| Born: | 06-24-1919 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Walter (Akiva) DEUTSCH, born on June 24th, 1919 in Baden near Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Baden/Lower Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), son of Dr. Samuel Deutsch (1884-1940) and his first wife Rosa née Schön (1898-1925). His father worked as a general practitioner in Baden. For five months he acted as president of the Jewish community in Baden (voting bloc of the Zionists) and was also active as a mohel (expert in circumcision according to Jewish custom). The family lived in Baden, Wassergasse 14.
After passing his school-leaving exams, Walter Deutsch began studying medicine at the University of Vienna in the fall term 1937/38. He was enrolled finally in spring term 1938 at the Medical School in the 1st year of his studies.
After the Anschluss in 1938, his father lost his license to practice medicine as a Jew and was no more allowed to treat patients. In 1938/39 the family was able to emigrate to Palestine [Israel], Walter Deutsch arrived first with the SS Palestrina already on April 4th, 1938 with a tourist visa in Haifa, then lived in Jerusalem, where he studied at the Hebrew University. On September 23rd, 1940 he was naturalized in Palestine [Israel]. His father and his second wife Valerie Deutsch, née Posiles (1894-1940) were not able to leave for Palestine until the beginning of November 1939, but his father died already on June 20th, 1940, and his wife Valerie/Wally committed suicide in Jerusalem on December 16th, 1940.
Walter's younger brother Albert Alfred Deutsch (Avraham Shemueli, 1922-1987) then also lived in Jerusalem.
Both filed applications for restitution and compensation in Austria in 1947, 1955 and 1961, but were only partially successful.
Walter Akiva Deutsch was married and had two daughters, Ms. Axelrod (née Deutsch) and Ms. Grossberg (née Deutsch).
Walter Akiva Deutsch died in 1999 in Jerusalem/Israel.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1937–1938; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 374; REITER-ZATLOUKAL/SAUER 2023; Jewish History Baden: Presidents 1863-1938; list "Jews in Lower Austria" (doc), cited there: Loewer Austrian State Archives NoeLA/VerzüJV/Karton 1317; www.ancestry.de; www.myheritage.at; www.geni.com.
Katharina Kniefacz, Herbert Posch
