| Born: | 05-07-1915 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Genia STEINSCHNEIDER (married Jenny ZUNDEL), born on May 7th, 1915 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), daughter of Julius Steinschneider (merchant, deceased in 1931) and his wife Elsa née Schack (b. August 20th, 1879 in Vienna) fostered in late 1917 and adopted in 1922 (birth parents: Etie Horoschowska and Benzion Weber had to flee from Drohobych, Galicia/Austro-Hungarian Empire [Drohobytsch | Дрогобич/Ukraine] in 1914 after outbreak of World War I and got separated), lived in Vienna 20th district, Wallensteinstrasse 17/9.
After she had graduated from high school, Genia Steinschneider began to study medicine at the University of Vienna in 1933. During her studies, she met her future husband Walter Zundel in 1936, who studied medicine, too. She was enrolled finally in the spring term 1938 at the Medical School in the 5th and last year of her studies.
After the takeover of power of National-Socialism in March 1938 she was forced to quit her studies for racist reason. She requested to continue her studies in spring term 1938 under the rule of the 2% Numerus Clausus of Jewish Students, and was allowed to continue till end of spring term 1938 on June 3rd, 1938 (but lecture session already ended on June 30th). She finally had to leave the University of Vienna ("Absolutorium" was certified on December 23rd, 1938) without a chance to graduate.
Genia Steinschneider was able to leave Vienna in March 1939 and emigrated to London/Great Britain with a "domestic permit". She first worked as a domestic in Manchester, but soon returned to London. A short time later she managed to get an invitation for her fiancé Walter Zundel, so he was enabled to emigrate to London in July 1939, too. In October 1939, the couple married and initially lived in London.
When Walter Zundel fell seriously ill with tuberculosis in late 1940, they left London. He had to stay in Ware Sanatorium for six months, during which Jenny Zundel worked in Welwyn Garden City and later as a librarian and assistant in a medical lab (Allen and Hanbury's Pharmaceuticals) for a short time. When her husband was able to leave the hospital in 1941, she found an apartment and a job at a bank in Hertford, where they lived for five years. Since there was a huge need of physicians due to the war, Walter Zundel was given the opportunity to complete his studies and work as a doctor in England. Jenny Zundel never had the chance to complete her nearly finished medical studies.
In 1943 Jenny Zundel learned that her adoptive mother Elsa Steinschneider, her sister/brother-in-law Olga and Karl Singer were deported to Litzmannstadt [Lodz/Poland] on October 23rd, 1941, and on April 5th, 1942 were further deported to the concentration camp Kulmhof [Chełmno/Poland] and murdered there.
After the war, the couple moved first to Grimsby, then to Ilkley where their son Stephen (1947-1975) was born, later to Coventry, where in 1953 their daughter Veronica was born.
Jenny Zundel, née Steinschneider, died on April 5th, 2012 in London/UK.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1937-1938, rectorate GZ 722/I ex 1937/38; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 483; Interview with Jenny Zundel, London, May 14th, 1997, USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, University of Southern California, Interview 31516; information from her daughter Veronica Zundel, London 03/2019, 09/2020 and 11/2022).
Katharina Kniefacz (revised Herbert Posch, 2020, 2022)
