November Notes on Noted Emigrants

by Paul A. Schons

Originally published by the Germanic-American Institute in November, 1997

An early emigrant from Austria was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Franz I and Maria Theresia. Marie-Antoinette was born in Vienna on November 2, 1755 and given the name, Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna von Österreich-Lothringen. She married a young French noble in 1770, the dauphin Louis. He would become the King of France and rule with the name, Louis XVI. Marie thus became the queen of France. It was a bad time though to be the queen of France. She was known for frivolousness and a lack of regard for the people. At one point she seems to have said "Let them eat cake!", when informed that the people had no bread. Angry French masses stormed the Bastille in 1789. Marie alienated the French further by her attempts to persuade her brother, the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II to conduct a counterrevolutionary crusade against France. The monarchy was finally terminated in 1792 and she was imprisoned. She survived until 1793 when her head was removed by guillotine.

On November 2, 1894 Alexander Lippisch was born in Munich. Lippish was designing delta-winged aircraft already in the 20's and 30's. His ideas became important in the later design of jet and rocket aircraft. He designed the world's first rocket airplane which used solid fuel and first flew in 1928. He also worked on the first liquid-fuel rocket airplane, the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, which began to be used by the Luftwaffe in 1944. He "emigrated" to the United States in 1946. (He was one of the German scientists brought to the U.S. to work on American military projects.) In 1965 he founded the Lippisch Research Corporation in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Michael Peschkowsky was born in Berlin on November 6, 1931. He emigrated to America with his family. In America he acquired the name, Mike Nichols. He studied at the University of Chicago. In Chicago he formed a performing group called "Second City". In that context he started his work with Elaine May. He later performed on Broadway in such plays as Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple.
He then turned to film directing. Among his noted films are, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Catch-22, Silkwood and Postcards from the Edge.

Sam Spiegel was born in Jaroslau, Austria (now in Poland) on November 11, 1864. He studied at the University of Vienna and then emigrated to the United States. There he became a movie producer. His films include, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Suddenly Last Summer, Lawrence of Arabia and The African Queen.

Felix Frankfurter was born in Vienna on November 15, 1882. He was only twelve when his family emigrated to the United States. Frankfurter studied law at Harvard Law School He was a leader in the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920. President Franklin Rosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1939. He served on the court until his retirement in 1962. In 1963 President John F. Kennedy awarded him the Medal of Freedom.

Friederich Weyerhaeuser was born in Saulheim, Germany on November 21, 1834. He was 18 when he made his way to the United States. In America he found a job as a laborer in a sawmill. His work in that sawmill provided him with some rudimentary experience in the lumber industry and provided him with sufficient income to be able to start an investment program. His investments grew rapidly and before long he was able to leverage the purchase of ever larger stands of timber. His biggest transaction came about at the time he was living in St. Paul, Minnesota. From one of his neighbors, James J. Hill, in the year 1900 he bought in one purchase 900,000 acres of timberland in the Pacific Northwest. It was at this time that the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company was formed.

We are much less pleased with the emigration of Bruno Hauptmann. Hauptmann was born in Kamenz, Germany on November 26, 1899. His problems with the law in Germany were sufficient to cause him to flee to the United States as an illegal immigrant. In the U.S. he soon fell into a life of crime once again. Although he protested his innocence up to the moment of his execution in 1936, he had been found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of the child of the American hero, Charles Lindbergh.

Karoline Blamauer, better known by her stage name, Lotte Lenya, was born in Penzig, Austria. She had developed a stage career before marrying the musician, Kurt Weill in 1926. In 1927 she starred in a new work by her husband in collaboration with their friend, Bert Brecht, Mahagonny. In 1928 she starred in the best known of the Brecht-Weill productions, Die Dreigroschenoper. In 1933 she and Weill fled before the Nazis, first to France and soon to New York. In the United States she developed a career and a reputation quite independent of those of her husband. In Hollywood she acted in a variety of films including, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, From Russia with Love and The Appointment. Lotte Lenya died in New York City on November 27, 1981.

Friedrich von Steuben was born in Magdeburg, Germany. He had had an on and off again career in the Prussian military. Over in the United States the rebelling colonies with a rag tag army were seen as having no chance against the disciplined troops of King George. It was Benjamin Franklin who, in seeking help to build the army, came upon von Steuben and was able to induce him to come to America and accept a commission with the army of the rebelling colonies. Von Steuben arrived in 1777 and was placed in charge of the American troops at Valley Forge. He successfully undertook the retraining of the army and wrote the military manual, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States. The city of Steubenville, Ohio is named for Fort Steuben which was named in his honor. Von Steuben died in his cabin in Remsen, New York on November 28, 1794.