Frantisek Vohryzek papers

Frantisek Benno Vohyrzek was born on March 3, 1916, in Hrdlovka, Czechoslovakia, to Otto and Marie Abeles Vohryzek. He had a younger sister, Vlasta, who was born in 1923. Frantisek lived in Hrdlovka until 1934, when he moved to Prague to attend law school at Charles University. By the late 1930s, the entire family was living in Prague. In early 1939, Frantisek immigrated to Ecuador, likely to pave the way for his parents and sister to join him, but any attempts were unsuccessful. On October 7, 1943, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Frantisek married Mary McCabe Lynch, originally of Denver, Colorado. In the spring of 1944, the couple was able to enter the United States through Mexico. After the war, Frantisek learned that his parents were deported on September 8, 1942, to Theresienstadt, and from there, on October 26, 1942, to Auschwitz, where they perished. Frantisek and Mary settled in San Francisco, CA, and raised eight daughters.