28

Anneliese Riess Collection, AR 10019

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 10

26

MONDAY

No new arrangement for siblings

Argentina tightens immigration requirements

“I always feel miserable when I have to write you letters destroying hopes on your side time and again. It makes me feel guilty, even though I can't do anything about it with the best will in the world.”

Buenos Aires/Berlin

Due to the perception prevalent since the middle of the 19th century that immigrants, preferably from Europe, were needed to populate the vast expanses of Argentina, the country’s immigration policy was comparatively generous. But already following WWI, the country’s needs for manpower were perceived as saturated, and by the 20s, administrative barriers to immigration were put up. With victims of Nazi persecution seeking refuge, immigration policy was tightened even more. Nevertheless, many thousands of German Jews as well as political adversaries of the regime found refuge in Argentina. Among them was Max Busse. His sister, Anna Nachtlicht, had heard about plans of the Argentine government to ease immigration and make it possible to request permits for siblings. Max immediately went to make inquiries, but the results were sobering. In this December 26th letter, he is forced to tell her that no such plans seem to exist. Relatives in France had offered the Nachtlichts to stay with them to wait for their visas for a third country. Perhaps, Max suggests, it would be easier to apply from there.

TAGS: Berlin, Buenos Aires, commentary, December 26, displacement, emigration, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, politics, refugees, visa application, WWI

SOURCE

Institution:

Nachtlicht Family Collection, AR 25031

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 7

23

FRIDAY

Bureaucracy without empathy

The effects of a 1917 law in the year 1938

“In order to establish his admissibility into the United States under the immigration laws the alien must establish that he is not subject to exclusion under any of the excluding provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917 including that relating to persons likely to become a public charge.”

Washington D.C./Virginia Beach, Virginia

America was struggling with economic difficulties, and an unfavorable attitude towards “aliens” prevailed in Congress. Among much of the populace, the idea of admitting large numbers of Jewish immigrants was not popular, and President Roosevelt was not inclined to relax America’s immigration restrictions. Thus, when Alice Rice of Virginia Beach tried to facilitate the immigration of her Czech relatives, she received the standard answer from the acting chief of the Foreign Office’s visa division, Eliot B. Coulter. He emphasized the importance of proving that the applicants were not likely to become “public charges” and pointed to the provisions of the 1917 Immigration Act, which, in addition to economic prerequisites, made immigration dependent on a host of conditions grounded in considerations of a political, racial, moral and health-related nature, as well as stating that a person 16 or more years of age was eligible for immigration only if literate. Despite the valiant efforts of Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, whose department was in charge of immigration and naturalization issues at the time, US policy was not revised to accommodate the needs created by the wave of refugees coming out of Nazi Germany. Interestingly, one of the justifications for this was that the German quota was actually never filled – without mentioning, of course, that this was a result of the “public charge” provision, which made it impossible for many German Jews, who had been systematically driven into poverty by the Nazis, to successfully apply for visas.

TAGS: advocates, bureaucracy, December 23, displacement, economic persecution, immigration, immigration procedures, impoverishment, letter, politics, prominent people, refugees, United States of America, Virginia Beach VA, visa application, Washington D.C.

SOURCE

Institution:

Klein-Cohn Family Collection, AR 6217

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 3

Source available in English

22

THURSDAY

No respite for Jews at German spas

A refugee from Germany intervenes

“Circumstances are especially adverse in this case, not to say sad. Her parents have been unemployed for a long time, since, living on an island in the North sea, they were among the first victims of the Nazi movement.”

Wangerooge

Already in the late 19th century, hostility towards Jews was common in German spas, some of which advertised themselves as “free of Jews.” In the Baltic and North Seas, entire islands presented themselves as anti-Semitic. Nevertheless, some had a small Jewish population. On the beaches of the North Sea health resort of Wangerooge, swastika flags were displayed as early as 1920, just after becoming the symbol of the Nazi party. When the Nazis had been voted into power, the situation became even harder for the island’s Jews. On December 22nd, 1938, Fritz Jacoby, himself a beneficiary of the work of the Boston Committee for Refugees and a recent arrival to the United States, turned to Willy Nordwind, its co-chair, on behalf of Marga Levy, a 24-year-old native of Wangerooge. In the wake of the pogrom of November 9-10, all of her male relatives had been incarcerated, there was no money and no way to make a living. Thus, the grateful Mr. Jacoby implores the Committee to provide the young woman with a “domestic affidavit” which would enable her to “work day and night to feed her parents.”

