Karl Anton Weiss (später Charles Anthony Wills)

• Born on: 5.1.1919
• 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.

Preliminary remark: Please click here for an English translation.

Vorbemerkung: For an English translation, please click here.

Childhood, Youth, Military Service, and Studies at the University for World Trade

Karl (also Carl) Anton Weiss was born on January 5, 1919, at the women's healing institute of the sanatorium of the Jewish doctor Dr. Anton Loew located at Pelikangasse 15 (9th district of Vienna). He was the son of Richard Karl (also Carl) Weiss (born February 16, 1878, in Vienna as one of nine children of Abraham and Rosalie Weiss, née Bauer) and his wife Gisela Valerie Weiss (born July 20, 1891, in Vienna as the daughter of the merchant and factory director Gustav Propper from Páleč/Groß Paletsch and Elisabeth or Elise, maiden name Fanta). The parents were married on February 14, 1918, at the Lutheran City Church (Dorotheergasse 18, 1st district of Vienna). In the same church, Karl Anton was baptized on January 20, 1919, according to the Protestant Augsburg Confession. The father was the financial director at the New Free Press, the leading liberal-bourgeois daily newspaper in Austria until the 'Anschluss' of Austria to the 'Third Reich' (March 1938).

After attending the Realgymnasium in the 4th district of Vienna, Karl Anton began his military service on September 1, 1936, at the Erzherzog-Wilhelm-Kaserne, which was located near the current WU campus, as an officer candidate in the mounted artillery. After completing his service as a so-called one-year volunteer, he enrolled at the University for World Trade to train as a diplomat businessman. Here he participated in the courses of the six-semester diploma program during the winter semester 1937/38 and summer semester 1938.

However, after the 'Anschluss', Karl Anton Weiss had to abandon his studies against the backdrop of the racist persecution of the Nazi regime without completing them. Although his parents had converted from Judaism to Protestantism in 1913 and 1917, the family was considered 'Jewish' by the Nazis according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935. This had, among other things, the consequence that Karl Anton's father, according to a regulation from April 26, 1938, issued by Hermann Göring, the Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan, and Wilhelm Frick, the Reich Minister of the Interior, was required to disclose his assets. The Nazi regime used the asset declarations to appropriate the property of Jews in a seemingly legal manner.

Family members murdered in the Holocaust

Ultimately, the parents became victims of the Holocaust. Initially, Richard and Gisela Weiss had to leave their apartment at Paulanergasse 9/19 (4th district of Vienna) in early December 1940, where they had been registered since August 1918. For some time, they were registered at Gärtnergasse 8/9 (3rd district), but were deported on May 12, 1942, along with 999 other victims of Nazi persecution from a collection apartment in the 2nd district of Vienna to the ghetto Izbica, located southeast of Lublin (Hecht/Raggam-Blech/Uhl 2019, p. 251). Some sources cite the last registered address in Vienna as Zirkusgasse 3; according to a handwritten note in the estate of Karl Anton, which was likely sent to him through his parents' housekeeper, Rosina Steurer, Richard and Gisela were then moved from there on May 9 to Kleine Sperlgasse 2a; from this building, which had previously been a municipal school before the 'Anschluss' but was repurposed by the Nazis as one of the central starting points for deportations to Eastern European concentration camps (Hecht/Raggam-Blech/Uhl 2019, pp. 239-241), Karl Anton's parents were then trucked on the afternoon of May 12, 1942, to the Vienna Aspangbahnhof. By train, which was guarded by a crew of 15 armed police officers, the Weiss couple was then transported under inhumane conditions along with 998 other victims of Nazi persecution to Izbica starting at 8:15 PM (Hänschen 2018, p. 367). It is unknown when Richard and Gisela Weiss were murdered. It is also not recorded whether they were killed in Izbica or transferred to an extermination camp such as Bełżec or Sobibór, which the Nazi occupying authorities established in the General Government in the spring of 1942 (cf. Manoschek 2023, p. 215).

Gisela's mother Elise (born February 26, 1864) also became a victim of the Holocaust. While her husband Gustav Propper had already died on October 10, 1936, and did not experience the Nazi regime, Elise was deported on October 28, 1941, from her apartment at Skodagasse 9 (8th district of Vienna) to the ghetto of Łódź. Here, the 78-year-old woman was murdered by the Nazis on April 15, 1942.

