| Born: | 05-28-1913 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Erwin (Moscow) ASRIEL, born on May 28th, 1913, in Vienna/Austro-Hungarian Empire [Austria] (entitled residency (“heimatberechtigt”) in Vienna, citizenship 1938: Austria), was the son of Dr.iur. Mosco/Mosche/Moritz Asriel (born June 25th, 1875, in Belgrade/Serbia, businessman) and Regina Asriel, née Enriquez (born July 17 th, 1887, in Izmir/Ottoman Empire [Turkey]). The parents were members of the Sephardic community in Vienna and had married there in 1905. The family had lived in Vienna’s 19 th district, Blaasstraße 9 since 1911.
After graduating from the high school (“Bundesrealgymnasium”) in Vienna’s 19 th district, Erwin Asriel began studying medicine at the University of Vienna in the fall term of 1932/33. He was last enrolled at the Medical School in the spring term of 1937 - he traveled to New York for a few months in the summer of 1937 - and was already in the final examination/viva voce ("Rigorosen") stage in 1938.
After the "Anschluss" to Nazi-Germany in March 1938 there was a long period of uncertainty if he as a Jew was forced to leave the university without graduation for racist reasons. But he was able to complete his studies after all ("Absolutorium" certificate issued on July 18 th, 1938) and on July 21 st, 1938, under numerous symbolic discriminations as a "non-Aryan graduation", he was awarded his degree "Dr.med.univ." (M.D.) and at the same time was banned from practicing medicine in the entire German Reich.
In April 1938, his father Dr. Moritz Asriel left the company "Brüder Asriel & Farchy" (Turkish wholesale business, Vienna’s 2 nd district, Freilagergasse 1) as a partner and emigrated to Great Britain with his wife, where they both lived in London, England, until after the end of the war.
Erwin Asriel had to flee Vienna and was able to leave the country in time for Great Britain, too, where he lived in Caterham, Sussex, and received his U.S. visa in London on January 25 th, 1939, and was able to emigrate to the USA from Southampton on the SS Aquitania on February 11 th, 1939. He arrived in New York, NY, on February 17 th, 1939, where he was initially able to stay with his maternal uncle, H. Enriquez, who was already living in New York.
His older sister Antonia (“Nina”) Asriel (born February 4 th, 1906 in Milan, Italy), who was a private civil servant in 1938 and lived with the family, was also able to leave Vienna in time and emigrated on May 20 th, 1939, from Flushing [Vlissingen]/Netherlands with the SS Rotterdam to the USA, where she arrived on May 30 th, 1939 and initially lived with her brother Erwin and her uncle.
In the fall of 1939, she was already living at 600 W. 150 th Street in New York and stated that she worked part-time in the book trade/library business (Nov. 1939: "book saleswoman", April 1940: "librarian").
Unlike her brother Erwin, she initially remained in New York, later living at 3000 Valentine Ave, Bronx, NY, and was granted U.S. citizenship in December 1944. After the end of the war, her parents, who had lived in London/England until then, emigrated to New York to join her in January 1946. Nina Asriel died in August 1980 in Bourbon, Kentucky, USA.
Erwin Asriel only stayed in New York for a short time. In April 1940, he was already living and working in Beaumont, Jefferson, Texas, as a doctor at St. Theresa Hospital. He met his future wife, the Texas-born American Margaret Christine Ford (1917-2001), who was working as a nurse at the Veteran Hospital in Waco, McLennan, Texas, in October 1940, when he was mustered into the U.S. Army, while he was working as a doctor at Providence Hospital in Waco. They married on January 21 st, 1941, in Waco and he served in the U.S.-Army. In the 1950 census, he was living as a doctor with his wife, a registered nurse, in the Nurses Home in Paris, KY/USA, W 2nd str. #31. They later had two children - Mary Regina Asriel Shissler (b. 1952) and John Mosco Asriel (b. 1953).
Erwin Asriel remained in the U.S.-Army after the end of the Second World War, retiring with the rank of Colonel in 1973 and continuing to work as a doctor.
Dr. Erwin Moscow Asriel continued to live in Paris, Bourbon, Kentucky/USA and died there on June 23 rd, 2002. He was buried at Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Nicholasville, Kentucky/USA.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms (“Nationale”) MED 1932-1937, graduation registry (“Promotionsprotokoll”) MED 1929-1942 No. 4077; Austrian State Archives OeStA/AdR/E-uReang/Hilfsfonds/Abgeltungsfonds 4421, 4422 and 6481 (application for compensation), OeStA/AdR/E-uReang/VVSt/VA 17723, 28461 and 46421 (property declaration), OeStA/AdR/E-uReang/FLD 4821, 4822 (application for restitution); Vienna City and Provincial Archives WStLA/2.3.3 A3, 48a (Commercial Court files); POSCH 2009, 370; www.findagrave.com; www.ancestry.de; www.myheritage.de; www.genteam.at; www.familysearch.org; information by courtesy of his daughter Regina Asriel, USA 05/2025 and from Sarah N. Kaliga 05/2025.
Katharina Kniefacz and Herbert Posch
