Friederike Maria Burian
- Born on: 16.8.1919
- 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.
Friederike Maria Burian was born on August 16, 1919, at the Alservorstadtkrankenhaus (8th District of Vienna). She was the twin sister of Gottfried Wolfgang Burian. Three days after their birth, the siblings were baptized following the Roman Catholic rite. Their parents were named in the baptismal register as Josefine Alexander (born May 13, 1890, in the Bohemian district of Königliche Weinberge/Okresní hejtmanství Královské Vinohrady) and Dr. Leopold Viktor Burian (February 5, 1885, in Vienna, until December 28, 1953), who was of Old Catholic faith and took over the management of the newly established internal medicine department of the St. Josef Hospital (Auhofstraße 189, 13th District of Vienna) run by the Catholic order of Sisters of the Salvatorians in 1930, where he served as medical director until 1951, and who operated a practice at Burggasse 111 (7th District). On June 12, 1930, Friederike and Gottfried received the sacrament of confirmation.
After attending a Realgymnasium in the 3rd District of Vienna, Friederike enrolled in the Winter semester of 1938/39 at the University for World Trade. Here, she initially completed the six-semester diploma program; she was enrolled as a regular student until the autumn term of 1940. She took her diploma examination for merchants in the spring of 1941, and the diploma certificate was issued to her on April 30.
However, under the conditions of Nazi rule, she was subjected to structural discrimination: Her grandfather, the lawyer and supervisory board member of the Union Brewery Company and the Austrian Central Mortgage Bank, Dr. Maximilian Burian (February 1, 1836, to November 4, 1890), belonged to the Jewish community. He married Rachel Marie (born May 12, 1855, in the Bohemian town of Wotitz/Votice, maiden name Alexander, died after December 1891) on April 24, 1884, in the Israelite prayer house of the Vienna suburban community Fünfhaus and was buried on November 6, 1890, in the Israelite section of the Vienna Central Cemetery (Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, 11th District). Although Rachel Marie left the Israelite religious community in 1885, her granddaughter Friederike was still considered by the Nazis decades later as a ‘second degree half-breed.’ Therefore, she needed official permission to study and take exams. This was granted to her on February 22, 1941, by the Reich Ministry of Science.
Notably, despite being disadvantaged as a ‘quarter Jew’ compared to her ‘Aryan’ classmates, Friederike Burian pursued a course of study at the Südost-Stiftung des Mitteleuropäischen Wirtschaftstages Berlin zur Heranbildung junger Kaufleute für Südost-Europa established in the spring of 1940 under the fanatical Nazi rector Kurt Knoll at the University for World Trade. However, she did not complete this explicitly national-socialist-oriented program, which consisted of four semesters.
Instead, Friederike Burian was allowed to pursue her doctoral studies at the University for World Trade in 1943. However, before the end of World War II, she was only enrolled for her 7th semester, and she was officially expelled in August 1944. She continued and completed her doctoral studies only after the war. With interruptions, she was enrolled there until the summer semester of 1950. In December 1951, she was awarded a doctorate in commerce based on the two mandatory rigorosum examinations and her dissertation “Klosterneuburg”. Der XXVI. Wiener Gemeindebezirk. Eine wirtschaftsgeographische und wirtschaftsstrukturelle Untersuchung, which was supervised by the professors Hermann Leiter (Economic Geography) and Karl Oberparleiter (Business Administration). After Friederike Burian submitted four copies of her dissertation to the university, the certificate was issued to her – with considerable delay – on May 7, 1955. Her last connection to her alma mater dates back to 1959 and 1960 when she attended the so-called teacher seminar, through which the University for World Trade trained teachers for the intermediate commercial schools in Austria.
During her studies, Friederike Burian lived in her father's apartment at Hohen Warte 25 (19th District of Vienna). Occasionally, however, she also stayed at the Villa Burian (Seebichlweg 23) in Tyrolean Kitzbühel; she was officially registered there from October 1944 and again from July 1965.
