Fritz Erich Himmelmayer
- Born on: 16.12.1921
- 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.
Fritz Erich (called Fritz) was the only child of Adolf Rosenzweig (October 20, 1894 to January 23, 1927) and Natalie Leopoldine Himmelmayer (born August 31, 1898 to February 17, 1966). He was baptized on Christmas Eve in 1921 in St. Paul, the Döbling parish church (19th district of Vienna), according to Roman Catholic rite. In adulthood, he left the church.
After primary school, Fritz Himmelmayer attended the Federal Real Gymnasium of the 3rd district of Vienna, which is still located today as GRg3 at Hagenmüllergasse 30. Here he completed the so-called war high school diploma.
On January 10, 1940, Fritz Himmelmayer was drafted into the German Wehrmacht. As a soldier, he participated in the war against France (May and June 1940). However, because he was considered a Mischling of the first degree due to his Jewish descent, he was discharged on December 18, 1942. Perversely, the victim of National Socialist stigmatization was forced to work for the German armaments industry. Himmelmayer himself reported this in the resume from February 1948, which is in his personnel file at the university archive of the University for World Trade: „In March 1943, I was assigned to the Wiener-Neustädter Flugzeugwerke, where I passed through most of the commercial departments of the Fischamend plant over the course of a year. After the destruction of this plant by bombs [during "Operation Juggler," the first Allied air raid on Austrian territory on August 13, 1943, J.K.], I was employed in another branch plant as deputy in the entire technical and commercial management. I remained in this position until the combat days of 1945.“
In addition to military service at the Wiener-Neustädter Flugzeugwerke, which had established its own administrative department for the so-called "labor deployment" during World War II (Haberfellner/Schroeder 1993, p. 28), Himmelmayer's Jewish descent also affected his efforts to enroll as a regular listener in the diploma program at the Hochschule für Welthandel. In his 1948 resume, he wrote: „Although I tried repeatedly, it was not possible for me to obtain the enrollment permission at the Hochschule für Welthandel in Vienna before 1945. Nevertheless, I regularly attended various lectures. When teaching resumed there on May 28, 1945, I immediately enrolled for the first semester. Due to my two years of qualified practical experience, the six-year study ban, and the well-passed first (general) state examination, three semesters were credited to me in the regular curriculum, allowing me to take the diploma examination for merchants on June 17, 1946, which I passed successfully.“
Further documents in the university archive of the University for World Trade prove that Fritz Himmelmayer was enrolled as a regular listener at the 'Welthandel' between the summer semester of 1945 and the summer semester of 1947, and as an extraordinary listener between the winter semester of 1947/48 and the summer semester of 1949. They also prove that Himmelmayer was awarded a doctorate in commerce in July 1949, with a dissertation on the topic of Die Wertsicherungsklauseln in Österreich. The first rigorosum took place on May 13, and the second rigorosum on June 22, 1949. The reviewers were Wilhelm Bouffier and Viktor Fux-Eschenegg.
At the suggestion of Professor Bouffier, who had been removed from his office by the National Socialists after the annexation of Austria, he was appointed assistant at Bouffier's Institute for Small Business Research in April 1948; he held this position until June 1950. Previously, he had been employed as a teaching assistant for commercial subjects at the Technological Trade Museum (from September 1, 1946); this was a technical and commercial secondary school in Vienna. Additionally, he took up a position as a business examiner in the price determination office of the City of Vienna (Magistratsabteilung 68) on March 17, 1947.
Following his doctorate, Fritz Himmelmayer worked in Vienna as a book examiner, helper in tax matters, tax consultant, court-certified expert, and economic examiner. He initially lived at Hagenmüllergasse 21 (3rd district of Vienna), and from 1958 at Dr. Ludwig Rieger-Straße 28 in Mödling. In July 1977, Himmelmayer moved to Hemmingford (Canada, Province of Quebec), and in 1987 he settled in the USA.
On June 9, 1945, Himmelmayer married Erika Kendel in the parish of Erdberg (3rd district); after the divorce, he married civilly on February 25, 1960, to Karin Milda Kalbas. From both marriages, two children each were born.
On October 4, 2021, Fritz Himmelmayer passed away shortly before his 100th birthday.
Author: Johannes Koll
Source material
Geburts- und Taufbuch von 1921 der Pfarre von Wien-Döbling, Fol. 552, Nr. 1639, https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien/19-doebling/01-33/?pg=268 [12. Mai 2022].
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Studierendenkarteikarte.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Protokoll über die erste (allgemeine) Prüfung an der Hochschule für Welthandel, Bd. 4, Bl. 88.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Personalakt.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsbibliothek, Sign. 60176-C/Ex.1: Fritz E. Himmelmayer: Die Wertsicherungsklauseln in Österreich, Hochschule für Welthandel, Dissertation 1949.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Protokoll des Professorenkollegiums vom 30. Januar 1948, Bl. 3.
Wernfried Haberfellner/Walter Schroeder: Wiener-Neustädter Flugzeugwerke Gesellschaft m.b.H., Graz 1993.
My Geneology, http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/m/Karin-M-Himmelmayer-VA/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0008.html, Eintrag zu Dr. Fritz Erich Eugen Maria Himmelmayer mit weiteren Links zu Familienangehörigen [12. Mai 2022].
Meldeauskunft des Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchivs, GZ MA 8 –B-MEW-1126491-2022.
E-Mail des Meldeamts der Stadtgemeinde Mödling an PD Dr. Johannes Koll (WU Wien) vom 17. Mai 2022.
Alfred M. Posselt: Die Ehrenarier – Verräter oder geschonte Opfer? Eine zeitgeschichtliche Studie (150 untersuchte Einzelfälle), Wien 1992, S. 90.