| Born: | 12-22-1911 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Edith BROCH (married BROCH-WEISZ), born on December 22nd, 1911 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna, citizenship 1938: Austria), daughter of the well known banker Philipp Broch (1871–1936, president of the "Private Allgemeine Verkehrsbank") and his wife Laura, née Kraemer (1879–1945), lived together with her parents and her older brother Erich (1904–1957) in Vienna's 3rd district, Reisnerstrasse 28.
She received a good education at boarding schools in Lausanne/Switzerland and in England. In fall 1930 she was admitted as a teacher of French in primary schools. After Edith Broch had graduated from high school ("Realgymnasium") in Vienna's 2nd district, she moved into her own flat in Vienna's 3rd district, Garelligasse 3, and began to study medicine at the University of Vienna in fall term 1933/34. After her first term she moved to Vienna's 9th district, Rummelhardtgasse 3/46.
During her studies, she met her future husband Arthur Weisz (1904–2000). She was finally enrolled in spring term 1938 at the Medical School in the 5th year of her studies, although she wrote in her "Nationale" (enrolment form) since fall term 1935/36, that it was only her 5th term.
When Arthur completed his medical studies, obtaining the academic title "Dr.med." ("M.D.") on March 4th, 1938 and registering with the Vienna Medical Association, the couple decided to leave Austria because of the threatening political developments on March 10th, 1938, and emigrated to the USA. They traveled by train and crossed the Austrian border on March 11th, 1938 at Feldkirch/Vorarlberg, first went to Zurich/Switzerland and from there by train with a transit visa through France to reach England by ferry in Dover on March 16th, from where they boarded on June 23rd, 1938 at the SS Normandie with a short-term tourist visa to the USA, arriving in New York, NY on March 29th, 1939. On the spot, Edith Broch and Arthur Weisz applied for a permanent entry visa for the U.S., which was issued in Washington on April 6th, whereupon they married in New York, NY, on April 13th, 1938, before leaving and re-entering again for the visa to become valid. So they left the USA for Havana, Cuba and on May 13th, 1938 officially entered the USA (Miami) from there, no longer as tourists but as immigrants. However, they returned to Europe several times in the autumn of 1938 and in 1939 in order to organize the rescue of other family members from Switzerland, including their mother Laura Broch and her brother Erich Broch, both of whom had in the meantime been imprisoned in the Vienna Regional Court.
In New York, Edith Broch-Weisz completed a training course in medical assisting and business management and was certified as a Medical Assistant on December 31st, 1939, but was not able to continue her medical studies in exile.
While her husband did his medical internship in at St. Francis Hospital & Sanatorium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1939–40 and after successful exams was licensed as a physician and surgeon by the Medical State Board of New York on September 3rd, 1941, Edith Broch-Weisz in the 1940s was engaged as a volunteer in the organization "Self Help" with helping the Jewish emigrants. In 1943–44 she attended an English course at Columbia University and received the US citizenship in 1943.
Arthur Weisz finally became a respected physician in New York City, while Edith Broch-Weisz finished her work becoming a housewife.
The couple had personal contact with Kurt Waldheim and Bruno Kreisky.
Arthur Weisz died on September 25th, 2000 in New York, Edith Broch-Weisz only a few months later, on January 25th, 2001.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1933–1938; Leo Baeck Institute, New York: Edith Broch-Weisz Collection (AR 10678); POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 370; REITER-ZATLOUKAL/SAUER 2023.
Katharina Kniefacz