TAGS: affidavits, antisemitism, bureaucracy, December 22, emigration, immigration, immigration procedures, impoverishment, letter, November Pogroms, persecution, politics, public sphere, refugees, Wangerooge, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 15

29

TUESDAY

Their only hope

Africa as a refuge

“My parents only hope, to get them out, is me.”

Rongai/Nairobi

In 1903, in the wake of the Kishinev pogrom, the British government agreed to allow European Jewish settlement in a territory then known as the “East Africa Protectorate,” today’s Kenya. Due to massive opposition from within the Zionist movement, the plan, known by the misleading name “Uganda Scheme,” did not come to fruition. 35 years later, Paul Egon Cahn, most recently a resident of Cologne, found himself in Rongai, Kenya. After the November pogroms, the 20-year-old car mechanic began to try to get his parents out of Germany. While European settlers and members of the local Indian community in Kenya opposed the immigration of Jewish refugees, the “Kenya Jewish Refugee Committee,” which had facilitated his immigration, was supportive. Thus, the young man turned to its secretary, Israel Somen, for help: he urgently needed the £100 the British Colonial Office charged for two entry permits.

TAGS: antisemitism, Cologne, displacement, emigration, family, family separation, immigration, impoverishment, Jewish Community, kristallnacht, letter, Nairobi, November 29, November Pogrom, persecution, politics, refugees, Rongai, violence, welfare organizations, Zionism

SOURCE

Institution:

Paul Egon Cahn Collection, AR 25431

Collection:

Original:

Source available in English

28

MONDAY

Help among friends

An old friend in need

“It’s practically impossible to get through to the US consulate here, since they give no information at all, and for that you don’t have to spend hours standing in a cold yard and waiting.”

BERLIN/BOSTON

Willy Nordwind, co-chair of the Boston Committee for Refugees, tirelessly endeavored to save Jews from the grip of the Nazis by helping them immigrate to the United States. Himself an immigrant from Germany and familiar with the requirements, he helped organize affidavits and saw to it that newcomers with fields of expertise as heterogeneous as “tobacco and clothing retail business,” “tourism,” “expert buyer and salesman of hosiery,” and “wholesale fish dealer” found employment in America. Most of the people he helped were total strangers to him, but some of his beneficiaries were personal acquaintances. On November 28th, 1938, his friend Seppel pleads with Nordwind to find a special arrangement for him that would speed things up. Requests for visas had risen sharply since the pogrom night of November 9th to 10th (later known as “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass”), and the usual waiting period for the processing of affidavits was far too long.

TAGS: affidavits, Berlin, Boston, immigration, immigration procedures, kristallnacht, letter, November 28, November Pogrom, persecution, refugees, transnational networks, violence, visa application, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Original:

Box 1, folder 24

25

Friday

The limits of hospitality

Asylum for Jewish children

The children will be housed there until arrangements for placing them in private homes and for their education have been completed.

London

The news of the brutal acts of violence perpetrated against German and Austrian Jews during the November pogroms sent shockwaves through Jewish communities. On November 15, a group of Jewish leaders in Britain requested that their government grant temporary shelter to Jewish youngsters who were to be returned to their countries later on. On November 25, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on the planned opening of a camp for 600 child refugees from Germany on the east coast of England. The British chapter of the World Movement for the Care of Children from Germany was to recruit families to offer foster homes for 5,000 children. The plan had government approval – provided the children were under 17 years of age and the costs of their support would not be a burden to the public.

TAGS: advocates, children, displacement, emigration, immigration, Jewish Community, Journalism, JTA, kindertransport, kristallnacht, London, media coverage, November 25, November Pogrom, refugees, violence, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Original:

91.13

Source available in English

23

WEDNESDAY

Placing trust in strangers

Aid organization takes its responsibility seriously

A man who is good enough to fill out affidavits would certainly not take advantage of these people.

New York/Boston

Could Willy Nordwind of the Boston Committee for Refugees—an organization not dealing specifically with unaccompanied child immigrants—be entrusted with the well-being of a 16-year-old girl? The Relief Organization of Jews in Germany was not ready to take chances: rather than just sending Frieda Diamont on her way, the organization turned to the National Council of Jewish Women in New York to ascertain Mr. Norwind’s integrity. The Council’s Merle Henoch passed on the case to Jewish Family Welfare in Boston, Mass., where Nordwind, too, was based. For her there was no doubt: as generous a helper as Willy Norwind must be a trustworthy ally.

