Wilhelm Back and His Wife Else, née Greger

“My brother never sold the property and hence my brother / or his heir / is the lawful owner.” (Dr. Jind?ich Back to the Federal Ministry for Asset Protection and Economic Planning, London, 7. 10. 1946) The physician Dr. Jind?ich Back, later called Henry, was the younger brother of the civil engineer Dr. Wilhelm Back, who was born on 22 January 1885 in Jessenitz (Bohemia) to Ignaz and Mathilde, née Pollak. Wilhelm’s wife Else was born on 17 September 1898 in Wieselburg/Erlauf to Moritz and Julie Greger, née Heimer. The couple married on 12 August 1924 in the St. Pölten Synagogue. The ceremony was conducted by Rabbi Adolf Schächter. Their marriage was witnessed by Jind?ich Back and Adolf Geiduschek from St. Pölten, who was married to Wilhelm’s half-sister Olga. Altogether eleven children had been born from Williams’ father Ignatz’ three marriages. Back’s significance to the Lower Austrian building industry has today been entirely forgotten. It is not known in which subject he completed his doctorate or when, yet he was appointed an engineer in early June of 1913, already at this point together with his later colleague Hans Frey. An Ing. Wilhelm Back was named as Managing Director of the Viennese “Mindag” joint operating machine company in 1921. On 17 February 1927, the newspaper St. Pöltner Bote reported that the Federal Minister for Trade and Transport had “appointed the engineers Wilhelm Back and Johann Frey employed by the district authority (building management) as government building surveyors.” In April 1928, Back patented his invention “Bei Hochwasser selbsttätig freilegbarer Wehraufsatz” (independently deploying flood barriers). The two colleagues were later also appointed simultaneously as chief government building surveyors, as reported by the St. Pöltner Bote on 6 March 1930. In August of that year, Back in his capacity as “Chief Commissioner for the Inspection of Steam Generators” published a survey on a “Locomobile” that had apparently caused a major fire in Krahof near Blindenmarkt on account of flying sparks (St. Pöltner Bote, 7. 8. 1930). Just three weeks before the “Anschluss,” Back was appointed as head of the district building management by the Lower Austrian governor, as mentioned by the newspaper on 17 February 1938 in the “Staff News” section. In this capacity, he was responsible for supervising construction in St. Pölten, Melk, Lilienfeld, and Amstetten. On 13 July 1938, the Mercurbank in Vienna informed Wilhelm Back that the current value of his shares could not be ascertained for the time being. Two days later, both he and his wife were forced to fill out a “register of Jewish property.” On her form, Else Back cited her profession as “wife of a chief government building surveyor.” She owned half of the “rental property” at Maria Theresia-Straße 13, which was valued at 22,000 Reichsmark, as well as of shares with the Mercurbank in Vienna amounting to 9,050 Reichsmark. The quality of her bourgeois, though by no means luxurious home décor can be imagined from the entries “9 carpets (1700 RM)” and “silverware (100 RM).” Else moreover listed two brooches, a wristwatch, and seven rings valued altogether at 900 Reichsmark – no treasures, but surely of significant personal value. On 14 December 1938, Else Back registered a change in her assets, which henceforth totaled 17,281 Reichsmark. The couple already deregistered to Vienna on 3 December 1938, later moving to Argentinierstraße 63 in Vienna’s fourth district, followed by Währingerstraße 2/25 in the ninth district, and finally nearby to Hörlgasse 13/8. Else finally moved alone to a collective apartment in Schmelzgasse 9/13 in the second district. Wilhelm was spared the horror of deportation as he died on 20 November 1941 in the Rothschild-Spital in Vienna-Währing, the only hospital that was still allowed to treat Jewish patients. He was buried in the Jewish section of Vienna’s Central Cemetery at Tor 4. Else was deported to Auschwitz on 17 July 1942, where she was presumably sent directly into the gas chamber. The Backs’ house at Maria Theresia-Straße 13 was confiscated and occupied by the Nazi district leader. The “Aryanizer” had to concede a lien equal to the unpaid amount of the “Jewish property tax” totaling 1,620.50 Reichsmark as well as further fees of almost 700 Reichsmark – almost 200 Reichsmark more for Else’s part of the property. On 7 February 1944, the property was taken over by the Reich fiscal authorities. In October 1946, Jind?ich, who had managed to flee to London, laid a claim to the inheritance – it is not known whether he received it. With the exception of Wilhelm, the Back family had been rarely fortunate as all nine of the (half-)siblings still alive in 1938 managed to flee. Like Else, Jind?ich’s wife Ruzena Rosalie was murdered in the Shoah, as were Else’s mother, her four siblings, and other close relatives.