Anschluss and Belton

Anschluss was the annexation of Austria by Hitler in March 1938. Austria became the German equivalent of an English county. Chamberlain’s appeasement left 206,000 Austrian Jews under Nazi control. Belton's visitor book for 1928 to 1951 reveals the guests who stayed there. It records how the owners, the 6th Baron & Baroness, Perry & Kitty Brownlow, helped Jews in their flight from Austria.

Altogether, over 2,700 mainly Jewish members of Vienna University were dismissed and subsequently expelled and/or murdered - teachers, students and administrative employees, and more than 200 people were stripped of their academic degrees. In April 1938, Vienna’s Medical Faculty purged 175 members. At the peak of professional eminence, Julius Hass, an orthopaedic surgeon became a victim of Nazi persecution and was expelled. Being Jewish, he could not legally give allegiance to Hitler. Some university members committed suicide, others died in Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Why didn’t they just leave Austria? That demanded assets for the huge, Reichsfluchtsteuer (Reich Flight Tax), sponsors and numerous documents. Austrians had a 9-year wait for U.S. visas.

Hass did have one avenue of help for himself—The Academic Assistance Council the body through which academics in the UK attempted to rescue their fellow academics from the Nazis. Corespondence relating to him is catalogued in the Bodleain Library (as yet unexamined). Further help came from the Brownlows at Belton.

The Academic Assistance Council Reestablished as the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning run by Esther Simpson (left)

Founded in 1933 by a small group of academics—including William Beveridge, Leo Szilard, and Lord Rutherford—as the Academic Assistance Council, the organization initially aimed to provide short-term grants and job placement assistance for university teachers dismissed by the Nazi regime in Germany. Reestablished in 1936 as the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL) with a more formal committee structure, it expanded its support to around 2,000 registered refugee scholars from across Europe by the start of World War II. During the war, the Society relocated to Cambridge and focused on securing war work for its grantees and mitigating internment restrictions, while government funding through the Central Committee for Refugees absorbed much of its direct financial relief. Reconstituted in 1959 as a registered company governed by a council of management, the SPSL has maintained a continuous presence since 1945—sharing London offices with the World University Service in recent years following the retirement of long-serving Secretary Esther Simpson—to support successive waves of displaced émigré scholars from around the globe.

Her story is available on BBC iPlayer as of October 2026.

Julius Hass & Family

Professor Julius Hass in 1936 (1883-1959). Archiv Universität Wien.

Hass's expulsion letter. Hass is merely copied into the correspondence! The addressee is Professor Dr Gerhard Ritter von Haberler (1897-1980). He took over from Hass as Head of the orthopedic ward of the I. Surgical Department, 1939-1945. Haberler participated in a forced sterilization programme.

Letter transcription: Appointment of Dr Gerhard Ritter von Haberler as the replacement for Professor Julius Hass

Copy

April 6, 1938.

1070 37/38.

Seen! / Inspected!

Vienna, April 21, 1938

The Provisional (Commissionary) Rector of the University of Vienna:

[Signature: Fr. Knoll]

Dr. Gerhard H a b e r l e r ,

Vienna, XIX.,

Döblinger-Hauptstr. 55

The provisional dean of the Vienna Faculty of Medicine charges you with, and holds you responsible for, maintaining order and operations at the Orthopedic Ward of the 1st Surgical Clinic.

The Provisional Dean:

PERNKOPF (signed in original)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

DEAN’S OFFICE OF THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

Number 1070 of 1937/38.

Vienna, April 6, 1938.

Is hereby

transmitted to the Austrian Ministry of Education, the Rectorate of the University of Vienna, the National Socialist Teachers' League (NS-Lehrerbund) c/o Prof. Dr. Arthur MARCHET, Privatdozent Dr. Fritz SCHUERER-WALDHEIM, and Prof. Dr. Julius HASS

in Vienna

with the note that, pursuant to statutory provisions, Prof. Dr. Julius H A S S was unable to take the oath of service.

The Provisional Dean:

[Signature/Initials]

(Incoming stamp:)

Rectorate Office of the University of Vienna

Received on April 11, 1938

677 of 1937/38

Archive of the University of Vienna

The National Socialist "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" (GzVeN) enacted on July 14, 1933, and took effect on January 1, 1934. The law legalized compulsory sterilization to prevent individuals with alleged genetic or social "defects" from having children, advancing Nazi racial hygiene and eugenics.

