Juri (Jura) Soyfer

Yuri 'Jura' Soyfer was born in Kharkov in the Russian Empire [today: Kharkiv in Ukraine] as the legitimate son of the Jewish industrialist Vladimir Soyfer and his wife Lyubov. In 1920, the family fled via Georgia and Constantinople and arrived in Baden near Vienna in 1921, from where they later moved to Vienna. At the age of ten, Jura Soyfer was enrolled at the Hagenmüllergasse secondary school in Erdberg, where he successfully graduated in 1931. At the age of 15, he began to study socialist writings and became a convinced Marxist. In 1927, he joined the Verband Sozialistischer Mittelschüler [today: Aktion Kritischer SchülerInnen] and was involved in the agitprop group 'Blaue Blusen'. He is a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) [today: SPÖ]. As Russian, French and German were spoken in the family, Jura Soyfer quickly developed a flair and fondness for language and language games. In 1929, he became a member of the Political Cabaret of the Social Democrats, where he gained his first experience in scenic writing. From December 1931, his political satires appeared weekly in the Arbeiter-Zeitung and in the social democratic weekly Der Kuckuck. He also wrote two articles for the Politische Bühne. In them, he calls for the politicization of theater and the abolition of mere distraction and entertainment. In this respect, he is very close to Bertolt Brecht's epic theater.

After the socialist February uprisings in 1934, he joins the illegal KPÖ, writes leaflets and begins work on his novel So a Party Died. This novel, only a fragment of which has survived, is a reckoning with the Austrian Social Democrats, whose policies led to the defeat of February 1934. In 1935, through Hans Weigel, Jura Soyfer met Leon Askin [note: Leo Askenasy], who worked as an actor and director at the Vienna theater ABC, where most of Jura Soyfer's plays were performed. These cabarets, which have fewer than 50 seats and fall outside the regulations of the authoritarian theater law, open up a minimal scope for cabaret and theater.

On 17 November 1937, Jura Soyfer is arrested due to a mix-up with a certain Seidel (actually Franz Marek, a leading functionary of the Communist Party). When it turns out that there is enough incriminating material against him with his critical plays, he is imprisoned for three months. On February 17, 1938, he was released in the course of an amnesty for 'political' people. He remained free for 26 days.

On March 12, 1938, Jura Soyfer witnessed the demise of a 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 Jura Soyfer was considered a 'full Jew'.

On March 13, 1938, he was arrested by&nbspofficials in Gargellen while trying to reach Switzerland on skis. After being arrested, he was first sent to the municipal detention center in St. Gallenkirch in the district of Bludenz. On March 16, 1938, he was brought before the Feldkirch provincial court. On June 23, 1938, he was deported to Dachau concentration camp. On September 23, 1938, he was transferred from there to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he died of typhoid fever on February 16, 1938.

At the time, his parents, who had emigrated to the USA, had already sent an affidavit [note: guarantee from a citizen of the host country for an immigrant] and his concentration camp release papers had been signed. His mortal remains were cremated in the Buchenwald concentration camp, the ashes were later transferred to New York and interred on Staten Island by the Hebrew Free Burial Association.