Abraham Wolloch

Born:	03-07-1914
Faculty:	Philosophical School
Category:	Expelled student

Abraham WOLLOCH, born on March 7th, 1914 in Kolomea/Poland [Kolomyja/Ukraine] (entitled residency ('heimatberechtigt') for Vienna/Austria, Citizenship: Austria), son of Efraim Wolloch (retailer), lived in Wien 2, Taborstraße 106/16. His secondary school leaving examination ("Matura") dated from October 5th, 1937 (at the "Realgymnasium" in Viennas 3rd district, Radetzkystrasse), a week later he was enrolled at the Philosophical School of the University of Vienna and he took courses in Chemistry (Prof. Ernst Spaeth | 1886-1946, in 1937/38 also rector of the university), Physics (Prof. Egon Schweidler | 1873-1948), Mathematics (Prof. Nikolaus Hofreiter | 1904-1990) and Pedagogcs (Prof. Richard Meister | 1881-1964) as well as the obligatory lecture about austrofascist state and ideology (Prof. August M. Knoll | 1900-1963). His 1st year of studies also was his last. In spring term 1938, still in the first year of his studies, he was no more allowed to enroll. Due to racist regulation of National-Socialism he was expelled from the University and could not continue his studies.

After 1938 he crossed the border to Switzerland, and  stayed  there as a refugee until he was allowed by the  British mandate to immigrate to Palestine legally in 1939. Upon  arriving  to Palestine, he admitted the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, there he actually 'started  from  the beginning', while his major-academic-subjects were Human science. He graduated there and got a Master-degree. Many of his professors had had to emigrate from Germany and Austria too. Then he moved to Tel-Aviv for graduating pedagogic-studies in teachers-seminar which took another two years.
Then he became a high school teacher, married in 1951 a Kindergarten-educator and they lived in few places  around  Tel Aviv. As for 10 years he was occupied by several education-institutions.
Then one year after the birth of his daughter, they moved to Jerusalem, where  he  got a position of a senior-teacher in a very  reputable high school. He retired on the age of 65. He died three years later, in 1981 from cancer.

His father Efraim was able to emigrate to Switzerland and came to Tel Aviv in 1945 (he died in 1971), his mother, who was compelled to remain in Vienna, died in 1941 from illness, his younger brother Lazy, first escaped to Holland in the early 1940ies but was murdered in Sobibor in 1943.

Lit.: information from his daugther Lio Lea Halpern, Jerusalem 2012.

Herbert Posch