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Biographical/Historical Information

Kurt Preuss was born in 1911 in Dusseldorf to father Philipp and mother Anna (née Marx). He has one sister, Gerda, born in 1920. Kurt went to the Hindenburg Gymnasium and received his Arbiturium in 1930. He went to Frankfurt and Berlin to study economics and received a diploma in Frankfurt in 1933. When he studied at the University of Frankfurt, he belonged to the German Jewish fraternity 'Kartell-Convent deutscher Studenten Juedischen Glaubens'. He fought a duel which left him with scars on his forehead. Forbidden from entering college because of his Jewish background, Kurt moved back to Dusseldorf and eventually moved to Amsterdam in 1935. In Amsterdam, he worked for a rug importing company as a translater. Kurt left Amsterdam in 1937 after obtaining a visa for America. He found a job in America selling specialized products to bakeries. Philipp and Aenny visited Kurt in America in 1938, and he tried to convince them to stay; they returned to Germany briefly but then fled for England after Kristallnacht in 1938, eventually ending up in New York. Kurt had a successful career as a salesman and then as a partner in the firm. He died in 1996.

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Citation

Cap for Kartell-Convent deutscher Studenten Juedischen Glaubens (Greek Letter Society), owned by Kurt Preuss, Leo Baeck Institute, 2008.024.