TAGS: advocates, Berlin, Boston, children, displacement, ethical dilemmas, family, immigration, Jewish Community, letter, New York, November 23, refugees, transnational networks, welfare organizations, Women

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 8

Source available in English

20

SUNDAY

New hope for help

The Feldsteins in Vienna are hoping for help from the Feldsteins in Los Angeles

“I was very happy to hear that you will help us to come to America. I hope that your dear children are in the same age as I am and I shall get good friends.”

VIENNA/LOS ANGELES

For 19 years, Fritz Feldstein had been working at a bank in Vienna to the full satisfaction of his superiors. But, in 1938, after Nazi Germany annexed neighboring Austria, he lost his position. On July 5th, the family registered with the US consulate in Vienna, but for immigration, affidavits were needed. After months of deeply upsetting political changes, Fritz Feldstein ventured an unusual step. On Oct. 16th, he turned to a Julius Feldstein in Los Angeles who, he hoped, might be a relative, appealing to “the well-known American readiness to help.” Soon, a correspondence developed, also involving Fritz’s wife, Martha, and their daughter, Gerda. The 11-year-old was not only a skillful piano player, she obviously also had a knack for languages. On November 20th, she writes to the Feldsteins in California for the first time – in English.

TAGS: affidavits, Anschluss, antisemitism, children, emigration, family, immigration, immigration procedures, Language skills, letter, Los Angeles, November 20, persecution, persecution of Jewish professionals, Vienna

SOURCE

Institution:

Fritz Feldstein Family Collection, AR 3250

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 1

Source available in English

19

SATURDAY

What is already bad gets worse

A dwindling circle of friends

Two weeks ago, the old Goldmanns disappeared without a peep. We don’t know where they are.

BERLIN

The Intrators had been forced to flee once before: the anti-Jewish climate in their native country, Poland, had caused Rachel (Rosa) and Jakob in 1905 to make Berlin their home. Their son Alexander, born the same year, later became a successful concert violinist. Gerhard, five years his junior, went to law school, but the Nazis had hardly been brought to power when they began to systematically push Jews out of the legal professions. In light of the hopelessness of pursuing a juridical career in Germany, the 27-year-old emigrated to the US in 1937. Now he was making massive efforts to bring his parents. On November 19th, his father reported on the arrival of the affidavit which was needed for immigration. However, he added, they did not expect to receive their visas any time soon. Meanwhile, their circle of relatives and friends was getting smaller and smaller. Some were being forced by the Nazis to return to Poland, others simply disappeared.

TAGS: affidavits, antisemitism, Berlin, displacement, emigration, family, family separation, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, musicians, Nazi policies, November 19, persecution of Jewish professionals, Polenaktion, Polish-born Jews, refugees, visa application, Zbaszyn

SOURCE

Institution:

Courtesy of Joanne Intrator

Collection:

Letter of Jakob Intrator to Gerhard Intrator

10

Thursday

Solidarity

Jewish and Christian organizations support refugees in Brazil

“Dear Bernhard and dear Anni, please do absolutely everything you can. Our only hope for survival is attached to you.”

Gemen/Porto Alegre

Even though the climate under the Vargas regime in Brazil was becoming increasingly anti-Jewish, refugees could count on the support of allies. Already in 1933, an aid organization for German-Jewish refugees had come into being in Sao Paulo. And in 1936 in Porto Alegre, where Bernhard and Anni Wolf had recently fled from East Frisia, refugees established a Jewish culture and welfare society. The overall attitude of the Church was ambiguous; nevertheless, a Catholic aid committee for refugees lent significant aid to the newcomers. After an unsuccessful attempt to arrange their immigration to Brazil at the consulate in Cologne, Bernhard’s brother Richard and his wife Jola pinned all their hope on their relatives in Brazil.

TAGS: advocates, antisemitism, Church, cultural life, displacement, emigration, family, Gemen, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, November 10, Porto Alegre, refugees, South America, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Bernhard Wolff Family Collection, AR 5482

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 9

5

SATURDAY

More mosquitoes than in Palestine

Texan hospitality helps refugees ease into new beginnings

“The second thing is the almost unbelievable hospitality which is extended to everyone in this country. And yet, no major fuss is being made. Rather, people let you live with them in their homes, as if you were part of the family. The police officer or the salesclerk - no matter who - they're all accommodating, because they can't do it any other way.”