The GzVeN stipulated that people with the following conditions be sterilized:

"congenital feeble-mindedness"

"Schizophrenia"

"manic-depressive insanity"

"hereditary epilepsy"

"hereditary St. Vitus' dance"

"hereditary blindness"

"hereditary deafness"

"severe hereditary physical malformation" or

"Alcoholism"

Dr Gerhard von Haberler was one of the medical assessors. He was therefore directly involved in the proceedings and the rulings that led to at least 1,203 decisions in favor of forced sterilization in Vienna. The law laid the legal and ideological groundwork for later state-sponsored atrocities, including forced abortions, persecution of marginalized minorities like the Roma, and the systematic mass murder of disabled individuals under the Aktion T4 euthanasia program.

Julius came to Belton via India in July 1938 intending to move to the U.S. The visitor book records that the Brownlows hosted Julius, son Anton, wife Alice and her brother Kurt Gottlieb.

The introductions likely arose through the Brownlow’s friendship with Baron Franckenstein, Austrian Ambassador. A Belton address book (NT 434766) lists telephone numbers to a 1930s Austrian legation diplomat, Baron Lothar Wimmer. He became Austrian Ambassador in 1952.

Anti-Nazi Franckenstein, sacked after Anschluss, remained in London to devise the Special Operations Executive strategy against wartime Austria. He took British nationality and was knighted to become Sir George Franckenstein.

His Eminence Baron Franckenstein, Austrian Ambassador 1937. Georg Albert Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein GCVO (1878 – 1953). Killed with his wife in a plane crash.

At an Austrian Legation ball. Left Perry Brownlow. From right Alice Hass, Kitty Brownlow & Kurt Gottlieb, sitting (The Sketch 15 December 1937).

Fifteen-year-old Anton (1923-1992) went to Stow School while the family awaited U.S. visas.

Another Belton guest, Dickie Trauttenberg, also housed the Hass family before departure to America in 1939. Embarkation documents flag them as nationality indeterminate from Austria.

Julius and his family arrived in New York City in 1939. He had lost both his professional position and his life savings. He had to sit on the side lines while struggling to pass the State Medical Licensing Board examinations. Julius gained a U.S. medical license in 1941 and specialised in congenital dislocation of the hip. His 1942 draft card below shows him at Montefiore Hospital where he became Chief of the Orthopaedic Department (opens pdf).

Safe haven, Alice (known as Lisl) Hass application for U.S. citizenship, address 1 East 62nd Street, New York. On her arrival documents in New York she is reported to speak English, German, French & Italian, without nationality .

Julius Hass application for U.S. citizenship

Julius Hass draft card. Now living at 830 Park Avenue, New York.

Anton (Anthony) Hass draft card. Anton graduated from Princeton University in 1944. Following graduation with a degree in chemical engineering, he joined Hercules Powder Co. that manufactured gun powder for munitions. He later served as a scientific consultant to the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany.

Alice returned to Belton in 1950 for the funeral of her brother in Belton’s churchyard. Kurt’s tragic end makes another story.

Anton married in 1957 and had three children, Anthony Cecil, John Randolph and Elizabeth, and grandchildren. Anton died in Washington DC in 1992.

Unconnected, Alfred Bernhard Alexander, another Jewish, Viennese doctor arrived at Belton in 1939.

Distinguishable from Alfred John Alexander, a German physician who served as President of the Berlin Association of Doctors and fled the Nazis for Britain in 1935.

Alfred Bernhard Alexander in later life. The adjacent letter gives him an additional name, Israel. The 1938 Executive Order on the Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names required German Jews bearing first names of “non-Jewish” origin to adopt an additional name: Israel for men and Sara for women.

An additional letter, below, gives the grounds for revocation of his doctorate, the Nazi die Ausbürgerung - forcible removal of citizenship. That letter of May 1942 allows a complaint against the decision to be lodged with the Reich Minister for Science, Education and Public Education within one month after delivery.

A letter copied to the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler informing of the revocation of Alfred's doctorate. Note, Alfred, still pursued by the Nazis despite having left for England 2 years earlier. The letter is from, Das Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung, the Education Ministry. It is sent to Bernhard Rust, the Education Minister. Rust committed suicide in May 1945 with Germany's capitulation.

