| Born: | 06-08-1919 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Bruno SESSLER, born on June 8th, 1919 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residenc ("heimatberechtigt") in Vienna, citizenship 1938: Austria), son of Judas/Julius (John) Sessler from Horodenka (1866-?, private civil servant/office manager) and his third wife Ester/Elise Sessler, née Fejgus from Warsaw (1889-1940), whom he had married in Vienna-Landstraße in 1915.
Bruno Sessler passed his school-leaving examination (Matura) at the "Realgymnasium Wien 8" in 1937 and then began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. He lived with his family in Vienna's 8th district, Josefstädterstraße 31/8 and was last enrolled in the first term at the Medical School in the fall term of 1937/38.
After the "Anschluss", he was persecuted under National Socialism as a Jew, although he and his entire family had left the Jewish Community on October 3rd, 1921 and converted to Protestant AB. He was forced to abandon his studies and leave the University of Vienna for racist reasons (he was still given credit for the 1937/38 fall term on May 17th, 1938).
His older brother Kurt Anselm Sessler (1916-1967), who studied at the Hochschule für Welthandel (today: "Vienna University of Economics and Business"), was able to complete his doctorate in 1938 just in time to finish his studies.
Bruno Sessler had to flee Vienna but was initially unable to leave the country. In April 1940, his mother died at the age of 51 in the Israelite Hospital in Vienna and he lived with his aunt Saja Fegus in Vienna's 8th district, Florianigasse 38/15. In March 1941, he received a U.S. visa in Vienna and his brother Anselm Kurt Sessler (1916-1967) was able to finance a ship passage from the USA. He arrived in New York, NY/USA on August 20th, 1941 to travel on to his brother in San Francisco, CA, who had already been able to emigrate there in 1939 and with whom he was able to live. Shortly after his arrival, he was drafted into the U.S.-Army on September 24th, 1941 in San Francisco and was also accepted into the U.S.-Army on March 31st, 1944 in Presidio of Monterey, CA
Bruno Sessler was unable to resume his studies under the conditions of emigration, lived in New York after the end of the war from the late 1950s at the latest, and from 1960 at the latest at 5 North Court, Bayview Colony in Port Washington, NY and worked as an import/export merchant and broker.
He married Iza Chateaubriand Banerda Cabrita (1924-?) on May 18th, 1957 in Stamford, CT/USA and they had several children.
In 1959 his sister Anne Sessler (1917-1959) died in Athens/Greece and on December 10th, 1967 his older brother Anselm Kurt died in San Francisco, CA/USA.
Bruno Sessler died on September 1st, 2003 in Port Washington, NY.
Lit: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1937-1938; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de; www.myheritage.com, information by courtesy of his grand-niece Julia Benner, USA, 08/2024.
Herbert Posch