Houston, Texas

With a documented presence reaching back as far as the 12th century and as the second largest community after Berlin, Jews in Frankfurt were a profoundly established part of society. But under the Nazis, Frankfurt Jews, like all of German Jewry, were made to feel like unwelcome strangers in their own city and country, and large numbers of them were leaving Germany. The November issue of the “Jüdische Gemeindeblatt für Frankfurt” shows the omnipresence of the topic of emigration. Numerous ads were offering services and equipment specifically for emigrants. The “Aid Association of Jews in Germany” offered the latest news regarding immigration requirements to various countries but also a warning not to fall into the trap of fraudsters charging would-be emigrants hefty fees for useless advice. However, one contribution sticks out; in a letter from Houston, Texas, a former resident of Frankfurt shares her first impressions. The heat was challenging, potatoes didn’t feature prevalently enough on the menu, mosquito nets (“more mosquitoes than in Palestine”) and plastic flowers required some getting used to, not to mention giant spiders and flying cockroaches. On the other hand, there were built-in cupboards and large beds, as well as, best of all, the “almost unbelievable hospitality” of the locals.

TAGS: antisemitism, displacement, emigration, Frankfurt am Main, Houston TX, immigration, Jewish Community, Journalism, media coverage, November 5, press article, refugees, transnational networks, United States of America, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

Collection:

Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Gemeinde Frankfurt am Main

4

FRIDAY

A girl leads the way

Hope for a future in Palestine

“I imagine that you are doing well there. According to your letter, it seems like a paradise to me. Dear Lotte, you can believe me, I'd like to be in your place, as life here is very sad and boring, especially now that Benno is not at home.”

Vienna/Gan Shmuel

The arrival of Gertrude Münzer’s first letter from Palestine was a cause for joy, relief and hope to her family that had remained behind in Austria. The Münzers were a well-integrated family, but after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, the tide turned and they had to endure increasing hardship, starting with their eviction from their home and Moses Münzer losing his job. With parental encouragement, Gertrude was the only member of her family to go to Palestine with a Zionist youth group. Inspired by her example, her older brother, Benno, had gone on hakhsharah. In his reply to Gertrude, dated November 4th, her father pleads with the 15-year-old girl to recruit support for him at the kibbutz or elsewhere to enable him to follow with the rest of the family.

TAGS: Anschluss, children, displacement, economic persecution, emigration, family, family separation, Gan Shmuel, immigration, Jewish Community, letter, November 4, Palestine, refugees, transnational networks, Vienna, Youth Aliyah, Zionism

SOURCE

Institution:

Gertrude Knopf Family Collection, AR 11692

Collection:

Original:

Source available in English

2

WEDNESDAY

Protest by ballot

Endangered democracy

“All of us who are even somewhat familiar with day-to-day politics in America know that the President of the United States, whom all of us greatly revere, would never even think of interpreting these laws in a purely personal way. But what guarantees do we have that a successor won't read them that way?”

New York

The fact that they had eluded the dangers of Nazism didn’t mean that it was time for immigrants to let down their guard. The editorial of the November issue of Aufbau exhorted the newcomers to acquire knowledge about the workings of American politics in order to be able to prevent developments similar to those that had brought the present government to power in Germany. In particular, the author warns against the curtailment of rights by “constitutional” means. The most potent protest against attempts to undermine democracy, in his opinion, was “protest by ballot.” Only those candidates who stood for true Americanism, as he saw it—for peace and justice, or, in other words, for democracy—deserved to be elected.

TAGS: commentary, immigration, Journalism, media coverage, New York, November 2, politics, press article, refugees

SOURCE

Institution:

"Die ernste Pflicht des Wählens" Editorial, Aufbau, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 5

Collection:

1

TUESDAY

The power of hope

A mere promise gives new hope

“Nobody who does not know the circumstances can imagine in what desolate condition we were during the last months and how changed we are now after your dear letter. We are filled with new vigor, courage and willingness to work - and all this is due to you.”

Vienna/Brooklyn

In the absence of closer relatives in America, the Metzger family of Vienna turned to their first cousin once removed, Leo Klauber, Esq., in Brooklyn, for help. Mr. Klauber was unable to personally procure affidavits for his Austrian relatives, but he promised to endeavor on their behalf. The extent of the relief caused by his promise is palpable in Eva Metzger-Hohenstein’s reply of November 1, 1938: after months of fear and despair, the Metzgers felt reinvigorated by the realistic hope for emigration, thanks to their cousin.

