Kurt Heinrich was born 1921 in Vienna. His parents came from Großpetersdorf, where he and his sister Herta spent the summer holidays with relatives. His mother's family was Catholic, his father came from a Jewish family. In April 1938, his uncle's shop in Großpetersdorf was seized by the Gestapo, and the Jewish family on his father's side was banished from Burgenland. His father, who at this time worked at the Italia Shipping Line, was able to help many people to flee to Argentina. Gradually, the Heinrich family began to recognise the danger they were in. Kurt Heinrich's parents decided to leave Austria in the direction of Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires Kurt Heinrich was able to study chemistry despite the difficult economic situation his family was in. After finishing his studies, he began working in a textile factory, later as the director of the chemical department of a lamp factory. In 1957 he was given a job in the USA, where he specialised as a scientist in the x-ray-spectrography and the development of electronic probes, and became an internationally reputed expert. His later work as a government official in the National Norming Institute of the USA brought him in 1965 to a lecture at the Technical University of Vienna. It was his first visit to Austria after 1938, which enabled him to see his old home country of Burgenland. Kurt Heinrich now lives as a pensioner with his wife Maria Elena near Washington.