Freeman comes from a family in Galicia. After running away, she pursued a career in the US, but recently she has also reconnected with her former homeland, Austria. The award ceremony took place on her 95th birthday. Freeman was born Erika Polesciuk on July 1, 1927 in Vienna.
His father – a Social Democrat – was rescued from the Theresienstadt concentration camp by Swedish diplomats. His daughter met him by chance in New York in 1946. Her mother survived the Nazi period in Vienna as a submarine, but died on March 12, 1945 in the Philipphof bombing in the final weeks of the war.
Mother was a role model for “Yentl”
As a girl, she disguised herself as a man to learn Hebrew. She was considered a role model for the film adaptation of the short story “Yentl” by Isaac Beshevis Singer, starring Barbra Streisand. Erika Polesciuk, who initially changed her name to Padan in the US, married painter Paul Freeman and studied psychology at Columbia University, where psychoanalyst and Freud student Theodor Reik, who had fled Vienna, was one of her professors. .
Golda Meir, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando as Clients
She later served as an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, and stars like Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando were also supported by her. Erika Freeman has been repeatedly coming to Austria since 2007 for the Austrian memorial project “A Letter To The Stars”. Most recently, on May 8, she was the keynote speaker at the Festival of Joy at Heldenplatz.
The contemporary witness was given back his citizenship during the ceremony at the town hall – which was possible because since 2019 survivors and descendants of victims of the Nazi regime have been granted Austrian citizenship without having to give up their previous ones. Vienna was in charge of implementation. In Municipal Secretariat 35, a separate department “Citizenship Certificate for Victims of National Socialism” was created for this purpose.
Extended group of eligible people
According to information from the city hall, a team of 70 people is working on the implementation. MA 35 works with the federal government, the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism and the Jewish community in Vienna to research and assess whether the requirements for Austrian citizenship are met.
A recent change in the law has once again expanded the group of people entitled to complain. Since then, it is also possible for people whose ancestors died under the Nazi regime or were deported abroad to submit a request.
23,620 entries received
A total of 23,620 applications have been received by the Municipal Secretariat 35 so far. Of these, 10,787 were from Israel, 4,755 from the US and 3,721 from Britain. According to the city hall, 14,903 procedures have been positively concluded so far. 10,331 people have already been granted Austrian citizenship.