Wilhelm Kallir
| Born: |
06-21-1912 |
| Faculty: |
Law School |
| Category: |
Deprivation of academic degree |
Wilhelm (William) KALLIR (born on June 21st, 1912 in Vienna), was the son of Ludwig Kallir (1874-1943), who worked as a electrical engineer for A.E.G. Union Electric and Manufacturing Company. After he had graduated from high school ("Franz Joseph Realgymnasium") in 1931 he began to study law at the University of Vienna because of the administrative an economic job possibilities in industry and trade. During the first year of his studied he also attended a post graduate course for economy at the "Handelsakademie der Kaufmannschaft". Kallir graduated at the Law School of the University of Vienna on May 8th, 1936 with the academic degree 'Dr. iur.'.
After his studies he initially worked as a stenographer at court and then started to work as a trainee lawyer for Dr. Josef Zitter, a prominent Viennese lawyer, whose tasks he had to take over in February 1938 on grounds of illness.
After the "Anschluss" in March 1938 Wilhelm Kallir was banned from his profession and made an application for a visa for the USA in April 1938. In October 1938 he emigrated to New York/USA.
On March 9th, 1939 he married Edith Haber (1915-1982), a primary school teacher, who had emigrated from Vienna to New York some months before him.
In 1940 Edith Kallir was commissioned to portrait the painter Grand’ma Moses – a series of photos which became world-famous. Because of their shared interest in photography, the couple opened a photography studio in 1942.
In times of Nazism he was deprived of his academic degree on July 17th, 1942 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 unwuerdig').
It took 13 years since the deprivation – and a very long time since the end of Nazism – until the regranting of the doctorate took finally place on May 15th, 1955.
From 1948 William Kallir worked as a public accountant. Edith Kallir worked as a child photographer until 1965 and at the same time gained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. From 1965 on she worked as social worker for the NYC Board of Child Welfare and other welfare organizations.
Edith Kallir died on September 2nd, 1982 in New York, William Kallir on September 5th, 1999 in New York.
Lit.: Anna AUER (Ed.), Kunsthalle Wien: Übersee: Flucht und Emigration österreichischer Fotografen 1920-1940 | Exodus from Austria, Emigration of Austrian Photographers 1920-1940, Wien 1997, 51-55, 150-153; William Kallir Collection [AR 11313] at Austrian Heritage Collection at Leo Baeck Institute New York; William Kallir's Memoir [ME 856] at Leo Baeck Institute New York.
Katharina Kniefacz
