Anna-Maria Haas

Anna-Maria Haas (born Frankel, born March 9, 1909 in Vienna , † 1996 ibid) was honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations .

In 1930 she married Benno Haas, the son of a Jewish industrialist whose father came from Bohemia. The two had two daughters and owned two dozen candy stores in Vienna. After the annexation of Austria almost all of the two businesses were Aryanized. Only one business remained in the hands of Anna-Maria Haas. Benno Haas, now baptized, was imprisoned because of his Jewish parentage, but was released with the help of his wife. Shortly after his imprisonment, Benno Haas emigrated to Great Britain and joined the Army. His mother was deported to Theresienstadt . Anna-Maria Haas stayed in her apartment in the 9th district, although she was under general suspicion due to her husband's emigration . Despite several visits by the Gestapo, she hid the Jew Robert Beer and his family in her apartment for several months in 1938 and 1939.

She also helped the Jewish family Josef and Sidonie Rubin-Bittman and looked after them for several years during World War II.

After the Rubin-Bittman family had to leave their apartment in 1939 and live underground, Anna-Maria decided to help her as much as possible. Josef and Sidonie often had to change their hiding places. Anna-Maria provided her with free food all the time.

Sidonie was a relative of Martin Buber who came from Lemberg . In 1944 Josef and Sidonie hid in a basement of a house. Sidonie gave birth to her first son Fritz, who was the only Jewish child born in Vienna that year. Anna-Maria often visited her in her hiding place and brought her food, milk and baby food.

Although he was forced to live underground under the most difficult and dangerous conditions, Josef tried all the time to help Hungarian Jews who had already been sent to an extermination camp by the Gestapo . He also started an aid campaign for a Jewish children's camp in Ferdinandstrasse in the 2nd district. Anna-Maria provided him with food and medicine for the children's camp.

Josef and Sidonie survived the war. Josef became a successful businessman. Sidonie died in 1968 after a long suffering. Josef died on April 25, 1972 at the age of 75. Fritz Rubin-Bittmann works as a doctor in the 2nd district. Robert Beer emigrated to Caracas in Venezuela after the war . Anna-Maria Haas died in Vienna in 1996 and was buried at the Hernals cemetery .

literature

• Daniel Fraenkel, Jacob Borut (Ed.): Germans and Austrians. 2nd Edition. Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-900-7 (single volume of the multi-part work: Yad Vashem , Israel Gutman (ed.): Lexicon of the Righteous Among the Nations ).
• Wolfgang Plat (Ed.): This earth is full of life and full of death. Pictures from the history of the Jewish Austrians (1190–1945). Herold Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7008-0378-8 .
• Erika Weinzierl : Too few righteous people. Austrians and persecution of Jews 1938–1945. 3rd, unchanged edition. Verlag Styria, Graz 1986, ISBN 3-222-11626-1 .

Web links

• Documentation about the righteous in Austria
• Project on the Righteous in Austria
• Yad Vashem