TAGS: affidavits, Anschluss, Brooklyn, emigration, family, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, November 1, transnational networks, Vienna, visa application

SOURCE

Institution:

Laura and Leonard Yaffe Correspondence, AR 11921

Collection:

Original:

Source available in English

30

SUNDAY

To save his mother

The efforts of a desperate son

“I want to bring my mother to America and I cannot wait until the immigration quota is opened again. You will undoubtedly know that the emigration from Germany has been stopped on account of the exhausted quota. According to my information, there is a waiting time of about one year.”

CLEVELAND, OHIO/WASHINGTON D.C.

Thanks to the intervention of William E. Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937, Erich M. Lipmann managed to immigrate to the U.S. in 1936. By the time the 26-year-old made this impassioned plea to Dodd to help his mother, Martha Lipmann, leave Germany and join him in Cleveland, he had already spent two years in the US. The letter displayed here is but one in a long series of increasingly frantic attempts by Lippmann to save his mother. Over the course of several years, he tirelessly approached anyone who might be of help.

TAGS: advocates, Cleveland OH, emigration, family, family separation, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, October 30, prominent people, refugees, transnational networks, visa application, Washington D.C.

SOURCE

Institution:

Martha Lipmann Collection, AR 6355

Collection:

Original:

Source available in English

28

FRIDAY

China as a place of refuge

The SS Conte Verde transports Jews to China

Trieste/Shanghai

In the early years of the Nazi regime, Jews had sought refuge mainly in neighboring European countries, but also in Palestine and the United States. With the Nazis’ reach expanding and options for immigration diminishing, China increasingly turned into a destination for Jews seeking to escape. The SS Conte Verde was one of the steamers that brought refugees to Shanghai from the Italian ports of Genoa and Trieste. The voyage to China took one month and was quite costly – a challenge for German Jews whose financial situation had been severely eroded under the Nazis.

TAGS: displacement, economic persecution, emigration, Genoa, immigration, impoverishment, October 28, photo, refugees, Shanghai, Trieste

SOURCE

Institution:

Hans Eisfelder, Chinese Exile : My years in Shanghai & Nanking; Steamship Conte Verde (Lloyd Triestino) Transportation

Collection:

Original:

ME 999; F 55499

Source available in English

27

THURSDAY

Fired without pension

Martin Lachmann terminated without his long-promised pension

“I was told that I cannot draw my pension from this portfolio, since a non-Ar. must not receive payments from a portfolio that must mostly be called Aryan.”

BERLIN

Nobody contested Martin Lachmann’s exceptional success as an insurance agent for Allianz. Nevertheless, after 31 years of dedicated work, the company decided “under the pressure of the circumstances” to terminate his contract. In recognition of Lachmann’s achievements, efforts were made to have him transferred to Zurich. But their success depended on immigration authorities in Switzerland. To make matters worse, Lachmann had been informed that he was no longer eligible for the pension stipulated in his contract. It was inconceivable to him how a contract written long before the political sea change in Germany could suddenly be declared void. The pension “voluntarily” offered by Allianz to its outstanding employee amounted to just one-third of his salary and did not begin to cover his needs.

TAGS: antisemitism, Aryanization, Berlin, economic persecution, immigration, impoverishment, Nazi policies, October 27, persecution of Jewish professionals, photo

SOURCE

Institution:

Allianz Center for Corporate History

Collection:

Martin Lechman und sein Enkelsohn Peter Haas in Berlin in den frühen 1930er Jahren. Martin Lachmann and his grandson Peter Haas in Berlin in the early 1930’s

26

WEDNESDAY

What will he live on in America?

Refugee with no English and few skills needs help finding work

“We need not point out to you that Mr. Raskin is already past the age at which the native born experience difficulty in finding new employment. Mr. Raskin speaks little English. He knows no craft. His experience as a candy salesman is of no great help to him when applying for a new job.”

NEW YORK/BOSTON

Since the early 1880s, federal immigration law in the US included a provision seeking to keep out people likely to become a “public charge.” Under the impact of the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover reinforced the ban in 1930. Aid organizations were hard pressed to find employment for the newcomers: on October 26, a representative of the Employment Department of the Greater New York Coordinating Committee for German Refugees explains to Willy Nordwind of the Boston Committee for Refugees the challenges of finding work for a man who had managed to enter the country but barely spoke any English and had no work experience to boast save as a candy salesman. Nevertheless, the representative promises to continue his efforts on the immigrant’s behalf.

