Robert Eder

• Born on: 7.2.1918
• 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 considered to be the German version.

Following his attendance at elementary school, a secondary school, and the Handelsakademie VIII in Vienna (Hamerlingplatz 5-6), Robert Eder was enrolled at the University for World Trade for three semesters between the winter semester 1936/37 and the winter semester 1937/38. Before the 'Anschluss' of Austria, he was able to complete his First (general) examination in February 1938. Further studies or taking additional exams were denied to the Jewish student. Like his older brother Hans , Robert was deregistered from the university on September 3, 1938.

Like countless other Jewish women and men, he was subjected to discrimination after the Wehrmacht's invasion of Austria. At one point, he was forced by police officers to paint the storefront of a business with the word "Jude" – thus he found himself compelled to participate against his will in the stigmatization and exclusion of the Jewish population. Such experiences strengthened Robert and his family's resolve to leave Austria as soon as possible. With the support of the emigration department of the Welfare Central of the Jewish Community of Vienna, his father Hersch (Hermann), his mother Helene, his brother Hans, and his sister Lisbeth managed to emigrate to Malta, where all family members survived the Holocaust and World War II. The apartment in Neubaufhof (Neubaugasse 64/1/10, 7th district of Vienna), where the family had been registered since 1929, had to be relinquished, along with the factory for women's straw and felt hats, which the father initially operated at Gumpendorfer Straße 76 and later from December 1928 at Mariahilfer Straße 51 and later at Neubaugasse 30 (6th or 7th district). The grandparents, who lived in the same building, had their Café Neubauhof taken away. Additionally, the cars that both Robert and Hans owned were confiscated by Nazis. The furniture that had been transported by ship to Malta in the summer of 1939 was not unloaded: to avoid confiscation by the British authorities in Malta after the outbreak of World War II, the ship returned to Germany with its cargo. Instead of reaching the rightful owners, the furniture of the Eder family was given to bombed-out families in northern Germany.

With just ten schillings in his pocket, Robert left Vienna by train on September 14, 1938. After a temporary stay in Italy, he crossed by ferry from Sicily to the British-administered Mediterranean island. He followed his brother Hans, who had been on a business trip in Malta at the time of the ‘Anschluss’ and had prepared for the family's arrival there. Later, their parents, grandparents, and sister Lisbeth followed.

While in the 'Greater German Reich,' the paternal company at Neubaugasse 30 was placed under NS-affiliated provisional administrators (L. Schneider jr. and Major Ernst Zvanetti) and was liquidated in February 1940, and bankruptcy proceedings against Hermann Eder were opened before the Regional Court of Vienna for Civil Matters on January 17, 1939, the Eder family received permission in Malta to open a factory. When the Italian and German air forces bombed the island during World War II, the family - separated by gender - was interned twice by the British authorities. The first internment lasted three months, while the second time they were held for a total of two years. After his brother had already been granted British citizenship in August 1943, Robert was naturalized by the "Ministry of Home Security" on July 8, 1944.

After the war, Robert and his brother established businesses in various Maltese cities. They operated under the label HARO, which was formed from the first letters of the siblings' first names. Initially, they sold hats, and later high-quality clothing was added. In 1947, Robert married Annette Barnstein, who came from a Jewish family from Greece. From this marriage, two children were born: Philip and Lynn (later married Silver). When Malta gained independence from Great Britain in 1964, Robert Eder took on Maltese citizenship.

Even in old age, Robert Eder was president of the Jewish Foundation of Malta.

One month before his 100th birthday, the four-time grandfather and three-time great-grandfather Robert Eder passed away on January 8, 2018, during a hospital stay in Malta. His wife had already passed away on January 20, 2002, in Malta.

Author: Johannes Koll

Source material

Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv, Studierendenkarteikarte und Alte Prüfungsliste.
Interview mit Dr. Johannes Koll (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) in Sliema (Malta) zwischen 10. und 13. November 2013.
Archiv der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien, Best. Jerusalem, A/W 2589/43, Nr. 16846.
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Finanzen, HF, Zl. 4557.
Compass. Kommerzielles Jahrbuch 1938. Österreich, hrsg. von Rudolf Hanel, 71. Jg., Wien 1938, S. 1314.
Zentralblatt für die Eintragungen in das Handelsregister in der Ostmark, Ausgaben vom 7. Dezember 1938 (Nr. 15597, S. 988), 11. Januar 1939 (Nr. 344, S. 21), 25. Januar 1939 (Nr. 1597, S. 79), 8. März 1939 (Nr. 3312, S. 170), 28. Februar 1940 (Nr. 1804, S. 116) und 23. Juli 1941 (Nr. 5590, S. 296).
Malta Family History: Jewish Residents since 1800, http://website.lineone.net/~aldosliema/Jewish%20Residents.htm [30. August 2013].
Meldeauskunft des Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchivs, GZ MA 8 – B-MEW – 96140-2013.
Interview von Patricia Salomone mit Robert Eder in Sliema vom April und Mai 2009, University of Malta, Department of History, Oral history depository, Nr. 476.
National Archives (Kew, Großbritannien): HO 334/255/3357.
The Jews in Malta, http://www.jewsofmalta.org/history.htm. Malta today vom 31. Januar 2010, http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2010/01/31/t15.html [30. August 2013].
E-Mail von Philip Eder (Sohn) vom 4. April 2018 an PD Dr. Johannes Koll (WU Wien).