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Marko Feingold
Marko Feingold
Birth: 28 May 1913
Besztercebanya/Neusohl, Austria-Hungary (now Banska Bystrica, Slovakia)
Death: 19 September 2019
Salzburg, Salzburg State, Austria
Age: 106 years, 114 days
Country: SlovakiaSVKAustriaAUT
Centenarian

Marko M. Feingold (28 May 1913 – 19 September 2019) was a Slovakian-Austrian centenarian, the president of the Jewish community in Salzburg, Austria, and is in charge of Salzburg's synagogue. He was the oldest or second-oldest man in Austria (depending on the status of Erich Ohlinger).

Biography[]

Marko Feingold was born in Besztercebanya/Neusohl, Austria-Hungary (now Banska Bystrica, Slovakia) on 28 May 1913. He grew up in Leopoldstadt, Vienna. After he had trained in business, he found work in Vienna, became unemployed and travelled with his brother, Ernst, in Italy. In 1938, he was arrested in Vienna during a short visit. At first he escaped, to Prague, was expelled to Poland and turned back to Prague with false papers. In 1939, he was arrested again and deported to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. He was also imprisoned in the concentration camps at Neuengamme and Dachau and finally the concentration camp Buchenwald in 1941, where he stayed until his liberation in 1945.

He moved to Salzburg by chance, where he now lives. Between 1945 and 1948, he helped Jewish survivors who were living in displaced person camps in Salzburg and organised, with the Jewish refugee organisation Bricha, the emigration of Jews from middle and eastern Europe to Palestine. In 1948 he acquired a fashion store.[citation needed] At that time he was initially a member of the SPÖ, but later left the party due to its particularly anti-Semitic orientation influenced by Karl Renner, but also Bruno Kreisky. Nevertheless, today he is an honorary member. As one of the oldest contemporary witnesses, Feingold explicitly commented in 2013 and 2018 in the media on Karl Renner's support for the Anschluss and anti-Semitism. Feingold also criticized the social democrats in this context and said that after 1945, after a complaint by the party secretary of the SPÖ, he was chased out with the words "Saujud, verschwind!".

Between 1946 and 1947, Feingold was briefly the president of the Jewish community in Salzburg. Shortly after his retirement in 1977, he became vice president and then, in 1979, president of the Jewish community once again. Since his retirement, he has given many lectures about his time in concentration camps, the Holocaust and Judaism. Feingold celebrated his 105th birthday in May 2018.

Feingold died in Salzburg, Salzburg State, Austria on 19 September 2019 at the age of 106 years, 114 days.

References[]


Austria's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (VE)

Leopold VietorisSamuel BotscherAnton Bohdal • Johann Bogl • Wilhelm Mahler • Franz Harrer • Josef Kastenhuber • Leopold Engleitner • Albin Pichler • Gunter Fronius • Felix Madl • Franz Peter Winkler • Theodor Zafred • Johann Diesenhofer • Josef Pux • Julius Frauerwieser • Leopold Kriegbaum • Johann Simair • Otto Filipsky • Josef SchadlerMarko FeingoldAlois MayrhoferAnton KronbergerFranz WielanderJosef Peer

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