Kurt Rosenkranz was born in
Vienna. He grew up in the Viennese district of
Brigittenau. His Jewish parents and grandparents had emigrated from
Eastern Europe to Vienna. At the age of 9 he became a member of the boys' choir at the
temple (de) in
Kaschlgasse. In the year 1938, in the course of the “
Anschluss” Rosenkranz experienced riots and humiliation. He was transferred from his old school to a “Sammelschule” for Jews in Währingerstraße 43. The Rosenkranz family fled to
Riga, but when the German troops arrived there, the members of the Rosenkranz family were transferred to Soviet camps and interned first at
Novosibirsk in Russia, then in
Karaganda in Kazakhstan. In 1946 Kurt Rosenkranz returned to Vienna to work with his father in their small shoe factory. In 1989 he founded the Jewish Institute for Adult Education. Rosenkranz earned the title “Professor” for his merits. His brother
Herbert Rosenkranz worked as a historian at
Yad Vashem. He died on 13 March 2024, at the age of 96. == Writings ==