The Author
A. Robert Neurath, Ph.D., was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. He graduated from the Technical University (Bratislava) in 1957. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and was awarded a doctorate in microbiology at the Technical University, Vienna, Austria, in 1968. For over forty–five years, he was engaged in research on viruses: influenza, rabies, Hepatitis B, the human immunodeficiency virus I, and on vaccines against these viruses. His studies resulted in about 250 scientific papers, including monographs and book chapters, and twenty–three patents. After the demise of communism, he had the opportunity to visit Bratislava and to read new books dealing with the city’s past Jewish community. These publications, as judged by the author, have given insufficient credit to the secular endeavors and accomplishments of the local Jewish professionals and businessmen before the onset of World War II. The author strives to rectify these apparent deficiencies, relying mostly on pre–war information and input from family and friends. The present book is the result of these efforts.