," while at the same time being banned from working in the entire German Reich.

Margot Schidloff's father was able to emigrate to England, not least thanks to his business connections as a representative of English companies in Austria, but was interned there as an "enemy alien" in 1939 until May 1941. Margot Schidloff and her mother did not manage to escape from Vienna in time and were deported on May 6^th, 1942 from their apartment in Vienna's 2^nd district, Krafftgasse 3/12 to Maly Trostinec/Belarus, where they were murdered upon arrival on May 11^th, 1942.

Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment ("Nationale") PHIL 1932-1938, final examination registry and file ("Rigorosenakt und -protokoll") PHIL Nr. 14546, graduation registry ("Promotionsprotokoll") PHIL 1931-1941 Nr. 2873, PHIL GZ 8 ex 1937/38, ONr. 94; GEUTER 1986, 277; WEITZEL 2000, 93; POSCH 2009, 367; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de; www.doew.at.

Katharina Kniefacz and Herbert Posch