| Born: | 05-28-1911 |
| Faculty: | Philosophical School |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Gertrud FISCHER, born on May 28th, 1911 in Vienna/Austro-Hungarian Empire, (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), was the daughter of Miksa/Max Fischer (merchant, deceased) and Blanka Fischer, née Weiss (1885–1942) and she lived with her mother in Vienna's 3rd district, Erdbergstrasse 10. She attended the Maedchen-Reformrealgymnasium II (Vienna's 2nd district, Hollandstrasse 4), for seven years, then prepared privately for high school graduation and passed her school-leaving examination ("Reifepruefung"/"Matura") in 1933 at the Bundesrealgymnasium XXI (Vienna's 21st district, Franklinstrasse 21) and began to study History, French and Philosophy at the University of Vienna in the fall term 1933/34. She was last enrolled at the School of Philosophy in the spring term of 1937. She had started working on her dissertation in Historyin April 1936 and had received the "Absolutorium" on June 21st, 1937.
She had registered for the final examinations/viva voce ("Rigorosen") in History with a minor in archaeology on July 23rd, 1937, and passed the first viva voce on October 29th, 1937, with the pedagogue Prof. Richard Meister (1881–1964) and the psychologist Prof. Karl Bühler (1879–1963). Her dissertation "Die Zeitungsannonce der Wiener Presse vor und nach dem Boersenkrach von 1873", supervised by Prof. Wilhelm Bauer (1877–1953) and Prof. Hans Hirsch (1878–1940), was accepted on October 7th, 1937, and she also passed the second viva ("Rigorosum") on July 7th, 1938. She could finally finish her studies and graduated on July 21st, 1938, but only with the discriminating ceremony of a "Nichtarierpromotion", which included at the same time that she was banned from her profession.
She had to flee Vienna and was able to emigrate to England/Great Britain in 1939 with a domestic-permit and lived and worked there as a domestic-worker in Devonshire and Sussex from 1939-1941, and as a factory worker, waitress, portress, counterhand, office worker and table cleaner in London from 1941–1950. With the help of the International Refugee Organization IRO (London Office) she was able to emigrate on June 10th, 1950 from Southampton/England on the SS Washington to the USA, where she arrived in New York City, NY on June 17th, 1950. She did not use her academic degree and gave "cafe worker" as her job title, and her mother's brother Erwin Weiss (1892–1966) and his wife Grete, née Goldhammer (1895–1983) in Baltimore, MD as her point of contact in the USA.
Her sister Hedwig (b. 1912) was married and lived in Ankara/Turkey, her mother, Blanka Fischer, née Weiss, could not escape from Austria in time and had been deported from Vienna to the Litzmannstadt|Łódź ghetto in Poland on October 15th, 1941 and from there to "unknown" on May 10th, 1942 and did not survive.
Little is known so far about the further life of Dr. Gertrud Fischer.
She is commemorated at the University of Vienna in the "Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna in 1938" (2009) and at the "Memorial to the History Students and Teachers of the University of Vienna Expelled under National Socialism | When Names Shine" (2022).
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1933–1938, final examination registry and file ("Rigorosenproktokoll und -akt") PHIL Nr. 13708, graduation registry ("Promotionsprotokoll") PHIL VI (1931–1941) No 2823; Archive Bad Arolsen/3. Registrierungen & Akten von Displaced Persons, Kindern und Vermissten/3.2 Unterstützungsprogramme unterschiedlicher Organisationen/ 3.2.1 IRO Care and Maintenance Programm/CM/1 file Gertrud Fischer 28.05.1911 signature 3216001757; POSCH 2009, 366; POSCH/FUCHS 2022, 83–84; www.ancestry.de; www.collections.arolsen-archives.org.
Herbert Posch