Like his sister, Gottfried Burian was considered a ‘half-breed’ by the Nazis, and like Friederike, he was also subjected to racially motivated harassment from the Nazi authorities during his studies. Gottfried enrolled in the winter semester of 1937/38 at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna but was forced, after the ‘annexation’ of Austria to the ‘Third Reich’ (March 1938), to apply to the Reich Ministry of Science for admission to study. He had to undergo the same procedure when he wanted to start a language study at the Faculty of Arts of the same university after a brief interruption of his studies due to military service from which he was discharged for health reasons after five months. This application was rejected by the Berlin Ministry in February 1942. Therefore, it seems nothing came of his English and Romance studies. However, after 1942, the decision regarding the admission of ‘half-breeds’ to the universities was transferred from the Ministry of Science to the universities, allowing the University of Vienna to permit him to continue his medical studies starting in November 1943. In fact, his participation in the studies can be substantiated until 1945. However, after the liberation from National Socialism, Gottfried discontinued his studies for unknown reasons.
On July 5, 1976, Friederike Burian passed away at the age of 56. Exactly one week later, she was buried at the Hietzing Cemetery (Maxingstraße 15, 13th District). Her grave is located directly beside that of her father, who was buried there on January 2, 1954. Her brother, on the other hand, found his final resting place in the Vienna Central Cemetery, where he was buried on November 7, 1989.
Author: Johannes Koll
I would like to thank Mr. Markus Korn (Kitzbühel) for the permission to include the photograph of Villa Burian (City Archive Kitzbühel, Sign. Korn/982). The photo was taken in the 1920s or 1930s by his grandfather Franz Angerer or his grandmother Henry Angerer.
Source material
Matricula Online, Geburts- und Taufbuch des Alservorstadtkrankenhauses (Wien 08), Einträge 3000 und 3001, https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien/08-alservorstadtkrankenhaus/01-247/?pg=125 [26. März 2026].
Geni.com, Eintrag von Randy Schoenberg zu Leopold Victor Burian, Stand: 29. April 2022, http://www.geni.com/people/Leopold-Victor-Burian/6000000007014397744 [26. März 2026].
Sr. Ulrike Musick, Societas Divini Salvatoris: 120 Jahre Wirken der Salvatorianerinnen in Österreich 1899-2019 (= Archiv-Publikationen der österreichischen Provinz der Salvatorianerinnen, H. Februar 2020/1, online unter https://salvatorianerinnen.at/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/archivp120oe.pdf [27. März 2026] mit einem Foto von Dr. Leopold Burian auf S. 22.
Wiener Adreßbuch. Lehmanns Wohnungsanzeiger 1938, 79. Jahrgang, Bd. 1, Wien 1938, Teil I, S. 142 zur Wiener Ordination von Dr. Leopold Burian.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Studierendenkarteikarte, Diplomprüfungsprotokoll reichsdeutsche Ordnung, Bd. II, Nr. 66, Prüfung vom 26.03.1941 und Promotionsakt.
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Roumiana Preshlenova: Elitenbildung. Die „Südoststiftung des Mitteleuropäischen Wirtschaftstags Berlin an der Hochschule für Welthandel in Wien“, in: Carola Sachse (Hrsg.): „Mitteleuropa“ und „Südosteuropa“ als Planungsraum. Wirtschafts- und kulturpolitische Expertisen im Zeitalter der Weltkriege (= Diktaturen und ihre Überwindung im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, Bd. 4), Göttingen 2010, S. 391-417.
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsbibliothek, Sign. 60556-C.
Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Meldezettel zu Friederike Burian vom 30. Oktober 1940, MA 8 – B-MEW-473578-2026.
E-Mail von Marianne Erber (Stadtarchiv Kitzbühel) an PD Dr. Johannes Koll (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) vom 27. März 2026.
Herbert Posch: Eintrag über Gottfried Burian im Gedenkbuch für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus an der Universität Wien 1938, https://gedenkbuch.univie.ac.at/page/19/person/gottfried-burian [31. März 2026].
Friedhöfe Wien, Verstorbenensuche zu Friederike, Leopold und Gottfried Burian, http://www.friedhoefewien.at/verstorbenensuche [26. März 2026].