Alfred Maria Posselt
- Born on: 22.9.1921
- 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.
Alfred Maria was the son of the school director Alfred (1887-1975) and the Hungarian Jewess Johanna Posselt, née Pongrácz or Pankratz (1898-1979).
Under Austrofascism, Posselt was a member of the so-called Frontmiliz, a paramilitary organization of the unified party 'Vaterländische Front' during 1937/38. After the 'Anschluss' of Austria, he was forced to wear the "disgusting uniform" of the Reich Labor Service (Posselt 1987, p. 1). Only afterwards could he enroll in his studies.
Posselt was then enrolled at the University for World Trade for five semesters between 1939 and 1941. However, as he was considered a 'Mischling' according to the Nazi perspective, the approval of the Reich Ministry for Education, Science, and National Education (Berlin) was required for the recognition of his studies. This was initially granted to him in the fall of 1940, but he was not permitted to take the diploma examination. While Posselt obtained the academic degree of a Master of Social and Economic Sciences at the University of Vienna in December 1942, he could not complete his studies at 'Welthandel' before the end of Nazi rule.
In April 1941, Posselt was drafted for military service. According to his own account, this was a "front proof" (Posselt 1992, p. 69). He was repeatedly apprehended in 1942 and 1944/45. He escaped a death sentence in December 1944 only through the intercession of his cousin Odo Posselt, the Gau Hauptstellenleiter of Niederdonau.
As he himself emphasized multiple times after the war, albeit without concrete information about the respective deployment locations and, unfortunately, with varying details about the countries he claims to have served, he participated from September 1944 in the ranks of the Polish, British, and Dutch armed forces in the liberation from Nazi tyranny; the Hungarian army also showed interest in him. After the end of the war, he was then ordered as an officer to the Dutch military mission in Vienna and represented the interests of the students of the University for World Trade who were persecuted by the Nazis. Furthermore, he was a member of the denazification commission of the University of Vienna.
Posselt was able to continue his studies in economics only after World War II. With interruptions, he was again enrolled at the University for World Trade between the winter semester of 1945/46 and the winter semester of 1959/60; he was credited with a semester as restitution. At the end of June 1946, he was issued the diploma certificate, and in March 1948, he was awarded a doctorate in commerce with the dissertation on the topic Calvin und der Kapitalismus.
Alfred Maria Posselt died on January 28, 2009, and was buried in the Ottakring cemetery. In the same grave, beside his father and other relatives, his maternal grandmother is buried. The elderly Jewess fell victim to the Nazi regime just before liberation: In April 1945, Johanna Pankratz (or Pongratz) was killed by SS men at the age of 87. Her body was discovered in September 1945 in a mass grave of Jewish victims in Augarten (2nd district of Vienna) and was reburied in November at the Ottakring cemetery.
Author: Johannes Koll
Source material
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Karteikarte.
Alfred M. Posselt: Die Ehrenarier – Verräter oder geschonte Opfer? Eine zeitgeschichtliche Studie (150 untersuchte Einzelfälle), Wien 1992. Anmerkung: Die Angaben, die Posselt nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg über seine eigene Vergangenheit und die seiner Familie in der NS-Zeit gemacht hat, sind nicht frei von falschen Angaben und problematischen Darstellungen. Sie konnten bisher jedoch nicht systematisch überprüft werden.
Alfred M. Posselt: Österreichische Soldaten in den alliierten Streitkräften des Zweiten Weltkrieges (1938-1945), 2 Teile, Wien 1987/1988. Anmerkung: Florian Traussnig bezeichnet das Buch zutreffend als „wenig aussagekräftig und über weite Strecken erratisch“ (Militärischer Widerstand von außen. Österreicher in US-Armee und Kriegsgeheimdienst im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Wien/Köln/Weimar 2016, S. 23).
Interview von Herbert Posch und Werner Lausecker mit Dr. Alfred Maria Posselt vom 26. März 2001, hier nach dem Brief von Dr. Herbert Posch und Katharina Kniefacz (Universität Wien) an Dr. Johannes Koll (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) vom 13. Februar 2013).
Friedhöfe Wien, Verstorbenensuche: http://www.friedhoefewien.at/eportal/ [30. August 2013].
Yad Vashem: The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, http://db.yadvashem.org/names/search.html?language=en [30. August 2013].