George Strakasch, 45, the Jewish husband of the former Renee Bullard of Boston, American opera singer, killed himself today after losing his fortune and being faced with loss of liberty under Austria’s Nazi regime. His wife, who is now in Boston, has been waiting for him to join her.
Strakasch, formerly president of one of Austria’s Largest sugar concerns, was en route to India with his wife at the time of Austro-German Anschluss last March, and rushed back to Vienna by airplane to salvage his fortune, sending his wife to the United States. His wife, although the holder of an American passport, is considered here to be of Reich nationality. She is a native of Milwaukee, has sung in the Vienna State Opera House and has appeared in London with Richard Tauber.
The Strakasch concern was placed under a Nazi commissar in the early days of Anschluss. Strakasch himself was held for five days and was under daily fear of arrest.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
