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Prawy, Marcell Horace Frydmann (32968379): Difference between revisions

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{{Soldier
{{Soldier
|lede_on_page=1
|asn=32968379
|asn=32968379
|surname=Prawy
|surname=Prawy
|first=Marcell
|first=Marcell
|middle=F.
|middle=Horace Frydmann
|alias=Marcel Prawy; Marcell Horace Frydmann Ritter von Prawy
|class_section=5A
|class_section=5A
|class_rank=Pvt
|class_rank=Pvt
|birth_date=29 December 1911
|birth_year=1911
|birth_year=1911
|death_date=23 February 2003
|death_year=2003
|death_year=2003
|nativity=Au
|nativity=Austria
|religion=J
|religion=Jewish
|enlistment_place=NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK
|state=NEW YORK
|overseas=Y
|overseas=Y
|certificate=4340
|education=Post-graduate
|occupation=Stenographers and typists
|marital=Single with dependents
|confidence=high
|confidence=high
|class_number=12
|class_number=12
|class_display=12
|class_display=12
|birth_place=Vienna, Austria
|death_place=Vienna, Austria
|rank_final=Master Sergeant
|specialty=Military intelligence; cultural / information work
|known_for=Opera dramaturge; Vienna Volksoper / Staatsoper; ORF Opernführer
|photo=Prawy_Marcell_F_32968379_portrait.jpg
}}
}}
<div class="soldier-lead">
'''Marcell F. Prawy''' (29 December 1911 – 23 February 2003), born Marcell Horace Frydmann Ritter von Prawy and widely known as Marcel Prawy, was a Viennese opera dramaturg and broadcaster who trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 12) and returned to Austria with the U.S. Army after the war.
</div>


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
''Add a biography, family details, and sources. Click Edit to change this page; no account is required.''
Marcell Horace Frydmann Ritter von Prawy was born in Vienna on 29 December 1911. He studied law and music, frequented the standing room of the Vienna State Opera from his teens, and worked as secretary to the Polish tenor Jan Kiepura. After the Anschluss he fled Nazi rule; Kiepura helped extract him from a Vichy French internment camp, and the party reached the United States in 1939, where Prawy continued as Kiepura’s secretary in New York.
 
Prawy entered the U.S. Army in 1943, trained at Camp Ritchie with Class 12, and rose to master sergeant. He returned to Vienna in 1946 in U.S. service as a cultural / information officer (film and education work under the occupation administration), later describing himself as a film officer of the American military government for Austria.
 
In the 1950s he helped bring American musicals to European stages—notably Cole Porter’s ''Kiss Me, Kate'' (''Küss mich, Kätchen'') at the Vienna Volksoper—and worked as dramaturge there before moving to the Vienna State Opera. From 1962 he presented more than two hundred television programs as Austria’s beloved “Opernführer.” He died in Vienna on 23 February 2003 and is buried in an honorary grave at the Zentralfriedhof; his archive is held by the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
* Training program at FID with Capt. Winn
* Roster first name '''Marcell'''; public career almost always '''Marcel'''.
* Musician
* Later Cold War cultural-networking claims in secondary essays are treated cautiously; published facts above follow the oepb memorial and Prawy’s own career record.
* Civil Life


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
''After you are autoconfirmed, [[Special:Upload|upload a photo]] and add <code><nowiki>[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|caption]]</nowiki></code> here, or set <code>|photo=Example.jpg</code> in the infobox.''
<div class="soldier-gallery">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="140px">
Prawy_Marcell_F_32968379_portrait.jpg|Marcel Horace Frydmann Prawy identification portrait (RB Archive)
Prawy_Marcell_F_32968379_USIS_1953.jpg|Marcel Prawy USIS portrait, 1953 (RB Archive)
Prawy_Marcell_F_32968379_Beverly_Hills_fingerprint_card.jpg|Beverly Hills identification fingerprint card for Marcell Frydmann-Prawy, 20 February 1941 (RB Archive / Wienbibliothek)
</gallery>
</div>


== Technical record ==
== Technical record ==
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== Timeline ==
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
<div class="soldier-timeline-body">
* 29 December 1911 — Born Marcell Horace Frydmann Ritter von Prawy in Vienna.
* 1930s — Law and music studies; secretary to Jan Kiepura.
* 1939 — Escapes to the United States (via France) with Kiepura’s help.
* 1943 — Enters U.S. Army; Camp Ritchie Class 12.
* 1946 — Returns to Vienna with U.S. forces; cultural / information work.
* 1950s — Volksoper dramaturge; introduces American musicals to Vienna.
* 1962 onward — ORF television “Opernführer” programs.
* 1970s — Chief dramaturge, Vienna State Opera (after Volksoper years).
* 23 February 2003 — Died in Vienna.
</div>
</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>


== Sources ==
== Sources ==
* Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
* [https://www.oepb.at/allerlei/marcel-prawy-erinnerungen-an-den-opernfuehrer.html Österreichisches Pressebüro — “MARCEL PRAWY – Erinnerungen an den Opernführer”]
* [http://www.ejournal.at/NeueMed/prawy/prawy.html Franz Krahberger / eJournal — “Marcel Prawy im Zeitraum von 1949 bis 1956”]
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
* Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
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