Fritz (Fred J.) Weiss (Whyte)
| Born: |
01-18-1909 |
| Faculty: |
Law School |
| Category: |
Deprivation of academic degree |
Fritz WEISS (Frederick J. WHYTE), born on January 18
th, 1909 in Vienna as the son of Josef Weiss and Josefine Weiss (née Glaser), had studied law at the Law School of the University of Vienna and had graduated there on July 21
st, 1931 with the academic degree 'Dr. iur.' and was a trainee as a lawyer.
He was persecuted as a Jew after the "Anschluss" and had to flee Vienna. He had last lived in Vienna's 15
th district, Neubauguertel 3 and had married Trude Engelsmann (1911-1956) on August 8
th, 1938 at the registry office in Vienna-Leopoldstadt by civil marriage and had emigrated with her immediately afterwards to the India/British Empire, where he lived from October 1938 to July 1949, among other places in Bombay, but where he became mostly blind.
On July 17
th, 1942, he was denaturalized from der German Reich and als was deprived of his academic degree for racist reasons, as he was considered "as a Jew unworthy of an academic degree from a German university" ("eines akademischen Grades einer deutschen Hochschule unwuerdig") under National Socialist rules.
It was not until 13 years after the deprivation and long after the end of National Socialism that the doctoral degree was restored to him on May 15
th, 1955, or the deprivation declared "null and void from the beginning."
He had emigrated permanently from India to England/Great Britain in November 1949, shortly after its independence. He had been a British citizen for some time and had anglicized his name to Frederik John Whyte. He lived with his wife, two sons Stanley W. and John H. Whyte and his mother in Edgware, Midlesex, England/UK in the 1950s.
He died on October 22
nd, 1982 in Camden, Greater London, England/Great Britain.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/graduation register ("Promotionsprotokoll") IUR 1924–1939 No. 2035, rectorate GZ 118 ex 1941/42, GZ 561 ex 1944/45 No. 15; Austrian State Archives OeStA/ AdR/ E-uReang/ VVSt/ VA/ 43586, OeStA/ AdR/ E-uReang/ FLD 9133, OeStA/ AdR/ E-uReang/ FLD 39; Deutscher Reichsanzeiger, No. 225, September 26th, 1941; POSCH/STADLER 2005, 492; www.genteam.at www.ancestry.de; information from Dr. Barbara Sauer, 02/2022.
Herbert Posch