TAGS: Boston, displacement, Great Depression, immigration, Language skills, letter, New York, October 26, politics, prominent people, refugees, United States of America, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Collection:

New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum

Original:

Box 1, folder 26

Source available in English

Chronology of major events in 1938

The Polenaktion

A photograph capturing the "Polenaktion".

The National Socialists deport about 17,000 Polish Jews from the German Reich. The mass deportation is referred to as the Polenaktion (Polish Measure), and it is a new high water mark in anti-Jewish discrimination. The Polish parliament issued laws in March and October that threatened to revoke the citizenship of Polish citizens living abroad. For example, passports that were issued abroad were declared invalid starting October 30, unless they were inspected and approved by the Polish Consulates. Through these measures, the Polish government hoped to prevent the mass emigration of tens of thousands of Polish Jews from the German Reich to Poland. When the German Embassy in Warsaw learned of the invalidation of Polish passports in October, the National Socialists responded with deportation orders, mass arrests, and transports to the Polish border.

View chronology of major events in 1938

23

SUNDAY

A joyous occasion in difficult times

A wedding as a respite

“For this marriage, consecrated by God, we fervently request salvation, peace and blessings.”

BERLIN

In a year marred by numerous alarming anti-Jewish measures, the wedding of Frieda Ascher and Bernhard Rosenberg on October 23rd in Berlin must have provided a much needed reprieve for their families and friends. The officiant at the ceremony was Dr. Moritz Freier, an orthodox rabbi. Many young Jews, unable to find work as a result of the intensification of antisemitism in Germany, approached Rabbi Freier since his wife Recha had already come up with the idea of helping Jewish youth to immigrate to Mandatory Palestine and settle in Kibbutzim, a project known as “Youth Aliyah,” in January 1933.

TAGS: antisemitism, Berlin, document, emigration, immigration, Nazi laws, Nazi policies, October 23, persecution, prominent people, rabbis, refugees, religion, transnational networks, welfare organizations, Youth Aliyah

SOURCE

Institution:

Original:

Trust deed for Bernhard Rosenberg and Frieda Ascher; 7.5

18

TUESDAY

Fluch der Bürokratie

Waiting for a "capitalist certificate"

“At the moment there's no transfer whatsoever on preferential certificates. On the last preferential transfer, a total of 27 families came to Palestine. A new transfer tranche is to be issued in the winter, but one can't count on single people being considered, especially if they are already residing in a foreign country.”

Konstanz/Zurich

Dr. Herbert Mansbach, a young dentist from Mannheim, had gone to Switzerland after his studies in Germany in order to obtain his DDS and specialize in orthodontics. This, he believed, would be a sought-after skill in Palestine, where he wished to emigrate. However, immigration to Palestine had been curtailed drastically by the British: Dr. Mansbach’s friend Alfred Rothschild, a retired lawyer, informed him that there were no preferential immigration certificates to be had at the moment and that the qualification procedure for a “capitalist certificate” (a type of certificate the awarding of which was dependent on the applicant’s ability to produce at least £1000 and not subject to quotation) was still under way. The matter was of great urgency, since in mid-October, Dr. Mansbach’s residence permit for Switzerland had expired. Rothschild assumed that if the application for a regular certificate was going to go through, the Swiss authorities would allow his friend to stay in the country for the time being.

TAGS: bureaucracy, displacement, emigration, immigration, immigration procedures, Konstanz, letter, Mannheim, October 18, Palestine, refugees, transnational networks, Zurich

SOURCE

Institution:

Herbert Joseph Mansbach Collection, AR 7073

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 2

17

MONDAY

Joint summer camp promotes integration

The American Friends Service Committee promotes the integration of Jewish refugees

“Of particular pedagogical significance was the cooperative carrying out of all communal work. All participants engaged in all kinds of practical household activity and were instructed in gardening and agriculture. Familiarization with physical work thus obtained was not only pedagocically important, it also was an excellent school for the body and, along with intensive swimming, strengthened people's constitutions.”

Hyde Park, New York

Numerous Jewish organizations, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, German Jewish Children’s Aid and the Boston Committee for Refugees were dedicated to the rescue of refugees from Nazi Germany. In 1938, it was a non-Jewish body, the American Friends Service Committee, that came up with a particularly good project: from mid-June to the beginning of September, it ran a camp in the Hudson Valley for about 70 persons, mostly Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany and about one third Americans, for the two sides to get to know each other by working, studying and singing together, sharing household chores, attending lectures and religious services and playing sports or games with each other. The author of this article in the October issue of the Aufbau is full of gratitude for what he calls “a remarkable contribution to the internal integration of our people in the country.”

