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1904 - 1919
| 1904March 17 | Chaim Gross is born in the Galician village of Wolowa, Galicia, East Austria, tenth child Moses Gross, lumber merchant, and wife, Leah (Sperber). |
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| 1911 | Family moves to Kolomyia. |
In 1900 the Jewish population of Kolomyia was 16,568, nearly one half of the town's population. The Jewish community had a Great Synagogue, and about 30 other synagogues. In 1910 Jews were prohibited from selling alcoholic beverages. In 1911 they were prohibited from salt and wine occupations. After the outbreak of the Great War, the town saw fierce battles between the forces of the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary. Jews were abused for supposedly supporting the Austrians, and many Jewish homes were ransacked and destroyed. Timeline of events in Kolomyia. | |
| 1914 | Brother Naftoli Gross (1896-1956) arrives in New York City. |
| 1914-15 | Russian forces invade Austrian Galicia as World War I begins. The Gross family flees from Kolomyia, which is near the front lines. By March of 1915 the Russian army controls the entire province of Galicia. The Grosses return to Kolomyia and Chaim witnesses his parents being beaten and the pillage of the city. |
Kolomyia is now part of the Ukraine. | |
| 1915-1918 | After escaping from Kolomyia, is briefly conscripted by the Austrian army with brother Avrom-Leib as a laborer. They later escape and rejoin their family. The family are refugees with thousands of others. |
| 1918November 11 | Word War I ends. |
| 1919-1920 | In 1919 Gross goes to Vienna, then Budapest, where he wins a scholarship to art school. In Budapest Gross studies with Bela Uitz. In 1920 the new Romanian government orders all foreigners deported. Imprisoned and then deported to Austria. Attends Kunstgewerbeschule (now known as the University of Applied Art) in Vienna. |
The University of Applied Arts Vienna was founded as the School of Applied Arts of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry in 1867 and was the first of its kind on the Continent. It was here,during the period in which the traditionalists held sway, that the future progressive "Secessionists", such as Gustav Klimt and Kolo Moser, received their artistic training. The breakthrough of modernity sparked by the Vienna Secession led to a reorganization of the School of Applied Arts, in which such renowned artists as Josef Hoffmann, Kolo Moser , Alfred Roller, Oskar Kokoschka, Heinrich Tessenow and Franz Cizek joined the faculty and established the school's excellent reputation, both at home and abroad. University Website |