| Born: | 09-14-1916 |
| Faculty: | Philosophical School |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Paul Gottfried BLEIER, born on September 14th, 1916 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), son of Dr. Otto Bleier (1873-1921, chemist in the family business Papierfabrik Jac. Schnabl und Co.) and Hilda Bleier, née Haberfeld (1886-1947), lived in Vienna's 19th district, Silbergasse 43, was last enrolled in the spring term of 1938 at the Philosophical School in the 3rd year of his studies and took courses in Chemistry.
Under National Socialism, he was forced to drop out of his studies and leave the University of Vienna after the Anschluss for racist reasons. His older sister, the medical student Gertraud Ruth März, née Bleier (1915-1990) and his brother-in-law, the law student Eduard März (1908-1987) were also expelled from the University of Vienna for racist reasons.
Paul Gottfried Bleier left Vienna on March 13th, 1938, "disguised" as a skier, and managed to reach Switzerland via the Silvretta, Vorarlberg. There he was able to make contact with his brother-in-law Eduard März and friends and after a few months was able to emigrate to Great Britain via France. He was able to continue his chemistry studies and worked in Edinburgh. However, when war broke out, he was arrested as an enemy alien and deported to Quebec/Canada and interned from 1939 to 1940. In 1944, he married the Scottish woman Joyce Mary Balfour Orr and their daughter was born in London in 1945.
He returned to Austria in 1949, which was not easy for him. He initially worked as a specialist at the Wood Research Institute in the Vienna Arsenal, while his wife and daughter remained in England. In the 1950s, he began working as a chemist in the family business "Samum Vereinigte Papier-Industrie KG" and was later also a consultant for paper processing at UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. He later married Gertrude Böhm (1922-2005), with whom he also had a daughter, Daniela (born 1958).
Paul Gottfried Bleier died in Vienna in March 1990 and was buried at the Vienna-Heiligenstadt cemetery.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1937–1938; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 364; Eveline Elisabeth MÄRZ, Das Margules Haus der ZAMG – ehemals Hohe Warte 40 – und die Großfamilie Bleier, 2021; Friedhofsauskunft Wien.
Herbert Posch
