name:"Robert" found 1 record - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

Notes: Robert Exiner was born on March 2, 1916 in Berlin, Germany. His father was in the clothing business and his mother helped him. They were a middle-class family and lived well. Robert was an only child, though he had an older brother who died before he was born. His family was not strictly religious; however, he had had a bar mitzvah. Robert identified as a German who happened to be Jewish. He attended a private preschool for three years before moving to a French gymnasium that focused on Liberal Arts. He graduated when he was 18, in 1934. After graduating he could not go to university since he was Jewish. A textile college accepted him, not for the regular two-year course but for the six-month course. He did four. He was not ready to leave Germany. During this time his father died. Robert was a member of the Iron Front, a Nationalist organization. They were dissolved, but carried on illegally for a year in Upper Silesia before being caught. He spent a night in an SS cell after which he decided to leave Germany. He had had a visa to Australia, but that had expired. He managed to get another one and left for Australia in July 1938. He spent three months in Sydney before moving on to Melbourne, where he found nightshift work in a ribbon factory. When the war broke out in 1939 he volunteered for and joined the army. Eventually he was made an assistant in the medical hut, trained for the medical core, and then ran a depot specializing in the prevention of venereal diseases. After the war, Robert found work running a factory, handling the business side. He stayed there until he retired at age 70. During this time he married a dancer/dance teacher who ran a dance studio. They had two sons. He regrets not having been able to go to university when he was younger and pursue an academic career, but he did obtain his M.A. at the age of 76. Now he gives lectures in Melbourne, volunteers for a classical music station and plays the recorder twice a week with difference groups.

Accession No.: WTH-321

Name Access: Exiner, Robert

Places: Berlin, Germany, Europe

Archival / Genealogical: Archival Descriptions

Repository: Montreal Holocaust Museum

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Exiner, Robert - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor

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