| Born: | 07-03-1912 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Hermann MERL, born on July 3rd, 1912 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ('heimatberechtigt') for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), son of Littmann Merl (1879-1942, retail dealer, Vienna's 2nd district, Wehlistrasse 218/10) and Sara Merl, née Ellenberg (1881-1916), lived in Vienna's 21st [today: 22nd] district at the Old Danube in Florian-Berndl-Gasse 37. On October 11th, 1934, he passed the school-leaving examination (Reifepruefung/Matura) at the Bundesgymnasium Wien V (Rainergasse) and then began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. He was last enrolled in the fall term of 1937/38 at the Medical School in the 2nd year of his studies and he had already passed the first two parts of the first viva voce examination in January and February 1938 with excellent results (fall term 1937/38 was validated on February 16th, 1938).
In 1938, after the takeover of power of National-Socialism he was forced to quit his studies for racist reason and to leave the University of Vienna (Leaving Certificate ("Abgangszeugnis") was issued on December 6th, 1938).
With the support of the emigration department of the Jewish Community Vienna and within the framework of the Gildemeester action, Hermann Merl was able to escape from Vienna in time and left Antwerp for the USA on October 8th, 1938, with the SS Koenigstein, arriving in New York on October 21st. He had listed "mechanic, machinist, medical student" as his professional skills, since he had completed a three-year toolmaker's apprenticeship including journeyman's practice after graduating from the citizen's school, before catching up on the Matura as an extern (1934) in order to be able to study medicine afterwards. In preparation for emigration, he had also worked as a mechanic at the Neuhaus & Dörflinger company in Vienna's 9th district, Garnisongasse, which manufactured medical technology tools, and in Dr. Neuhaus' laboratory for microscopy and bacteriology, where he completed an internship for blood tests.
As contacts he could give in the USA his cousin Jakob Bader and his aunt Gittel Bader in Bronx, New York, NY.
Hermann's father Littman Merl was deported to the Theresienstadt [Terezín] ghetto in 1942 and from there on to the Auschwitz [Oświęcim in German-occupied Poland] concentration camp in 1944 and murdered there, his stepmother Chaje Feige was also deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1942 and died there eleven days later and also his sister Paula did not survive Nazism.
He was able to complete his studies and then joined the U.S. Army in September 1943. By this time he was divorced and working in the medical laboratory field.
Hermann Merl adapted his first name to "Herman" and, after the end of the war in Germany in September 1945, was involved as an interrogator for the U.S. Military Intelligence Service in the interviews of Hitler's doctors (Dr. Theodor Morell, Dr. Karl Brandt, and others), which later became part of the U.S. Army's "Hitler as seen by his doctors" report.
Dr. Herman Merl last lived at 90242 Vowney, Los Angeles/CA and deceased on January 16th, 2004, in Los Angeles County/CA, USA
Lit.: Archives of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1937-1938; Vienna Medical University, student record office ("Studienevidenzstelle"), Rigorosenteilpruefungsbeurkundung 18.441; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 438; Pascal MERL, Lass das gehen: eine jüdische Familiengeschichte im Spiegel des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, Raxendorf 2023; information from Dr. Clemens Brunn, 2017 and from his grand grandnephew Pascal Merl, 09/2020 and 07/2025; www.ancestry.de; www.findagrave.org; passenger database Ellis Island; wwii-army.mooseroots.com.
Herbert Posch
