Nathan Otto Kornweitz is born in a Viennese Jewish family formerly from Galicia. He is Marem and Ojzer’s elder son. His birth was registered by the Viennese Jewish community (IKG) along with the names of the nurse and the circumciser, whom named him according to Jewish traditions.
From his childhood we have no information whatsoever.
The family lived in a wealthy building, in Vienna’s 20th district, in the heart of the Jewish neighbourhood.
When in October 1934, he marries Frieda Linder, Nathan Otto works as a bookseller; he is also an active member of the social-democratic party. The young couple sets in, 22 Glasergasse.
The month of October 1936 sees the birth of his daughter, Karin Suzanne.
The waves of arrests swelling on the Viennese cultural sphere on May 10th 1938, pushes Nathan to leave the country.
A lonesome exile
Nathan Otto Kornweitz chooses the exile. He heads off Vienna, crossing the Reich territories, he transits through Aachen and crosses the Belgium border in Eupen. He arrives in Brussels on May 14th, along with his brothers in law Bertold and Wilhelm Linder, and appeal for political asylum.
In July 1938, Frieda with their daughter Karin Suzanne joins him without visa from the Belgian authorities.
During the following months, they will relocate several times in Brussels and its nearby suburbs.
Life in Brussels is hard; refugees have no right to work and the welfare organisations are overwhelmed by the massive arrival of refugees from all over the Reich territories, on November and December 1938, on the aftermath of Kristallnacht. Despair gets a hold of him, on the 12 to 13 December’s night; Nathan Otto tries to commit suicide with lightening gas.
After a stay in the hospital, Nathan goes home, Frieda leaves him in the beginning of March 1939, taking their daughter with her, she moves in with her brothers.
Live..
In early May, Nathan’s parents, who managed to leave Vienna, join him; in June his brother Julius arrives and moves in with him. Nathan seems to get better as he joins the Austrian community in exile, and becomes an active member of the Austrian Cultural Circle in Brussels. We find his name on a program from a cabaret performance organized by the Austrian Cultural Circle on July 1939. He sings and acts along with the Wiener Tribüne theatre company.
Julius, still an active member of the underground cell of the Austrian Communist Party (KPO) in exile, leaves Brussels for Oslo in September. In October 1939, in spite of his repeated demands, Nathan has not obtained yet an authorisation to remain in the country while Frieda and her brothers found their way to it. Finally in January 1940, he gets a “category B” identity card The break only lasts few months, and on May 10, Nathan Otto is arrested and deported to the camp of St Cyprien in southern France near the Spanish border, where he is detailed to the K 13 group. He signs a piece of paper allowing the French authorities to hand him over to the Reich’s. It is most likely that Nathan Otto took advantage of his transfer to Gurs to escape.
...And resist.
He goes back to Brussels and joins the communist network of resistants where he meets Anna Snapir. He appears on the census of the Jews in Brussels made on August 21st, though it seems that the signature on the document is not his. From his relationship with Anna Snapir, a baby is born on February 1943, his name is Serge. Nathan Otto uses fake ID and is arrested on May 25th 1944, for not wearing a yellow star. The fake name he used was Jannsens. The feld-gendarme who wrote Nathan’s arrest report did not forget to mention that he was hunted by the SS intelligence service.
124.912
Nathan is detained in the cam of Malines where he receives almost daily, packages; from unknown (to us) senders. Deported by the XXVI convoy, on July 31st 1944 to Auschwitz, he’s selected able to work and tattooed with the number 124.912. He is then detailed to a “Betonkollone” where the work is particularly rough; hurt he is sent to the infirmary in November 1944. After Auschwitz’s evacuation in January 1945, Nathan Otto is sent to Mauthausen. He dies of sickness and exhaustion on April 26th 1945 at 5:30 am, after being used for medical experimentations. On May 5th, Mauthausen and its associated camp are freed.
After the war, Anna Snapir and Ojzer Kornweitz launch researches in order to find out what happened to Nathan. The RCIC (Red Cross International Committee) report about his death is established in Arolsen on January 1957. It is sent to Anna Snapir, as Nathan’s parents both died in the early 50’s.
Nathan Otto Kornweitz’ memory is honoured on the monument in tribute to the Jewish resistance in Belgium, in front of the Anderlecht memorial.
Collection Dorot 2005 