TAGS: advocates, cultural life, displacement, Hyde Park NY, immigration, Journalism, media coverage, October 17, press article, refugees, religion, Sports, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Reinhold Herz, "Nichtjuden helfen," Aufbau, Vol 4. No. 11, p. 5

Collection:

14

FRIDAY

New company, old network

What does emigration look like for an entrepreneur?

“In connection with my affidavit permit me to point out that I did not state my yearly income, as the Hochhauser Leather Co Inc. has been founded only a short time ago.”

NEW YORK/VIENNA

In Vienna, Hans Hochhauser, together with his brother, had been a successful manufacturer and exporter of leather goods. But just one day after the “Anschluss,” he had packed up his life and fled Austria with his wife, Greta, and his daughter, Ilse, on adventurous paths: turned back at the Czech border, the family traveled to Switzerland by train and from there to England on a chartered flight, from whence the family finally made it to the United States. Having arrived in New York, Hans Hochhauser had to start from scratch: his new company was called “Hochhauser Leather Co. Inc.” In this letter to the US Consulate General in Vienna dated October 14, 1938, accompanying an affidavit for his cousin, Arthur Plowitz, he pointed out that while his new company was still in its beginnings, he was able to take advantage of his old business network.

TAGS: affidavits, Anschluss, bureaucracy, displacement, document, emigration, family, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, New York, October 14, refugees, transnational networks, Vienna

SOURCE

Institution:

Hans and Grete Hochhauser Collection, AR 12070

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 4

Source available in English

13

THURSDAY

Dwindling paths of escape

Closed borders, deportations

“Premier Jan Syrovy has rejected a request for relaxation of the Government’s decision to deport refugees from Austria.”

Prague

Since the “Anschluss,” Czechoslovakia had enormously tightened its policy towards refugees from Austria, specifically Jewish ones. The official border crossings were closed to Austrian Jews – many had no choice but to enter Czechoslovakia via the dangerous paths of what was known as the “Green Border,” stretches of land not secured by checkpoints along the course of the border. Even international diplomatic interventions, such as those of the International League of Human Rights (as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on October 13th, 1938), couldn’t sway Czechoslovakia from its restrictive course. Sir Neill Malcolm, the Commissioner of Refugees for the League of Nations, had called on the Czechoslovakian prime minister to reconsider the practice of deporting Austrian refugees. Without success.

TAGS: advocates, Anschluss, antisemitism, displacement, emigration, expulsion, immigration, Journalism, JTA, League of Nations, media coverage, October 13, persecution, politics, Prague, prominent people, refugees, transnational networks

SOURCE

Institution:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Collection:

“Czechs Refuse to Relax Policy on Refugees”

Source available in English

10

MONDAY

Denied at the border

No entry permit for Anneliese Riess

GENEVA/TURIN

In fact, Anneliese Riess was an archeologist. But after getting her PhD in Rome in November 1936, she had no chance as a foreigner to find employment in her dream profession. Therefore, she took a course in pediatric nursing in Geneva in 1937 and then returned to Rome. When the fascist government in Italy declared that foreign Jews were to leave the country within half a year, the school in Geneva agreed to employ Anneliese as an intern until the arrival of her US visa. However, due to Switzerland’s xenophobic and anti-Semitic immigration policy, she was denied entry at the border. In a letter from the school dated October 10th she was informed that such cases were so common among the students that the director of the school, Miss Borsinger, was not able to do anything for her to obtain a residence permit. She had, however, enclosed a letter to the consulate, testifying that Anneliese Riess was urgently expected at the nurse’s training school – albeit as a student. This, the letter states, was her only chance to be allowed entry.

TAGS: advocates, antisemitism, bureaucracy, commentary, displacement, emigration, Fascism, Geneva, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, October 10, refugees, Rome, transnational networks, Turin, visa application

SOURCE

Institution:

Anneliese Riess Collection, AR 10019

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 10

7

FRIDAY

A household in 11 boxes

Sending the household ahead

Fee for official customs clearance on site and SS supervision committee three 1/2 days: RM 75

VIENNA

Already a few months back, the dentist Max Isidor Mahl and his wife, Etta, a textile worker, had submitted their visa application to the American consulate in Vienna. Ever since, they had been waiting. Etta was a native of Poland, Max Isidor a native of Ukraine. The American immigration quotas for both these countries were already filled. But time was of the essence: this bill shows that already in October, the Mahls had their entire household shipped to the United States in order to bring it to safety. Transportation from Vienna to Hamburg and then, on a freighter, to New York was expensive. It cost almost 800 Reichsmarks for the couple to send the 11 boxes containing their household effects out of the country.

