Karl Schifferes

Karl Schifferes was born in Vienna as the legitimate son of the canvas merchant Leopold Schifferes and Hermine, née Jeiteles. He is one of five children of the Jewish family who moved to Vienna from Prague. Karl Schifferes was very musical, played the chello and gave his first performances at the age of 11.

In 1918, he married the Catholic Marianne Pieringer and became the father of a daughter named Marianne, just like her mother. She later became known as Marianne Schönauer. Karl Schifferes became a cellist in the orchestra of Österreichische Radio-Verkehrs AG (RAVAG).

On March 12, 1938, he witnessed the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. With the occupation of Austria, German legislation is adopted and with it the 'Nuremberg Race Laws', according to which Karl Schifferes is considered a 'full Jew'. He was dismissed from the orchestra on March 13, 1938. In the summer of 1938, the Schifferes family was evicted from their home.

In order to escape persecution, Karl Schifferes fled to Amiens in France on March 5, 1939. After the defeat of France on June 22, 1940, he fled from Amiens to the south of France to 'Vichy France'. There he was interned in the Drancy collection camp. In May 1942, he wrote one last letter to his daughter Marianne Schönauer. On 26 August 1942, the Secretary General of the Vichy police, René Bousquet, organized the deportation of 10,000 non-French Jews. Karl Schifferes was among them and was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was murdered there by the National Socialists. An exact date of death is not known.