Alexis (Johann Maria) Vivenot

Born:	02-06-1909
Faculty:	Law School
Category:	Deprivation of academic degree

Alexis (Johann Maria) VIVENOT (born on February 6th, 1909 in Vienna) was the son of Ernst Eduard Alois Freiherr von Vivenot (1872-1942) and countess Alice von Kuenburg (1883-1948), had graduated at the Law School at the University of Vienna  on March 22nd, 1933 with the academic degree 'Dr. iur.'. He could flee to Great Britannia  but was interned there as "enemy alien" and was deported to Australia with the ship HMT "Dunera". After his release he wanted to return to England, but his ship, the  SS Abosso sunk after torpedo-attack by Germans and Vivenot died on October 29th, 1942 in the North Atlantic. In times of Nazism he was deprived of his academic degree on June 29th, 1943 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'). It took 12 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. Lit.: genealogieonline; information from Christine Kanzler and Elisabeth Lebensaft, Project "Dunera-Boys", 12/2015

Herbert Posch