Dr. Max Wolf: A New York city physician rescued from the Holocaust by Albert Goring

Meeting Dr. Max Wolf

In the late 1970s Swann Auction Galleries in New York City held a series of auctions of antiquarian medical books being disposed of by some of the medical societies in New York. Being a bibliophile and collector of antiquarian medical books, I attended these auctions.

Dr. Wolf attended the same auctions and we became acquainted. I learned that he was a dermatologist in the City and was originally from Vienna, Austria. I told him I was in the practice of neurosurgery with a group in Memphis. I explained that I had been recruited in 1968 by Dr. Don Pinkel, then the director of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, to join the part-time staff as a neurosurgeon, and that I held a weekly clinic with one of the pediatric oncologists seeing patients with leukemia and with solid tumors with neurologic complications.

At the last auction of the fall in 1979 I told Dr. Wolf that I would next be in New York the first week in December to attend the annual neurosurgical program hosted by the seven university departments In the City. Dr. Wolf invited my wife, Janet, and me to his and Margareta’s home and out for dinner. When we arrived at 969 Park Avenue Dr. Wolf showed me his first-floor clinic and beautiful apartment on the second and third floors. His charming wife served wonderful hors d'oeuvres and their favorite aperitif, Later we went to the restaurant Vienna 79 on East 79th Street, It was on this evening that Dr. Wolf told me of his and Margareta’s escape from the Nazis with the help of Albert Goring. ⁴

Albert Goring

Albert Göring (1895–1966), brother of the infamous Nazi Hermann Göring, was an engineer by profession. Albert Göring hated the Nazis, and as they rose to power, he left Germany for Austria. Dorothy Rabinowitz in her documentary “The Good Brother” explained how Albert Göring aided many Jewish persons, especially children, escape the eventual Holocaust. ⁵ Albert regularly went to his brother’s Berlin office to curry favor on behalf of a Jewish friend or political prisoner, manipulating his ego and playing on his sense of familial duty. ⁶ Albert Göring engaged in other anti-Nazi activities, protected in part by his family name. ⁷

In 1937 Göring apparently contracted a sexually transmitted infection from a prostitute. He became a patient of Dr. Wolf and was successfully treated. Dr Wolf told me that Göring expressed concern that he may have infected his wife, Erna, and asked Dr. Wolf if he would surreptitiously treat her. Dr. Wolf agreed to do so; later he would be very grateful that he had.

Danger on the horizon

Antisemitic persecution began in Vienna almost immediately following the “Anschluss,” when Germany annexed Austria in March of 1938. The Nazis forbade the practice of Jewish lawyers and judges and would follow by disallowing Jewish doctors from work as well. Dr. Wolf, however, secured permission to continue his practice: in the archives of the Leo Baeck Institute and Center for Jewish History there are two letters from the Director of Allgemeine Poliklinik dated March and July of 1938 permitting Dr. Wolf to continue working as a doctor in Vienna. Dr. Wolf also received two letters from Albert and Erna Göring (1886-1939) assuring Dr. Wolf’s and his brother’s safety and offering help if needed (Figure 2). ⁸ The last letter was dated 12 May 1938. The English translation below:

Eng. Albert Goring        Vienna, 12 May 1938

I was delighted by your friendly letter that I received on 11 May 1938, and I would like to let you know that you can – of course – always refer to me in the manner you described. You know that I have known both of your brothers for a long time and that I hold them in the highest regard. Since the situation has calmed down significantly in the meantime, I do not believe that there is any current or future danger for you and your brothers. Should this change, however, you can always count on me.

With best wishes,

Sincerely,

A. Goring.

Göring’s grateful loyalty to Dr. Wolf would aid in the Wolfs’ escape from Nazi-occupied Vienna, likely saving their lives. In October of 1938, Albert Göring visited Dr. Wolf at his office and warned him that conditions would soon worsen significantly for Jews in Vienna. He urged Dr. and Mrs. Wolf and Dr. Wolf’s brother, a chocolatier, to leave Austria as soon as possible. The Wolfs were devastated to leave their Viennese home and all of their possessions, but they trusted Göring and made plans to emigrate to Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia.

While official records indicate that the Wolfs emigrated to Dubrovnik later that month, that was not the case: Dr. Wolf told me that they actually locked up their house immediately, taking only two suitcases to carry a few personal belongings leaving all their other belongings to be confiscated and, with Göring’s help, fled to Dubrovnik. Dr. Wolf’s brother fled to Argentina. Kristallnacht occurred in November 1938, only a month after the Wolfs’ departure, revealing in hindsight the tremendous danger they would have faced had they remained in Vienna. After Kristallnacht fifteen hundred Jews in Vienna were deported to a detention camp in Nisco, Poland. ⁹

The Dubrovnik connection

A few weeks after our dinner in New York, I received a letter from Dr. Wolf dated 7 January 1980, asking my opinion on a neurosurgical case. He explained that nearly 41 years before, he and Margareta had spent almost a year in Dubrovnik awaiting their American visa. During this time the Wolfs became “wonderful friends with the family Zuanic,” Dr. Wolf wrote. “Mr. Zuanic at that time was one of the directors of the Yugoslav Shipping Line, Jadranska Plovidba,” and the family had two children.

One of the Zuanics’ sons had become a doctor, and his own son, 8 years old in 1980, had been operated on for an intracranial neuroblastoma olfactorium. Dr. Wolf sent me the medical reports translated into English. The boy had postoperative radiation but the father was desperate to know if additional treatment was indicated. He worried that since the Zuanic family lived in a communist country that it would be difficult for them to come to the United States for treatment. ¹⁰ I responded to Dr. Wolf after consulting with Dr. Andy Green, a pediatric oncologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, who reported that at that time specialists were treating these tumors with cyclophosphamide and adriamycin. Dr. Green indicated that he would be glad to accept the Zuanic child for treatment at St. Jude and there would be no cost to the family. Dr. Green also provided the names and addresses of three pediatric oncologists he was familiar with that treated neuroblastoma, one each in Germany, Italy, and France. ¹¹ I did not hear further news about the Zuanic family.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 1.

Dr. Max Wolf and Margareta standing by a waterfall. With permission of The Leo Baeck Institute Center for Jewish History.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 2.

Letter from Albert Goring to Dr. Max Wolf dated 12 May 1938. With permission of The Leo Baeck Institute Center for Jewish History.

I last corresponded with Dr. Wolf in the fall of 1980. I explained that I would be going to Austria to attend a medical meeting and would be spending a few days in Vienna. He responded with a detailed letter suggesting hotels, restaurants, and places to visit. We did not correspond further, to my regret. I called Margareta in March of 2000 and learned that Dr. Wolf had died at age 98 on 25 August, 1990. As gracious as ever, she hoped Janet and I would visit her. ¹²

Dr. Wolf’s death would end the life of a most courageous person. With the help of a grateful Albert Göring, Dr. Wolf and his wife escaped the Holocaust and went on to enjoy long and meaningful lives.