Egon Witrofsky (Witrolfsky)

Born:	08-14-1873
Faculty:	Law School
Category:	Deprivation of academic degree

Egon WITROFSKY (WITROLFSKY) (born on August 14th, 1873 in Bruenn/Moravia [Brno/Czech Republic]), had graduated at the Law School at the University of Vienna on June 4th, 1897 with the academic degree 'Dr. iur.'.
In 1906 he married Burgtheater-actress Anna Kallina (1874-1948) and they had two daughters - Erika Witrofsky, married Ehrenzweig (1908-1974), who married Albert Armin Ehrenzweig in 1933, and the future Viennese actress Elizabeth Werner-Kallina Witrofsky (1910-2004), who was married to actor Oskar Werner from 1944 on in second marriage. His wife gave her filmdebut in 1933 and played in several Austrian silent films. In 1933 she was retired.

Egon Witrofsky was able to emigrate to the USA after the "Anschluss" 1938.
In times of Nazism he was deprived of his academic degree on July 22nd, 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.

Egon Witrofsky died on April 18th, 1958. Together with his wife, who died ten years before, he is buried at the Central Cemetery of Vienna.

Katharina Kniefacz