Paul Lande

Born:	08-04-1916
Faculty:	Philosophical School
Category:	Expelled student

Paul LANDE, born on August 4^th, 1916 in Vienna/Austria (no entitled residency and no citizenship: stateless), son of Josef Lande (1879–1952, bookseller in Wolkersdorf/Lower Austria) and Katharina Lande, née Weisz (1877–1955), lived in the dormitory "Akademikerhilfe" in Vienna's 9^th district, Saeulengasse 18. He had attended the Catholic private high school Kollegium Kalksburg of the Jesuit order and passed the school-leaving examination (Reifepruefung/Matura) there in June 1934 and then began to study Theology at the University of Vienna, but then changed from the Roman Catholic Theological School to the School of Philosophy in the fall term of 1937/38 and was enrolled there in the spring term of 1938 in the 1^st year of his studies and attended lectures in Ancient History, Classical Philology and Art History. He was discriminated as a so called "Mischling 1. Grades" and could continue his studies at first - valid until revoked -, but the Reichserziehungsministerium did not allow him to take the final exams in 1940. After the Nazi seizure of power, his father, the Catholic Josef Lande, was considered a "Jew" and Paul Lande himself a "Mischling 1st degree". His father was born Moses Aaron Lande in 1879 in Ukraine and grew up with his grandfather in Jerusalem in Jewish Orthodox surroundings. He was chosen by his uncle, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, for the high office of rabbi in Tiberias (Galilee), but during a visit to his parents in Vienna he broke off all relations with his family, later converted to Catholicism and was baptized with the name "Josef". He met Katharina Weiss, a farmer's daughter from Wolkersdorf/Lower Austria, the two married in 1914 Wolkersdorf, and they had three sons: Paul (born 1916) and his two brothers Robert (born 1918) and Josef Jr. (born 1920). Paul Land's father had set up a bookshop in the house of a Viennese priest in Wolkersdorf in 1918. Under National Socialism, the father's bookshop was "Aryanized"/expropriated in 1938, he and his three sons were expelled from Wolkersdorf to Vienna (the mother was able to stay in Wolkersdof and supports them from there). Paul Lande, student at Philosophical School, and his brother Robert Lande, student at Medical School, were already living there in the dormitory at Saeulengasse 18, but in 1938/39 they moved in with their father to Vienna's 18^th district, Schumanngasse 36. Both were allowed to continue their studies for the time being as "Mischling 1. Grades" subject to revocation at any time. When Paul Lande then applied on July 18^th, 1940 to graduate in Classical Philology with Prof. Johann Mewaldt (1880-1964), NSDAP member, this was, however, first provisionally forbidden by the Reich Ministry of Education in Berlin on September 6th, 1940, and then finally forbidden on March 10^th, 1941, after consultation with the Deputy of the Fuehrer, since the intended school service for "Mischlinge 1. Grades" was forbidden under National Socialism. He was forced to leave the University of Vienna without graduateion.
His brother Robert Lande, however, who was studying at the Medical School, was still able to continue his studies and, since he had already passed the 1^st viva voce examination, was exceptionally admitted to the medical examinations in 1940 with the approval of the Reich Ministry of the Interior in Berlin, which was responsible for doctors, and in 1941, since he was considered a "stateless person" and therefore could not obtain a professional license as a doctor in the Third Reich, he was also admitted to the doctoral examination procedure. Thus, on September 27^th, 1941, he was exceptionally able to obtain his doctorate as "Dr.med." - but without a license to practice and with a professional ban. He later worked at the Hera private Clinic in Vienna, among other places.
From 1941 on, "Mischlinge 1. Grades" were also excluded from the Deutsche Wehrmacht and Paul and his younger brother Josef jun. Lande found employment in Vienna through the mediation of Catholic circles during the war, the father Josef Lande was temporarily employed in the archives of the archbishop's office. After the end of the Nazi regime, his father Josef Lande returned to Wolkersdorf and took over his book and paper shop again, which was later continued by his youngest son until 1978. Although Paul Lande himself did not graduate at the University of Vienna after 1945, he lived in Vienna's 18^th district, Gentzgasse 135, and went into higher education, became a high school professor and taught Greek, Music and Choire at the "Wasagymnasium", the federal high school in Vienna's 9^th district, Wasagasse 10 from 1946 until his retirement in 1978 Paul Lande died on October 25^th, 1999 in Vienna and is buried at the Neustift am Walde cemetery in Vienna.

Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1937-1938, MED 1937–1941, Rectorate GZ 944 ex 1939/40/41, PHIL GZ 743 ex 39/40, ONr. 67, MED S 51.2 ONr. 2 und 33; Austrian Ste Archives OeStA / AdR / Unterricht / Kurator der wiss. Hochschulen in Wien / K 13, GZ 5201 ex 1940-1943; Ferdinand ALTMANN, "Josef Lande, geb. Moses Aaron Lande", in: www.wolkersdorf1938.at/; ; information from Dr.ⁱⁿ Renate Mercsanits, Vienna 10/2021, information from Dr. Renate Mercsanits, Vienna 10/2021.

Herbert Posch