In Memoriam Maria Gabrielsen and Otto Nagler

In the first few days of the new year, we sadly lost two Holocaust survivors: Maria Gabrielsen passed away in Norway on 4 January, just one day after her 91st birthday. One day later, on 5 January, Otto Nagler passed away in Israel at the age of 104. Both were born in Austria and forced to leave their homeland to escape Nazi persecution.

Maria Gabrielsen (3.1.1934 – 4.1.2025)

Maria Gabrielsen, née Schwarz, was born in 1934 in Vienna into modest circumstances – her mother Rosa was a maker of straw hats, her father Michael a tailor. Maria lived with her parents, who had been married for 16 years, and her six siblings in a former barrack in Simmering. After the “Anschluss” of Austria to Nazi Germany, her parents’ relationship deteriorated – her mother Rosa, who had converted Judaism at her wedding, no longer wanted to be married to a Jew. When Maria’s father was put to work as a forced labourer in Steyr, her mother began an affair with a Nazi and refused to let her husband come back home, abusing her husband and children with threats and insults. The older children paid secret visits to their father, providing him with food and clean clothes. Finally, Rosa Schwarz denounced her husband to the authorities for alleged earlier anti-Nazi activities and dropped her five younger children off at a home run by the Jewish Community. The siblings were deported to Theresienstadt, where, by nothing short of a miracle, they survived the war. On their return, they learnt that their father had been gassed at Auschwitz. Their mother, who had betrayed her husband and children, was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Having lived through the experience of having her family torn apart and destroyed by racial hatred, Maria Gabrielsen was an active contemporary eyewitness well into old age and accompanied groups and school classes on visits to former concentration camps.

Otto Nagler (28.10.1920 – 5.1.2025)

Otto Nagler was born in Vienna on 28 October 1920, into the period of great starvation that followed the First World War. Under the shadow of the Nazi Party’s rise to power and the accompanying upsurge in antisemitism, he became a member of the Zionist movement. After Hitler and his troops entered Austria in 1938, Otto made his escape, arriving in Haifa in March 1939 with a group of Austrian and German students. He went on to study civil engineering at the Technion there. Otto Nagler became a pioneer in the field of irrigation engineering and played a key role in designing Israel’s national water supply system. This system went on to serve as a blueprint internationally, becoming a model for modern agriculture. He later travelled to more than 40 countries worldwide and was involved in the planning of water and irrigation systems in developing countries.

For Otto Nagler, his work allowed him to live the principles of partnership and cooperation and to take a stand against anti-Jewish prejudice. Throughout his life the importance of sharing his experiences as a Holocaust survivor remained constant, but he also liked to talk about his childhood in Vienna, to keep reminding people of the Holocaust. Until the end, he regularly gave talks to groups of teachers from Austria and to Austrian government representatives and, in connection with the dangers of climate change, advocated cooperation between youth groups from Austria and Israel, providing new impetus while passing on his legacy to future generations.

Honours received as contemporary eyewitnesses

Maria Gabrielsen and Otto Nagler, together with other contemporary eyewitnesses, were honoured at the Simon Wiesenthal Prize award ceremony in March 2024. Although they were unfortunately unable to accept their certificates of honour in person, it is to be hoped that they felt the gratitude that they were intended to express: gratitude for sharing their most difficult memories with the world and entrusting their experiences to younger generations. Over the decades, they have as survivors made a vital contribution to Holocaust education, combatting antisemitism and strengthening democracy with their extraordinary personal dedication.