Hugo Grünwald

Hugo Grünwald was born in Klosterneuburg near Vienna as the legitimate son of the doctor Nathan Grünwald and his wife Emilie, née Hirsch. The family is Jewish. After finishing school, he became an insurance clerk at Riunione Adriatica di Sicura, where he advanced to the position of senior inspector.

On August 19, 1918, he married Emilie Königstein, who came from a Viennese&nbspmanufacturing family. The paraphernalia factory 'Brüder Köngistein', owned by the Jewish entrepreneurial family, is located in Vienna's 7th district. On June 24, 1919, they converted to the Protestant faith together and married in church on the same day. Their daughter Loise had been born shortly before. Hugo Grünwald was a very well-paid insurance employee and the family were well-known opponents of National Socialism.

On March 12, 1938, Hugo Grünwald witnessed the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. With the occupation of Austria, German legislation was adopted and with it the 'Nuremberg Race Laws', according to which Emilie and Hugo Grünwald were considered 'full Jews'. Due to his 'non-Aryan' descent, Hugo Grünwald is immediately dismissed. The family is then preserved by Emilie Grünwald's uncle, Alexander Königstein.