Walter Absil

Walter Absil (born November 26, 1924 in Vienna as Walter Bondy ; † October 28, 2015 in Montreal ) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who emigrated to Canada .

Life

Walter Absil was born into a non- religiously Jewish family. His parents Otto and Margarethe Bondy ran a leather goods factory at Bechardgasse 16 in the 3rd district of Vienna. When Austria was annexed to Germany in 1938 , his father decided to leave the country. The family eventually settled in Belgium and lived there without much difficulty until 1940. This changed after the invasion of the Nazis in Belgium.

When the Jews living in Belgium were asked to report to the train station in 1941 in order to do forced labor in the German Reich , Absil's father refused to obey this call. As a result, the family was forced to go into hiding, but the family's hiding place was discovered in September 1943. Walter Absil's mother and father were brought to the SS assembly camp in Mechelen by Gestapo officers and from there on September 20, 1943, deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau , where they were gassed upon arrival. By chance, Absil and his sister Liese were not in hiding at the time. They both managed to go undetected until the liberation of Belgium in 1944. Liese hid in the Carmelite convent of Sainte Foy-les-Lyons.

In September 1951 Absil emigrated to Montreal with his wife, whom he had married in 1945, and his first two (of three) children, where he lived until his death. After 1951 he worked as a dealer and manager. He also volunteered at the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Center .

Awards

2013: Decoration of Honor in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria

literature

Martin Gilbert: The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust . Holt 2004, p. 318

Web links

Musée de l'Holocauste Montréal: Walter Absil, survivant de l'Holocauste - Résister pour survivre (YouTube)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM): USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Walter Absil , Video: Jewish Survivor Walter Absil Testimony (YouTube)

Individual evidence

^ Obituary Walter Absil . In: Montreal Gazette , October 30, 2015.
^ Lothar Bodingbauer: "Memorial Service at the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Center", ORF Radio Austria 1, May 8th, 2000. Retrieved August 24, 2014 .
^ Naomi Kramer, Ronald Headland: The fallacy of race and the Shoah , University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa 1998, p. 195.

personal data
SURNAME	Absil, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bondy, Walter (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian Holocaust survivor
DATE OF BIRTH	November 26, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vienna
DATE OF DEATH	October 28, 2015
Place of death	Montreal

[1] Obituary Walter Absil . In: Montreal Gazette , October 30, 2015.

[2] Lothar Bodingbauer: "Memorial Service at the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Center", ORF Radio Austria 1, May 8th, 2000. Retrieved August 24, 2014 .

[3] Naomi Kramer, Ronald Headland: The fallacy of race and the Shoah , University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa 1998, p. 195.