| Born: | 12-05-1914 |
| Faculty: | Philosophical School |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Otto CHOMET, recte KESTENBAUM, born on December 5th, 1914 in Vienna/Austro-Hungarian Empire [Austria] (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), was the son of David Chaim Chomet (1867–1944, merchant, owner of a grocery store in Vienna) and Blume (Bertha) Chomet, née Zoller recte Broczyner (1879–1944), who came both from Brody/Galicia [Броди/Ukraine]. The family lived in Vienna's 2nd district, Schiffamtsgasse 9. After he had graduated from high school ("Bundesrealgymnasium") in Franklinstraße 21, Vienna's 21st district, in February 1936, he began studying at the University of Vienna in fall term 1936/37.
Otto Chomet was last enrolled in the fall term of 1937/38 at the Philosophical School in the 2nd year of his studies and took courses in German language and literature Studies and in History.
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.
Otto Chomet had to leave Vienna. He and his family members managed to survive and flee to safety abroad—at different times and via different emigration routes. His older siblings—Bernhard Chomet (1905–1994) and his wife Ernestine, née Weiss, as well as his sister Friederike Kürschner (Salomon), née Chomet (1902–?), and her husband Mordko J. S. Kürschner (Salomon) – quickly obtained affidavits for immigration to the US and were able to emigrate. His brother Leo (1910–?) was able to emigrate to Palestine [Israel] with his wife Klotilde, née Werber, and became a naturalized citizen there in 1941. Since early May 1938, Otto Chomet's father had been trying to obtain affidavits not only for himself and his wife, but also for his younger sons Otto and Adolf Chomet (Alfred Compton, 1917–1990) through relatives in Detroit, Michigan, and Cleveland, Ohio, which he ultimately succeeded in doing. The family was thus able to emigrate to the United States in 1939.
Otto Chomet arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in early 1940, initially living with his sister and brother-in-law, and later with his parents David and Bertha. In 1940, he listed his occupation as an employee at Goodwill Industries of Minneapolis. Since his arrival, he wrote numerous articles describing his impressions of life in exile, especially about local youth work, as he had already been involved in the Mizrachi youth organization and Youth Aliyah in Vienna. Here he also expressed his hope that by studying English intensively, he would soon receive a scholarship to the University of Minnesota to continue his studies. In 1942, he appeared in the Minneapolis census with the occupation “student.” He successfully completed his studies at the University of Minnesota, Division of Library Instruction.
From 1944, Chomet worked in book cataloging at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. In 1949, he moved to New York, NY, where he worked in the same department at the Brooklyn Public Library. Chomet was considered an expert in German, Yiddish, and Hebrew cataloging, having translated and authored numerous articles on librarianship and other topics. He was a member of the American Library Association, the Special Libraries Association, and the New York Library Club.
He is commemorated at the University of Vienna since 2009 in the "Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna 1938," and since 2022 his name is also included on the memorial "When Names Shine | Memorial to the History Students and Teachers of the University of Vienna Expelled under National Socialism," located on the first floor of the university's main building.
Otto Chomet died on August 14th, 1955, in New York.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1937-1938; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 372; Herbert POSCH and Martina FUCHS, eds., When Names Shine. History Students and Teachers Expelled from the University of Vienna 1938-1945: A Memorial, Vienna/Munster 2022, 79-80; The American Jewish World, Minneapolis, 1940; College and Research Libraries 17/1 (January 1956), 94; information by courtesy of his grandniece Carolina Kaufman, 2015; www.geni.com; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de.
Katharina Kniefacz, Herbert Posch