And in Theresienstadt/Terezín, Giselas uncle Alois Stern (born August 20, 1858, in western Slovakia Zohor as the son of Ignatz and Marie Stern) died at the age of 84 on November 23, 1942, at five o'clock in the morning, allegedly of arteriosclerosis and old age, according to the death notice issued by the camp administration. Alois was paired with his wife Wilhelmina (born March 5, 1864, maiden name Propper), whom he had married on June 14, 1892, in his then-northern Bohemian community of Laun/Louny, and was detained in their apartment in Krakauergasse/Krakovská 13 (2nd district of Prague) before being deported on October 24, 1942, along with more than 1,000 other Jews from the main train station of Prague to the ghetto and concentration camp in the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The couple, as well as Alois's sister Rosa, were housed in the so-called Kavalierskaserne, located in the northeastern part of the so-called Great Fortress of Theresienstadt. Here, under inhumane conditions, old and mentally ill prisoners were interned in dark, damp, casemate-like accommodations. According to survivors, they were among the 'worst in the entire ghetto'. While Alois had to stay in room 17 of building E.VII, Wilhelmina was accommodated in room 20. Since neither Alois nor Wilhelmina survived the liberation of Theresienstadt (May 8, 1945), Karl Anton Weiss's great-uncle and great-aunt became victims of the Holocaust.

Emigration: Sweden and Great Britain

Karl Anton, on the other hand, managed to emigrate. As his registration book impressively shows, he had already had to observe at the University for World Trade that numerous courses were being canceled or taken over by regime-compliant faculty members during the summer semester of 1938, as professors who were perceived as opponents by the Nazis due to their proximity to Austrofascism were first suspended from duty and then dismissed after the 'Anschluss' of Austria. He was aware that his life in the 'Greater German Reich', as the German Reich called itself after the 'Anschluss', was also in danger. After several attempts to leave Germany, he reached Sweden on June 16, 1939, with no more than a small suitcase and the clothes he wore. Thanks to the mediation of the Swedish Israel Mission (Svenska Israelmissionen) in Stockholm, which had maintained a branch at Seegasse 16 in Vienna since the 1920s and facilitated the emigration of approximately 3,000 Jews, as well as Christians with a Jewish background, to neutral Sweden between 1938 and 1941 (Litzka 2018, p. 105), Weiss received a work and residence permit that was extended several times. The state social authority linked its approval with the stipulation that Weiss and other men who had fled Germany prepare for 'emigration to another country' (Riksarkivet). Until then, Weiss worked on a farm in southern Sweden in Sanåkra near Sösdala. Here he underwent agricultural training, even though he was registered as an electrical engineer.

It is not known whether Karl Anton Weiss eventually moved, as intended in December 1939, to the refugee camp of the Swedish Israel Mission in Tostarp. He urged to participate in the armed struggle against the Nazi state. For this purpose, he traveled to Great Britain via Copenhagen, which, unlike neutral Sweden, fought on the side of the Allies in World War II against the 'Greater German Reich'. Here, Karl Anton Weiss joined the British Army. As his son Richard testifies, he was deployed in Europe as well as in the Middle East. Initially, he belonged to the Pioneer Corps starting in May 1940, before serving in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the unit responsible for the maintenance and repair of military equipment from October 1942. Additionally, the former student of 'Welthandel' served in the British Army's intelligence service, the Intelligence Corps. Probably in September 1946, he left the British Army (emails from Richard Wills on February 7 and March 26, 2024).

In exile in Britain, Karl Anton Weiss anglicized his name to Charles Anthony Wills. According to his son, he chose a name 'that sounded very English' (email from February 7, 2024), and for the surname, he oriented himself on the popular British cigarette company W.D. & H.O. Wills. In the spring of 1947, he received British citizenship (The National Archives: Naturalization Certificate Charles Anthony Wills).

Charles Anthony earned his living as a sales manager at a plastics company. He was also a talented amateur painter, especially in the field of portrait art. In his first marriage, he married Mildred Ruth Bailey on March 11, 1946 (born December 4, 1920, died April 2, 2021). The marriage resulted in Angela Gregory (born 1949) and the aforementioned Richard Wills (born 1951), and the family lived in the London district of Sutton. Charles Anthony and Mildred Ruth divorced in 1976. In the last quarter of the same year, Charles Anthony married Christine P. Boynes in the London district of Bromley, and on March 3, 1982, he entered into his third marriage with Margaret Bateman (born August 17, 1933). With her, he moved to Wales in 2000.

Despite the painful experiences associated with Austria for him, Charles Anthony Wills traveled to this country several times in the post-war period. His last trip took him to Vienna in 2005 to celebrate the 100th birthday of his aunt Leopoldine Propper (April 10, 1905 to January 3, 2009, called Poldi, maiden name Kaufmann), who had been married to the well-known Protestant theologian of Jewish descent Felix Propper (March 1, 1894 to November 24, 1962). On February 1, 1939, the couple succeeded in bringing their three children Gerold, Gerta, and Gertrud – also with the help of the Swedish Israel Mission – to safety in Sweden with 62 other children from Austria (Pammer 2012, pp. 66 f.). Just on the day of the outbreak of World War II (September 1, 1939), Leopoldine also reached Sweden. Her hope of emigrating to the USA with Felix and their children was thwarted by the war and the temporary internment of her husband in France. After the war, the family reunited in liberated Vienna.

