Dr. David Ernst Oppenheim

David Ernst Oppenheim was born in Brno in Moravia [today: Brno in the Czech Republic] as the legitimate son of the secretary of the Jewish Community, Rabbi Joachim Heinrich Oppenheim and his wife Ernestine, née Kaufmann. He came from a family whose ancestors had been rabbis for generations. After elementary school in Brno, he attended the I. German k.k. Gymnasium in Brno, where he graduated in 1899. In the same year, he moved to Vienna to live with his aunt and enrolled in philosophy, education and ancient history at the University of Vienna. He also attended a lecture by Sigmund Freud and graduated in 1905.

In 1906, he married Amalie Pollak and, after his probationary year, was sent to the grammar school in Nikolsburg [today: Mikulov in the Czech Republic], where his daughter Kora Renta Oppenheim was born. In 1909, he took up a position as a grammar school teacher at the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna's 1st district. Alongside his teaching activities, he pursues scientific studies in psychology in order to research the 'secret of the human soul'. In January 1910, he became a member of the Viennese Psychoanalytical Association (WPV). When he broke with Freud, he left the WPV with Alfred Adler's followers in October 1911 and became a founding member of the new depth psychology school of individual psychology.

With the outbreak of the First World War, David Ernst Oppenheim was drafted and injured on the Russian front on October 19, 1914. He returned to the front on March 12, 1915 and was subsequently deployed to the Isonzo Front in Italy from July 1, 1916 and fought in the 6th Battle of the Isonzo. In November 1917, David Ernst Oppenheim, who had meanwhile been promoted to first lieutenant, was classified as unfit for front-line service due to his war wounds and assigned to office duty in the military's censorship department.

In November 1918, David Ernst Oppenheim witnessed the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the dismantling of the Dual Monarchy and the expulsion of the House of Habsburg. He was discharged as a captain and returned to Vienna, where he resumed his teaching activities. He became more and more of a convinced pacifist, joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) [today: SPÖ] in 1918 and remained an active member until it was banned in 1934. His second daughter Doris Oppenheim was born in 1919. In the 1920s, he was active in the Association for Individual Psychology. His collaboration with Alfred Adler lasted until 1930.

While his two daughters, the now married Kora Renata Singer and Doris Oppenheim, emigrated to Australia, Amalie and David Ernst Oppenheim refused to emigrate, despite persuasion from various acquaintances and friends.

Zuerst werden in weiterer Folge neben David Ernst und Amalie Oppenheim acht Juden zwangsuntergebracht. 1942 müssen sie ihre Wohnung verlassen und in eine Durchgangswohnung für Juden, einige Straße weiter, in der Förstergasse 7 im 2. Wiener Gemeindebezirk übersiedeln.

Am 20. August 1942 werden sie mit dem Transport mit der Nummer 8 in das KZ Theresienstadt deportiert. Der Diabetiker David Ernst Oppenheim leidet unter den katastrophalen hygienischen Umständen im Konzentrationslager. Ihm wird zum einen das lebensrettende Insulin verweigert, zum anderen erkrankt er an einer chronischen Diarrhöe. Er verstirbt am 18. Februar 1943 im KZ Theresienstadt. In einem Brief an Verwandte schreibt Amalie Oppenheim später, ihr Ehemann starb 'an seiner alten Krankheit und der schweren Theresienstädter Krankheit'. (Als Theresienstädter Krankheit wurde chronische Diarrhöe bezeichnet.)

Amalie Oppenheim überlebt das Konzentrationslager und zieht nach der Befreiung Österreichs zu ihren Töchtern nach Australien.