Early Life and Education
Haas was born in Vienna, Austria, on March 2, 1921. He was the son of Ernst Haas, a high-level civil servant, and Frederike Haas-Zipser. His older brother was named Fritz.
Haas was raised in the grand cultural climate of Vienna prior to World War II. His parents, who placed great value upon education and the arts, encouraged his creative pursuits from an early age. They also had their own artistic interests; while his father enjoyed music and photography, his mother wrote poetry and had aspired to be an artist herself. Haas became so proficient in painting and drawing that eventually his teachers had him act as a judge, rather than a participant, in artistic competitions among his peers. As a painter, he had particular interest in an artwork’s formal qualities, and developed a refined sense of composition and perspective.
From 1935 to 1938 Haas attended LEH Grinzing, a private school in Vienna, where he studied art, literature, poetry, philosophy, and science. World War II interrupted his formal education in 1938, when the school was closed following Germany’s invasion of Austria. The following year, Haas received his diploma from Rainier Gymnasium.
Haas was sent to a labor camp of the German army, working six hours a day in exchange for two daily hours of school attendance. He managed to leave the service in 1940, he returned to Vienna to study medicine. Haas was only able to complete one year of medical school before laws changed, and Haas was forced out as a result of his Jewish ancestry.
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