Larisch family papers

Kurt Larisch (1913-2009) was born in Vienna, Austria to Moritz (1877-1963) and Dora (née Neufeld) Larisch (1884-1970). Moritz Larisch was a photographer and owned a studio. Kurt’s brother Walter (1910-1999) was also a photographer and took over their father’s shop. Kurt was a graphic artist and was one of the first European artists to work in animated film. He fled Austria in 1938 via Germany and Switzerland to England. His father’s shop was ransacked during Kristallnacht, his father was beaten, and his brother was detained. Kurt worked for the German-Jewish Relief Association before moving to Calcutta (Kolkata), India in 1939 to become the art director at an advertising agency and later for the firm recruiting for the British Armed Forces in India. In December 1939, he met Ramah Regina Ferris (1917-2009), who had been born in Calcutta after her family relocated from Baghdad and who held British citizenship. The couple planned to marry in June 1940 but married in May instead because they were threatened with internment and thought her British citizenship could protect him. They were interned as enemy aliens in the old fort and later at a family camp in the mountains near Darjeeling before their release. Their daughter Linda was born in 1943.

Moritz and Dora Larisch left Austria for England in 1939 and joined Kurt in Calcutta around 1946. Ramah and Linda immigrated to the United States on the British quota in 1947, Kurt joined them a month later, and Moritz and Dora followed in 1949. The Larisch family lived in New York for 23 years, moved to Mexico in 1970, and returned to the United States in 1988, settling in Sarasota. Kurt’s cousins Alfred (b. 1912) and Egon Larisch (b. 1913) both immigrated to Sydney, Australia. His cousin Rudolf Larisch immigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel. His relatives Clara Taussig Larisch and Edith Larisch were deported to Minsk in 1942; Arthur and Irma Reiner were also deported to Minsk in 1942; and Dora Larisch Polatschek (Polaček) was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942.