Albert Hitschmann
- Born on: 16.6.1916
- Birthplace: Vienna (Wien),
- Category: Diploma program
- Right of domicile: Wien (Wien),
The English version is based on a translation by Artificial Intelligence. The authentic version is the German version.
Albert Hitschmann was one of the three sons of Karl (1871-1925) and Irma Hitschmann (1887-?, née Reich), who married in 1908. Along with his brothers Fritz (1909-1963) and Paul Hans (1910-?), he grew up in "comfortable circumstances" (Herbert Posch). The father, like the mother, originally from Bohemia, belonged to the administrative council of the joint-stock companies Gerhardus & Söhne (since 1912), which had branches in Hamburg, Budapest, and Smyrna, in addition to its main office in Vienna, the Lederwerke Plunder & Pollak (since 1918) and the Brünner Schuhfabrik (since 1924 or 1925).
Albert took his high school diploma at the Bundesrealgymnasium in the 2nd Wiener Gemeindebezirk (Kleine Sperlgasse 2C) in 1934, which was diagonally across from his parents' apartment. For the winter semester 1934/35, he initially enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Vienna for Chemistry, but switched to its Faculty of Law and Political Science in the following summer semester. In parallel, between the summer semester of 1935 and the winter semester of 1937/38, Albert was enrolled at the Wiener Hochschule für Welthandel. Here, just before the 'Anschluss' of Austria to the German Reich, he had completed the obligatory six semesters of the diploma program and was therefore close to obtaining the title of Diplomkaufmann. However, this was denied to the Jewish student after the Wehrmacht's invasion of Austria. Although he was able to take the second part of the diploma examination on March 14, 1938, the completion of the third examination was denied to him due to his Jewish descent and religious affiliation. Furthermore, the report on his diploma thesis was not submitted. Albert evidently did not receive either a departure or diploma certificate. His studies at the University of Vienna, which were also quite advanced, had to be abandoned without a degree due to the racially motivated persecution by the Nazi regime.
At the end of July 1938, Albert left the family's apartment at Kleine Sperlgasse 1/33 with his mother to flee to Czechoslovakia; in the capital of this neighboring country, they lived for some time in the apartment that Irma owned in Kartouzská. Before that, he had been forced by the Asset Transfer Office, a state expropriation institution, to "offer" the shares he owned from the aforementioned leather factory Plunder & Pollak in the Czech Leitmeritz/Litoměřice to the Vienna branch of the Reichsbank and to sell them at their request.
In an adventurous manner, Albert ultimately managed to escape the murderous Nazi regime. Initially, he tried to get from Prague to Ireland, where his brother Fritz and his uncle Richard Hitschmann, who had worked for the Anglo-Austrian Bank in Vienna for years and had taken over the management of Plunder & Pollak AG after the early death of Karl Hitschmann, had been working since September 1937 to establish a branch of this company. Although this goal could be achieved in principle with the establishment of Pollack [sic] & Plunder Ireland Ltd. in Carrick-on-Suir on April 14, 1938, the part of the Czech Republic that remained after the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in the fall of 1938 was integrated into the 'Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia', thus dissolving the independent state (from March 16, 1939). This in turn brought Albert and his mother back into the crosshairs of the Nazis again. While Irma was able to emigrate to Ireland on March 29, 1939, just over two weeks after the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, Albert had to wait until summer before he could leave the 'Reich Protectorate' – and thus the German-controlled area. In July 1939, he traveled to Bolivia. He survived World War II here.
Even after the end of the war, Albert initially remained in Bolivia and Buenos Aires (Argentina). In Latin America, he married, and the couple had a son, Carlos Hitschmann. In 1958, Albert moved with his family to Ireland, where his brothers Fritz and Paul Hans, who had survived the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, already had their main residence. A photograph from May 20, 1965, preserved in the Irish Photo Archive , shows him with his wife at the International Hide and Skin Conference. By this time, Albert and his family likely lived in Waterford. Until the dissolution of the family business in 1985, which had meanwhile merged with three other leather companies to form Irish Leathers, he and his brother Fritz and his son Carlos managed the operations of Pollack & Plunder Ireland Ltd. The time and place of his death and burial could not be established despite extensive research.
While Albert himself and the vast majority of his family survived the Nazi era, his mother's siblings were victims of the Shoah; both were forced from their respective homes in the 'Reich Protectorate' to the General Government in June 1942 and murdered. Albert's uncle Karl (also Karel) Reich (born November 21, 1890, in Ledetsch/Ledeč nad Sázavou) was first deported on June 9, 1942, from Kolín to the Theresienstadt ghetto/Terezín and from there three days later to the extermination camp Sobibór. And Albert's aunt Marie Taussig (or Taussigová) was deported from Prague to Lublin on June 10, 1942. In both cases, the dates of death are unknown, but it is certain that these two relatives of Albert Hitschmann did not survive the end of World War II.
Author: Johannes Koll
Photos
Source material
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Studierendenkarteikarte und Alte Prüfungsliste.
Herbert Posch: Eintrag zu Albert Hitschmann in: Gedenkbuch für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus an der Universität Wien 1938, https://gedenkbuch.univie.ac.at/page/1/person/albert-hitschmann [20. Februar 2025].
Zentralblatt für die Eintragungen in das Handelsregister, 11. Jg., Nr. 37 vom 8. Mai 1912, S. 469, Nr. 6750.
Zentralblatt für die Eintragungen in das Handelsregister, 17. Jg., Nr. 102 vom 21. Dezember 1918, S. 1194, Nr. 11149.
Compass. Finanzielles Jahrbuch 1925, Bd. 2: Čechoslovakei, 58. Jg., Prag 1925, S. 904.
Universität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Nationale Albert Hitschmann. Für den Hinweis danke ich Dr. Herbert Posch (Forum Zeitgeschichte der Universität Wien).
Meldeauskunft des Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchivs, GZ MA 8 – B-MEW - 483310/2013.
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Bundesministerium für Finanzen, Vermögensverkehrsstelle, Vermögensanmeldung 31876.
Lili Zách: Irish Perceptions of National Identity in Austria-Hungary and its Smaller Successor States, 1914-1945, Dissertation National University of Ireland, Galway 2015, S. 221-223, https://researchrepository.universityofgalway.ie/server/api/core/bitstreams/9f0454f6-4585-4ea8-8645-acc02e8766b8/content [27. Februar 2025].
Irish Photo Archive, Sign. C514-418, http://www.irishphotoarchive.ie [28. Februar 2025].
Yad Vashem: Zentrale Datenbank der Namen der Holocaustopfer, ID 4867332 zu Karl Reich und ID 4878795 zu Marie Taussig, https://collections.yadvashem.org/de/names/4867332 bzw. https://collections.yadvashem.org/de/names/4878795 [20. Februar 2025], jeweils unter Bezugnahme auf das Theresienstädter Gedenkbuch (Terezinska Pametni Kniha, Prag 2000).
Geni.com, Eintrag von Eli Israeli zu Karl Reich, http://www.geni.com/people/Karl-Reich/6000000005770323324 [20. Februar 2025], Stand vom 30. April 2022.
Geni.com, Eintrag von einer anonymen Person zu Marie Taussig, http://www.geni.com/people/Marie-Taussig/6000000020235408667 [20. Februar 2025], Stand vom 30. April 2022.