Emilie (später: Emily) Kerdeman (verh. Edelman)
| Born: |
11-03-1912 |
| Faculty: |
Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: |
Expelled student |
Emilie KERDEMAN, born on November 3
rd, 1912 in Kalaharovka, Galicia(Austro-Hungarian Empire [later: Poland, today: Ukraine] (entitled residency ('heimatberechtigt') for Vienna/Austria, Citizenship: Austria), daughter of Chaim Kerdemann (1882-1967, textile manufacturer) and Livia Kerdeman, geb. Eti, moved to Vienna with her siblings and her father after the end of World War One. After graduation from highschool ("Matura"/"Reifeprüfung") she started to study medicine in Vienna and lived with her family, her stepmother Rosche, née Riss, divorced Zehner, a stepsister and a half-sister in Vienna's 5
th district, Margaretenstrasse 134/12.
She was enrolled finally in the fall term 1937/38 at the Medical School in the 5
th and last year of her studies (fall term 1937/38 was validated on February 15
th, 1938).
In 1938, after the takeover of power of National-Socialism she was forced to quit her studies for racist reason and to leave the University of Vienna (Leaving Certificate ["Abgangszeugnis"] was issued on May 25
th, 1938).
Emilie Kerdeman had to flee Austria and could emigrate with her sister with a "domestic servants permit" to Great Britain to work there as a maid.
Her brother Artur Kerdemann (1911-2008) studied at the Faculty for Mechanical Engineering at the Technical School Vienna and received his "Absolutorium" on June 17
th, 1938, but could not get his academic degree any more. In the so called "Reichspogromnacht" in November 1938 he was beaten, arrested and then deported to the Dachau concentration camp. From Dachau he was released in March 1939, only after presenting an option to leave for Shanghai, his family wa able to organize, and with the requirement of immediate departure from the German Reich. Back in Vienne and with the help from his sisters in London who were able to get him a temporary visa for Great Britain he could leave Vienna more quickly and landed in England in April 1939. After receiving a US visa in August, he was able to travel to the United States in September 1939, where he lived with his cousin Anne Weidenthal in Cleveland, Ohio.
Emilie Kerdeman also managed to obtain a US visa after some time and traveled on the steamship "Cameronia" in October 1940 via Glasgow to the USA where she arrived on October 28
th, 1940 in New York and traveled on from there to her brother Artur Cleveland, Ohio. He worked as an electrical engineer and was drafted in 1943 to the US Army and became naturalized in December 17
th, 1943. He served in the
Army Intelligence Service, in Africa, France, Corsica, Italy, Austria and Germany and in November 1945 in Berlin and was able to disarm in December 1945. In 1951 he married the US born social worker Esther Haskin (1914-1991) in Chicago, with whom he had two daughters.
Emilie Kerdeman then lived in Chicago, where her father Chaim (Charles) and her stepmother Rosche Kendeman had emigrated too. She later became a US citizen, married Rabbi Szachna S. Edelman (1905-1990) with whom she had a son.
Emily Edelman, née Emilie Kendeman, died on September 24
th, 1972 and is buried at Shalom Memorial Park, Palatine Illinois, USA
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1937-1939; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 415; EBNER/MIKOLETZKY/WEISER 2017, 36; Ellis Island passenger database; USHMM Arthur Kerdeman Papers; USHMM Interview Arthur Kerdeman 1991.
Herbert Posch
