Hans Eichner 1921-2009
By Paul Wells - Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 1 Comment
He fled the Nazis, and was tormented by the fact he made his living studying and teaching German
Hans Eichner was born on Oct. 30, 1921, in Vienna, Austria. He was the second of two boys, after Fritz, born to Sandor and Valli. The family lived in Vienna’s predominantly Jewish Leopoldstadt district. When Hans was quite young, perhaps six years old, his father committed suicide after years of quarrelling with his brother, Hans’ uncle. Hans’ mother needed someone else to take care of her and the boys and she remarried—to a man who constantly shirked his responsibilities, “somebody he couldn’t respect,” Hans’ wife, Kari Grimstad, says.
In March of 1938 Hitler’s German Nazis annexed Austria. In November came Kristallnacht, a night of coordinated violence against Jews across Germany and Austria. Most of Vienna’s synagogues were destroyed. “He and a buddy decided they couldn’t stick around any longer. They got out,” Grimstad says.
