Hans Ungar

Hans Ungar (born August 29, 1916 in Vienna ; died May 23, 2004 in Bogotá ) was an Austrian bookseller who had lived and worked in Colombia since 1938 . Together with his wife Lilly , he owned the Librería Central in Bogotá, the country's largest bookstore.

life and work

Ungar came from an upper-class Viennese family who owned several fashion salons. His parents were Paul Ungar (born October 19, 1877 in Vienna) and Alice b. Kranner (born on May 27, 1889 in Vienna). They married in 1910 in the city ​​temple on Seitenstettengasse. He had an older brother, Fritz Heinz (born June 30, 1912 in Vienna). The family lived at Lange Gasse 74. His parents were friends with well-known writers such as Stefan Zweig and Hermann Bahr .

After graduating from high school, Hans Ungar completed his training as a reserve officer in the Kaisersteinbruch military camp . He then studied at the University of World Trade . He completed three semesters of the diploma course and had to leave the university after the annexation of Austria in March 1938 due to the National Socialist racial attribution. With the help of former superiors in the Austrian armed forces , he managed to emigrate to Latin America. He left Vienna at the end of July 1938 and reached the Colombian port city of Cartagena via Hamburg . From there he traveled to Bogotá by paddle steamer . He first worked for a British banker and met Elisabeth Bleier on a train, called Lilly, who was also an emigrant from Vienna. The two became a couple and married. The marriage produced a son and a daughter.

Librería Central

In 1946, Hans Ungar took over Librería Central, first as managing director and later also as owner . It was founded in 1926 by the Austrian Pablo Wolf. In the 1950s he also opened an art gallery. He was one of the co-founders of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotà and also taught there. He moderated a weekly literary program on the radio and published numerous articles in newspapers and magazines. His focus was on Vienna des fin de siècle , Johann Strauss , Karl Kraus and their contemporaries. He kept in touch with many other refugees who were able to escape to Latin America from National Socialism at the time. In the post-war years he traveled to Vienna several times in order to maintain contacts with the Austrian cultural scene and to attend cultural events. He is considered to be an essential bridge builder between German-speaking and Latin American culture.

Hans Ungar received high awards in Colombia, Austria and Germany.

Fate of family members

Hans Ungar was the only one in his family who survived the Holocaust .

His parents were expelled from the long-standing family home and had to move to a so-called collective apartment in Vienna 9, Nussdorfer Straße 4/31. They had to share this with two other Jewish couples. On June 14, 1942, Paul and Alice Ungar were deported from Vienna to the Sobibor extermination camp , where they were murdered immediately upon arrival.

His brother Fritz Heinz Ungar was arrested by the National Socialists in April 1938, deported to the Dachau concentration camp on June 17, 1938 , and transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp on September 22, 1928 . He was detained there for more than four years and had to do forced labor. On September 22, 1942, he was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp , where he was murdered on February 22, 1943.

A number of his wife's relatives were also killed in the Holocaust .

Awards

• Silver Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria (1964)
• Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art (1979)
• Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Individual evidence

1. ^ Died: Hans Ungar. Spiegel, May 29, 2004, accessed November 10, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bernhard Brudermann: "The literature is probably the best way to understand this unique, contradicting, great country" ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Margaretha Kopeinig : “I never thought of going back” , Lilly Ungar. How the daughter of a Viennese in Colombia built her life, Kurier , November 9, 2018
4. ↑ DÖW victim database : Ungar Paul , accessed on November 10, 2018 under [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ DÖW victim database: Ungar Alice , accessed on November 10, 2018 under [2]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ DÖW victim database: Hungarian Fritz Heinz , accessed on November 10, 2018 under [3]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Librería Central , official website