us-005578-irn516051
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had some members with language: deu
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1919-01-01
biographical history: Paul Peter Porges, known as PPP, was born on February 7, 1927, in Vienna, Austria. His father, Gustav, was born in Scheibbs, Austria, on April 28, 1892. His mother, Jeanette (Jenny) Menschel, was born on November 11, 1900, in Cernovitz, Romania. Gustav served in the Austrian Army in World War I (1914-1918) and was stationed in Vienna. He met and married Jenny in 1919. Gustav had an import and export business and Jenny ran the family grocery store. Paul’s brother, Kurt, was born on July 23, 1920. The family was assimilated though they did observe holidays. Paul was aware that his family was different because they were Jewish. He attended a Catholic public school and, as a Jew, had to leave the room during catechism instruction. Paul attended a Jewish school each Sunday and took youth art lessons at the local college. German troops marched into Austria on March 12, 1938, and the next day, Austria was incorporated into the German Reich. Anti-Jewish legislation was enacted. Gustav could no longer travel and conduct business and the Porges family store was boycotted. Eleven year old Paul was forced to leave public school and attend a Jewish school. He was spit on and called a Jew bastard by former school friends, and attacked by members of the Hitler Youth. Paul became ashamed of being Jewish and just wanted to be like everybody else. As a way to meet other young Jews, Paul joined Hashomer Hatzair, a Zionist youth organization. Gustav was still very well liked and gentile friends came to visit the family and store. A business partner, who was a high ranking member of the Nazi party, brought him a basket of food and said that if he had known how bad things were going to get, he never would have joined the party. During the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10, 1938, uniformed Nazis and a mob stormed the grocery store and painted “Jude” [Jew] and red Stars of David on the front. The family hid in the back room during the onslaught. In March 1939, Paul’s parents registered…
scope and content: The collection consists of documents and photographs regarding the Holocaust-era experiences of the Porges family of Vienna, Austria. Includes pre-war family photographs, identification documents, and paperwork related to immigration to the United States in 1946.
type: RecordSet
record resource structure: The collection is arranged as a single series.
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn516051/alternateIDs/1
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn516051/acquisitions/1
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/701
title: Porges family papers
identifier: irn516051
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1947-12-31
record resource extent: folder 1
has record set type: Item
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum