Hans Fröhlich (Frohlich)

Hans FRÖHLICH (later: FROHLICH, born on February 7^th, 1889 in Vienna/Austro-Hungarian Empire), had graduated at the Law School at the University of Vienna on June 19^th, 1914 with the academic degree "Dr. iur.".
In times of Nazism he was deprived of his academic degree on May 8^th, 1941 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 unwürdig").

Hans Fröhlich was born as the son of k.k. Baurat Ing. Siegfried Fritz Fröhlich (1848–1923) and his wife Debora Flora, née Steiner (1862–1928), in 1889 in Vienna's 4^th district, Heugasse 18. He graduated from the Gymnasium in Vienna and, after passing the school-leaving examination, began to study law at the School of Law and Political Science of the University of Vienna. He completed his law studies a few days before the outbreak of the First World War with the doctorate "Dr. iur." on June 19^th, 1914.

He married Alice Pick (1892–1969) in Vienna (military chaplaincy) on January 5^th, 1917, during World War I, and their son Paul Adolf (1917–1990) was born in Vienna on October 2^nd, 1917. They lived in Vienna's 19^th district, Reithlegasse 9 and Dr. iur. Hans Fröhlich resigned from the Jewish Community on November 27^th, 1918, before son Walter Friedrich (1919–2010) was born on August 20^th, 1919.
After legal practice in Vienna, he became executive director of Stramberg Witkowitzer Zementwerke AG in Vítkovice/Czechoslovakia [Vítkovice-Ostrava/Czech Republic] in 1919. He also became a member of the board of directors of Syenit AG, was on the board of Spolek cementaren in Prague, was an official with Ústí svaz and a member of numerous industrial, socio-political and other associations in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

He and his family were persecuted as Jews after the Nazi takeover and had to flee. They managed to emigrate from Vienna to London in time in April 1939. From there they sailed on July 13^th, 1939 with the SS Rumuera to Wellington, New Zealand, and after a few days from there they continued with the SS Wanganella to Australia, where they arrived in Sydney on September 4^th, 1939, right at the outbreak of World War II. He also managed to help his two sisters, Helene Harth, née Fröhlich (1887–1975) and Rosa Teltscher, née Fröhlich (1893–1975), escape to Australia in time.

On May 15^th, 1940, after the family's successful emigration became known, the Berlin Reich Ministry of the Interior announced the revocation of German citizenship and all property in the Third Reich for all four family members, announced in the Deutschen Reichsanzeiger und Preussischen Staatsanzeiger of May 21^st, 1940. At the same time, the Reich Ministry of the Interior informed the Reich Ministry of Education about the initiation of the expatriation procedure - as his last address in the Third Reich was given "Witkowitz bei Mähr.- Ostrau, Hermann-Göhring-Str. 47" as his last address in the Third Reich, "London NW 3 7 Ete Avenue (sic!)" as his presumed current residence, the emigration from England to Australia which had already taken place was obviously not yet known there - and requested that everything necessary be initiated to deprive Dr. Hans Fröhlich of his academic degree as a legal consequence of the expatriation. On May 17^th, 1940, the Reich Ministry of Education in Berlin then requested the Rectorate of the University of Vienna to withdraw Hans Fröhlich's juridical academic degree, which he had obtained in 1914. Rector Knoll forwarded this to the responsible juridical dean or his deputy, Prof. Swoboda, and on June 20^th, 1940, a decision of withdrawal according to § 4 of the law of June 7^th, 1939, RGBl. I p. 385, is passed by the rector and all deans and published on July 8^th, 1940 and on the bulletin board, as well as brought to the attention of all faculties, all universities in the Third Reich, the Vienna Police Headquarters and the Berlin Ministry of Education, and communicated to the German Reichsanzeiger for publication, which took place on July 13^th, 1940, making the revocation legally effective.

It was not until 14 years after the withdrawal and long after the end of National Socialism that the doctoral degree was restored to him on May 15^th, 1955, or the withdrawal was declared "null and void from the beginning", although Hans Fröhlich was not informed of this.

The now "Frohlich" family lived since their arrival in different parts of Sidney, so Hans and Alice Frohlich are listed on the electoral roll of 1949 as factory manager and as household duties at 18 Carabella Street, Kirribilli, Sydney, NSW, in the electoral roll of 1958 in Fullers road, Orana, Sydney, NSW, he as orchardist (shortly after emigrating to Australia he had purchased an orange orchard (Orana) at Glenhaven on the outskirts of Sydney), she as working in the household.

Dr. Hans Frohlich, née Fröhlich, died aged 76 on December 30^th, 1965 in Sydney, NSW/Australia and is buried there with his wife and children at Macquarie Parc Cemetery, Sydney, Vaughan Catholic Lawn.

On July 4^th, 2023, at the Pichlmayrgut (Pichl 54, 8973 Schladming, Upper Austria), which Hans Frohlich had acquired in 1932 and which was expropriated during the Nazi period in 1939, four stumblestones ("Stolpersteins") were placed in memory of him, his wife and his two sons.

Lit.: Archives of the University of Vienna/graduation registry ("Promotionsprotokoll IUR") law school 1911–1915 No. 1111, rectorate GZ 1128 ex 1939/40, GZ 1018 ex 1939/40/41, GZ 561 ex 1944/45 No. 15; Deutscher Reichsanzeiger No. 176 of May 21^st, 1940, Deutscher Reichsanzeiger of July 13^th, 1940; Koepfe der Politik, Wirtschaft, Kunst und Wissenschaft in Europa – Tschechoslowakische Republik (Vienna, Neue Freie Presse, 1936), 70; POSCH 2009, 274, 413–414; GAUGUSCH 2011, 808–809; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de; www.myheritage.com; https://peterkrackowizer.zenfolio.com/p733347071; information courtesy by his grandson Dr. Robert Frohlich, Australia 09/2023.

Herbert Posch