Alfons Ernst Mayer

Born in Wien (Vienna) Austria. Because of the Anschluss of Austria into the German Reich, Alfons Mayer was registered as German citizen. Son of Ernst Rudolf Mayer and Anna Maria Holut (?).

He travels to NEI in 1920 via Germany. He marries Margaretha Johanna Weiler a Dutch woman, born and living in NEI where she works as editor (redactrice) with the Ministry of Social Affairs. In 1933 Alfons Mayer takes over a jewelry shop in Jogyakarta, which will become his last address.

He writes his sisters in Vienna how happy he is, away from the turmoil in Europe, not knowing his fate in NEI when the war spreads to Holland. He is interned in 1940 and shipped with the Van Imhoff in 1942. He drowns at sea.

After the war, his wife and children travel to The Netherlands. In 2010, M A Mayer, daughter of Alfons Ernst Mayer, spots an ambiguous article on the Van Imhoff in the Dutch daily NRC of 1 June 2010. Irritated by its lighthearted tone, she writes a readers' letter to the NRC which is published on 3 July 2010. For more details see: timeline entry dated 3 July 2010.

The picture above is taken in the NEI and shows Alfons Mayer with his three children.