From The Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police: Heinrich Himmler (signed on his behalf by Engelmann) to the Reich Minister of Science, Education and Public Instruction: Bernhard Rust (signed on his behalf by Kock) copied in the Rector of the University of Vienna (Rektor der Universität Wien): Fritz (Friedrich) Knoll (who served as rector from 1938 to 1943)

Berlin W 8, April 30, 1941 Unter den Linden 69 Telephone: 11 00 30 Postal checking account: Berlin 14402 Reichsbank Giro account: 1/154 P.O. Box W F 2063 Please state this reference number and subject in future correspondence. C o p y . The Reich Leader-SSand Chief of the German Policein the Reich Ministry of the Interior

S. II A 5 (b) new – A. 2560 –

To the

Reich Minister of Science,

Education and Public Instruction

Berlin W 8

Re: Revocation of the doctoral title.

Reference: None.

Against the Jew Dr. med. Alfred Bernhard Israel Alexander, born on April 30, 1909 in Vienna, last domestic residence: Vienna 8, Skodagasse 15, current residence: London, I have initiated proceedings for the revocation of German citizenship pursuant to § 2 of the Law of July 14, 1933 (Reich Law Gazette I p. 480 et seq.) in conjunction with § 1 of the Law on the Revocation of Citizenship and the Withdrawal of Citizenship Acquisition in the Ostmark of July 11, 1939 (Reich Law Gazette I p. 1235). Alfred Alexander obtained his doctorate in medicine (Dr. med.) at the University of Vienna on February 24, 1933.

I request that further steps be arranged regarding the revocation of the doctoral title.

By order,

signed Engelmann

===========

Copy

to the Rector of the University of Vienna for your information and further action. I look forward to receiving a report.

By order,

signed Kock

*Certified copy.*

*[Signature]*

Employee

*(Incoming stamp:)*

Rectorate Office of the University of Vienna

Received on May 7, 1941

S. Z. 118

Sub-Journal No. 580

The 6th Baron Brownlow suffered from recurrent sinusitis. He may have consulted Alexander on a ski trip to Austria in the 1930s.

Alfred (1909-1983) an E.N.T. surgeon fled to Britain and within a year had gained qualifications from both Glasgow and Edinburgh. He then worked at Guy’s Hospital and the Royal Nose, Throat and Ear Hospital in Grays Inn Road. He wrote papers on blast injury of the ear. He was appointed Consultant at St James’ Hospital, Balham in 1946, and worked there until 1974. He specialise in treating the voices of singers. He became honorary laryngologist to The Royal College of Music and The Royal Northern College of Music and Consultant to the Royal Academy of Music. In 1982 he was awarded honorary membership of the Royal College of Music. He wrote many articles on the function of the larynx in singers. He condensed his thoughts into his book Operanatomy published in various versions between 1971 and 1979. It took until 1955 for his nullified doctorate to be reinstated by the Vienna University.

As an example of how easily flight was thwarted without the assistance of benefactors like the Brownlows, Walter Benjamin, a famous German philosopher obtained a US visa, but only for travel from neutral Portugal. Travelling there through Franco's Spain, their police proposed to deport him back to the Nazis; he committed suicide. His brother was murdered in Mauthausen concentration camp.

Decision Document to revoke Alexander's Degree 21.5.1942

D e c i s i o n.

The committee of the University of Vienna, constituted in accordance with § 3, Para. 1 of the Ordinance of the Reich Minister of Science, Education and Public Instruction of July 21, 1939, RGBl. I, 1326, has adopted the following decision:

The academic doctoral degree is revoked from Dr. med. Alfred Bernhard Israel A l e x a n d e r pursuant to § 4 of the Law of June 7, 1939, RGBl. I, p. 385.

An appeal against this decision may be lodged with the Reich Minister of Science, Education and Public Instruction within one month of delivery. The appeal shall not have a suspensive effect.

R e a s o n s :

According to the contents of the 218th Denaturalization List, the deprivation of citizenship of Alfred Bernhard Israel ALEXANDER, born April 30, 1909 in Vienna, was published in the German Reichsanzeiger. Alfred Bernhard Israel ALEXANDER was awarded the doctorate of medicine (Doctor med.) at the University of Vienna on November 24, 1933.

Since the aforementioned individual became unworthy of German citizenship according to the ruling on expatriation, he has all the more become unworthy of continuing to hold the academic doctoral degree conferred upon him by the University of Vienna.

Vienna, May 21, 1942.

Posting on the notice board, Submission to the Reich Minister and further necessary orders.

[Signature]

Archive of the University of Vienna

Four Hass generations have now lived thanks in part to the Brownlows' assistance.

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