Fryderyk Auerbach
- Born on: 8.11.1918
- Birthplace: Lemberg (Lwow),
- Category: Diploma program
- Right of domicile: Lemberg (Lwów),
The English version is based on a translation by Artificial Intelligence. The authentic version is the German version.
Fryderyk Auerbach was the son of the engineer Josef (also Jozef) Auerbach, who lived in Lemberg/Lwów, and his wife Doller. In his hometown of Lemberg, he attended the state Gimnazjum VII imienia Tadeusza Kosciuszki (Ulica Sokoła 2, today Ulica Kowża). Here, he was, among other things, the treasurer of a student group interested in shipping and ship models. He completed his high school diploma in the spring of 1936.
In June 1937, Fryderyk Auerbach applied for a place at the Hebrew University, which had been founded in 1918 in Jerusalem with the participation of Albert Einstein. In this context, he contacted the Palestine Office in Lemberg at the end of September 1937. Although he was granted a study place and entry into Palestine, he never actually commenced his studies in Jerusalem. Instead, Auerbach enrolled in the winter semester of 1937/38 for the diploma program at the University for World Trade in Vienna. However, due to his Jewish faith, he was deregistered on March 14, 1938. A day later, Auerbach deregistered from his apartment at Sechsschimmelgasse 12/1/3/25 (9th district of Vienna). A departure certificate cannot be verified.
Between 1937 and 1939, Fryderyk Auerbach repeatedly contributed to the weekly magazine Kontratak (Counterattack), aimed at Jewish youth in Poland. For example, in the issue of December 21, 1938, he translated the text Menora into Polish, in which Theodor Herzl described the turning of a fictional artist toward the Jewish religiosity of his ancestors in 1897. He also addressed political topics such as a critical evaluation of Marshal Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935) and the Polish constitution from a distinctly Jewish perspective in contributions for Kontratak (Landau-Czajka 2013, p. 53).
A Zionist orientation can also be inferred from the fact that Fryderyk Auerbach took part in mid-May 1938 as a member of the Zionist academic association Emunah Lemberg in an honor for the Jewish Sejm deputy Dr. Emil Sommerstein (1883-1957), who also came from Lemberg.
The last verifiable trace of Fryderyk Auerbach dates back to the first weeks of World War II: While Lemberg was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Republic along with other parts of eastern Poland due to the Hitler-Stalin Pact (August 23, 1939) in September 1939, Auerbach applied for a place at the Medical Faculty of the University of Lemberg for the academic year 1939/40. It is unknown whether he received the study place. It is also unknown to what extent he survived the war and the Holocaust.
Author: Johannes Koll
Support in research: Gregor Gatscher-Riedl and Andrew Zalewski
Source material
The Central Archive of the Hebrew University, Collection 2100, Admission Requests, 1937; mit Dank an Yarden Lenga (Jerusalem).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Eintrag zu Auerbach im Regional Palestine Bureau, Lwów branch (Fond 332, Opis1), File RG-31.066M.0023.00000002, hier nach http://www.Ancestry.com [5. September 2025].
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Studierendenkarteikarte.
Meldeauskunft des Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchivs, GZ MA 8 – B-MEW – 96097-2013.
Anna Landau-Czajka: Wodzu nasz, Piłsudski! Postać Marszałka w polskojęzycznej prasie żydowskiej okresu międzywojennego, in: Studia Żydowskie Almanach 3 (2013), S. 39-57.
E-Mails von Dr. Andrew Zalewski (Gesher Galicia) an PD Dr. Johannes Koll (WU Wien) vom 6. und 9. Juni 2021.
Gesher Galicia: All Galicia Database zu Fryderyk Auerbach, https://search.geshergalicia.org/ [4. Juni 2021].
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Eintrag zu Frederyk Auerbach im Regional Palestine Bureau, Lwów branch (Fond 332, Opis1), File RG-31.066M.0023.00000002, hier nach http://www.ancestry.com [5. September 2025]; mit Dank an Yarden Lenga (Jerusalem).
State Archive of Lviv Oblast (DALO) (Державний Архів Львівської Oбласті): Fond 26/opis 10/sprava 1700, Nr. 277; mit Dank an Dr. Andrew Zalewski (Gesher Galicia).