Markus (Mark) Siegelberg
| Born: |
06-11-1895 |
| Faculty: |
Law School |
| Category: |
Deprivation of academic degree |
Markus (Mark) SIEGELBERG (born on June 11th, 1895 in Luzk, Wolhynia/Poland [Ukraine] or Kiev [Ukraine]), was the son of engineer Boris Siegelberg. After he had graduated from high school in Vienna, he studied law at the University of Bern (Dr.jur.) and economy at the University of Vienna. He graduated at the Law School at the University of Vienna on June 24th, 1921 with the academic degree 'Dr. rer.pol.'.
From 1922 he worked as a journalist and contrubutor to the papers "Der Morgen", "Die Stunde" and "Der Tag" and was from 1934 until 1938 editor of "Die Stunde".
Since 1924 he was married to Erna Juran.
After the "Anschluss" Mark Siegelberg was arrested in March 1938, deported to concentration camp Dachau (prisoner no. 13877) and then transported to Buchenwald on am September 22nd, 1938. In 1939 he was able to emigrate to Shanghai, where he published an experience report about his internment in 1940 ("Schutzhaftjude Nr. 13877", Shanghai 1940) and wrote plays for the emigrant group "Die sieben Schauspieler" (several together with Hans Schubert). He also worked for different exile journals like "The Shanghai Herald" and "Shanghai Jewish Chronicle".
He was deprived of his academic degree on July 17th, 1942 with the racist argument, that he as a Jew was not considered dignified an academic degree of a German university ('eines akademischen Grades einer deutschen Hochschule unwuerdig').
By the end of the year 1941 Siegelberg emigrated to Australia, where he published the journal "Neue Welt" from 1954 on.
It took 13 years since the deprivation – and a very long time since the end of Nazism – until the regranting of the doctorate took finally place on May 15th, 1955.
In 1964 Mark Siegelberg received the Austrian Golden Medal of Merit. He returned to Austria in the late 1960ies.
He died on Dezember 4th, 1986.
Lit.: Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DOeW): Der erste Dachau-Transport aus Wien, 1. April 1938; KILLY Bd. 9 1998; ROEDER 1983; POSCH 2009.
Katharina Kniefacz
