Julius Freier (Fryer)
| Born: |
01-29-1899 |
| Faculty: |
Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: |
Deprivation of academic degree |
Julius (W.) FREIER (later: FRYER) (born on January 29
th, 1899 in Kolomea, Galicia/Austro-Hungarian Empire [later: Poland, today: Kolomyja|Коломия/Ukraine], entiteled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna), citizenship 1938: Austria), had graduated at the Medical School at the University of Vienna on December 7
th, 1928 with the academic degree "Dr. med." (M.D.).
He had left the Jewish Community in March 1933 (lived at that time in Vienna's 10
th district, Gudrunstrasse 160) and married Dora Weitzner from Bolechow in May 1935 in Vienna (divorces in June July 1937) and in second marriage on July 15
th, 1938 in Vienna-Josefstadt the Viennese pharmacognostist Dr.phil. Mag.pharm. Erika Therese Angela Sommer (1909-1987). He then lived in Vienna's 8
th district, Schloesslgasse 13/13.
After the "Anschluss" in March 1938, he was perpetrated as a Jew and was arrested by the Gestapo in Vienna on September 23rd, 1938 and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar/Germany, where he was imprisoned from December 28
th, 1938 to January 30
th, 1939 (prisoner number 1347); the reasons given for his imprisonment were "Jewish, Polish, political (until 1926 Socialst, 1935-1938 Austro-Fascist), abortion".
Under the condition that he leave the country immediately, he was released at the end of January 1939 from Buchenwald and was able to leave Austria with his wife for London, England/Great Britain in time to await his visa for the USA, which he did not receive until May 1st, 1940 (he and his wife were exempted from the usual internment as enemy aliens on October 26th, 1939). His sister Dr. Ljuba Wellich, née Freier, who also emigrated remained in England, while his brother Fred Freier (Fryer) emigrated to the USA and later lived in Patterson, NJ.
Julius Freier and his wife were deprived of their citizenship by the German Reich on February 27
th, 1940, due to their forced emigration, and their assets were confiscated. Now stateless, they traveled from Liverpool, England to the U.S. on June 18
th, 1940 aboard the
SS Newfoundland and arrived in Boston, MA/USA on July 2
nd, 1940. When he entered the country, he still gave "doctor" as his profession, but when he applied for naturalization a month later, he gave only "medical student", since he was not yet allowed to practice in the USA for the time being.
As a result of the expatriation, Julius Freier was also deprived of his academic degree by the University of Vienna on June 20
th (July 8
th) 1940 for racist reasons, as he was considered "unworthy of an academic degree from a German university" under National Socialism. Since his wife Erika's two academic degrees had not been listed when she was expatriated, they were - inadvertently - not revoked.
Julius Freier (Fryer) lived with his wife Erika initially in West Medford, Middlesex, MA, and in 1942 in Cambridge, MA (he was then working at
Lakeville State Sanitarium and was mustered into the
U.S. Army but not drafted), where their son George Ernest (1942-2000) was born. They then lived and worked in Middleboro, MA, where their daughter Elizabeth Susan Meade, née Fryer (1943-202?) was born.
Beginning in 1945, Julius Freier worked as a physician at
Danvers State Hospital in Hathorne near Boston, MA. Upon their naturalization on November 19
th, 1945, both anglicized their names to Ellen Angela Fryer and Julius William Fryer.
In 1950 Julius W. Fryer became clinical director of
Danvers State Hospital in Hathorne, MA, which he remained until his untimely death.
He was a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Association, a diplmat of the
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a fellow of the
American Psychiatric Association, and published a number of articles in the field of psychiatry.
It was not until 15 years after the revocation and long after the end of National Socialism that his doctoral degree was restored to him on May 15, 1955, or rather the revocation was declared "null and void from the beginning," but he himself was not notified of this.
His wife, despite two academic degrees, was for many years primarily a housewife in the U.S., but later became associate professor of German at
Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Newton, MA (she had married in her second marriage the Boston steelware dealer John W. Taxer (1899-1965), widowed in 1959).
Julius William Fryer, née Julius Freier, died only 58 years old on February 13
th, 1957 in Danvers, MA/USA and is buried at Sharon Memorial Park in Sharon, MA/USA.
Lit.: Archives of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED, graduation registry ("Promotionsprotokoll") MED XII (1923-1929) No. 2525, rectorate GZ 1003 ex 1939/40, GZ 1018 ex 1939/40/41, GZ 561 ex 1944/45 No 15; Archives of the Jewish Community (IKG) of Vienna/marriage records, conversions; Arolsen Archives/Registrations/Postwar Evaluations/Amt fuer Erfassung der Kriegsopfer/2.3.1.20001; POSCH 2009, 412; Deutscher Reichsanzeiger No. 52 from March 1, 1940; The Boston Globe from February 14, 1957, 31; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de.
Herbert Posch