Karl Anton's uncle Ernst Hans Propper (born November 19, 1885, in Prague) also managed to flee. While his sister Gisela and their mother Elise – as reported above – were murdered by the Nazi regime in the General Government, he managed to reach safety in the United Kingdom in 1939. He settled in Nottingham, where he died on January 19, 1973, and was cremated a week later. It is uncertain whether Karl Anton Weiss was in contact with Ernst Propper despite their shared exile in Great Britain; he never mentioned Ernst Propper to his son Richard, however.

Karl Anton Weiss, respectively Charles Anthony Wills, died on February 7, 2007, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at the age of 88.

Author: Johannes Koll

Source material

Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Studierendenkarteikarte und Meldungsbuch.
E-Mail-Verkehr zwischen Richard Wills und PD Dr. Johannes Koll (WU Wien) zwischen Februar und Juni 2024.
Tauf-Buch der Lutherischen Stadtkirche Wien 1919, Bl. 136 zu Karl Anton Weiss, hier nach Matricula online, https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien-evang-dioezese-AB/wien-innere-stadt-lutherische-stadtkirche/TFB76/?pg=140 [7. März 2024].
Trauungs-Buch der Lutherischen Stadtkirche Wien 1918, Bl. 11, hier nach Matricula online, https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien-evang-dioezese-AB/wien-innere-stadt-lutherische-stadtkirche/TRB42/?pg=13 [7. März 2024].
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GenTeam. Die genealogische Datenbank, http://www.genteam.at [28. März 2024], Austritte in Wien aus der IKG 1915-1945 zu Gisela bzw. Richard Weiss.
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Entschädigungs- und Restitutionsangelegenheiten, Vermögensverkehrsstelle, Vermögensanmeldung Nr. 3693 vom 30. Mai 1938 (Richard Weiss).
Yad Vashem: Zentrale Datenbank der Namen der Holocaustopfer (https://yvng.yadvashem.org/ ) zu Richard und Gisela Weiss, ID 4950975 bzw. 4950621 [7. März 2024].
Opferdatenbank des Dokumentationsarchivs des österreichischen Widerstandes (http://www.doew.at ), Einträge zu Richard und Gisela Weiss [7. März 2024] sowie zu Elise Propper [18. Juni 2024].
Neue Freie Presse, Nr. 25896 M vom 14. Oktober 1936, S. 17 zum Ableben von Gustav Propper.
Dieter J. Hecht/Michaela Raggam-Blesch/Heidemarie Uhl (Hrsg.): Letzte Orte. Die Wiener Sammellager und die Deportationen 1941/42, Wien/Berlin 2019.
Steffen Hänschen: Das Transitghetto Izbica im System des Holocaust, Berlin 2018.
Walter Manoschek: Vernichtet. Österreichische Juden und Jüdinnen in den Ghettos des Generalgouvernements 1941/1942, Wien 2023.
Yad Vashem: The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, Einträge über Alois Stern, ID 13881373, https://collections.yadvashem.org/de/names/14316182 und Wilhelmina Stern (Vilemina Sternova), ID 4883329, https://collections.yadvashem.org/de/names/4883329 [12. Juni 2025].
Jugendbegegnung in Theresienstadt/Terezín e.V.: Ghetto Theresienstadt 1941-1945. Ein Nachschlagewerk, http://www.ghetto-theresienstadt.de/lexikon/kavalierkaserne [13. Juni 2025].
Traude Litzka: The Church’s Help for Persecuted Jews in Nazi Vienna, Wien 2018.
Riksarkivet (Stockholm), SUK, F 1 AC:21947.
The National Archives: Naturalisation Certificate Charles Anthony Wills, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11822199 [28. März 2024].
Geni.com, Einträge zu Leopoldine und Felix Propper, http://www.geni.com/people/Leopoldine-Propper/381662819560013359 und http://www.geni.com/people/Felix-Propper/4616010?through=381662819560013359 [2. Mai 2024].
Evangelisches Museum Wien: Evangelische Persönlichkeiten: Felix Propper, https://museum.evang.at/persoenlichkeiten/felix-propper/ [2. Mai 2024].
Thomas Pammer: „Barnen som var räddning värda“? Die Schwedische Israelmission in Wien 1938-1941, ihre Kindertransporte und der literarische und wissenschaftliche Diskurs, Diplomarbeit Universität Wien 2012, https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail/o:1292422 [2. Mai 2024].
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Ancestry.com: England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1995, nach: Principal Probate Registry; London, England; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England, http://www.ancestry.com/ [18. Juni 2024] zu Ernst Hans Propper.
Deceased online, http://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?DetsView=Summary&src=ext&fileid=7400450 [18. Juni 2024] zu Ernst Hans Propper.