TAGS: Anschluss, bureaucracy, document, emigration, immigration, immigration procedures, October 7, Polish-born Jews, refugees, Vienna, visa application

SOURCE

Institution:

Lucie Blau Family Collection, AR 25419

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 15

6

Thursday

Au revoir Paris?

Joseph Roth wants to depart for Mexico

“It is of tremendous importance to me that he give permission to bring ten more comrades to Mexico.”

Paris/Mexico

The letter that Joseph Roth sends to his cousin Michael Grübel in Mexico is short. Though written in a familiar tone, it limits itself to the most important matters of organization. Roth thanks him for establishing contact with a Dor. Com. Silvio Pizzarello de Helmsburg. The latter, he hopes, will help him “bring ten comrades to Mexico.” Whom exactly Roth has in mind here remains a question. Moreover, Roth asks his cousin to also obtain a visa for him personally. The famous author and journalist had emigrated to Paris in 1933. From there, he had since published numerous novels and essays and written for emigrant publishers in different countries. However, now Roth too seemed to toy with the thought of leaving Europe.

TAGS: advocates, Anschluss, artists, bureaucracy, displacement, emigration, immigration, immigration procedures, letter, Mexico, October 6, Paris, prominent people, refugees, transnational networks, WWI veteran

SOURCE

Institution:

Joseph Bornstein Collection, AR 4082

Collection:

Original:

Box 2, folder 4

4

MONDAY

“America First!”

Looking forward and not back

But freedom and justice are not handed to us; here too, we must work and fight for them!

New York

The claim of the editorial in the October issue of Aufbau was clear: reminding readers that they were now “Americans with all rights, but also with all duties.” It acknowledged the existence mainly of familial and cultural ties but at the same time emphasized the importance of facing the future rather than looking to the past. The slogan was “America First!,” which can be understood as a call to Jewish immigrants to integrate into American society. The author of the editorial also supplied arguments: Europe could no longer guarantee the fundamental values of freedom and justice. In the United States, however, with its Bill of Rights, it was worth it to stand and fight for these values. The Jewish Club, as publisher of Aufbau, positioned itself clearly within American society, and expected this attitude from its readers and members as well.

TAGS: commentary, emigration, immigration, Journalism, media coverage, New York, October 4, politics, press article, refugees, United States of America

SOURCE

Institution:

"America First" Editorial, Aufbau, Vol. 4, No. 11, p. 5

Collection:

3

SUNDAY

Closed doors

Canada's restrictive immigration policy

Aid for the victims of “political persecution and unprovoked aggression” will be made a major feature of “national peace action week" [...]"

Ottawa

A central goal of “National Peace Action Week,” planned by the Canadian League of Nations Society, was to raise awareness among the Canadian public of the suffering of persecuted Jews. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on October 3rd, 1938 on the plan to establish a national committee of Jewish and other Canadian leaders for the purpose of sensitizing the public to the Jewish refugee crisis and requesting that appropriate measures be taken by the government. Because Canada had enforced restrictive isolationist policy against immigrants since at least the Great Depression, the country had no refugee policy. This already made it difficult for Jewish refugees to immigrate to Canada. An additional problem was widespread anti-Semitism among the public.

TAGS: advocates, antisemitism, displacement, emigration, Great Depression, immigration, Journalism, JTA, media coverage, October 3, Ottawa, persecution, politics, public sphere, refugees, transnational networks, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Collection:

“Canadian League Body to Form Group to Aid Refugees”

Source available in English

27

TUESDAY

Paragraphs and paragraphs…

Prior oral and written inquiries and petitions are useless.

VIENNA

The lives of many Jews had become undone within the span of half a year, through occupational bans, Aryanization, dispossession, and denaturalization. After the Anschluss, many Austrian Jews again found themselves in an unstable and chaotic situation. It was all the more cynical then that many of them seemed to be confronted with a complicated, in some ways pedantic bureaucracy regarding visas. A September 27th, 1938 letter from the American Consulate General to Tony (Antonie) and Kurt Frenkl gives example of this: “Your visa application can be accepted at the earliest within months.” The quotas for Central European immigrants were filled. In order to be put on a waiting list for a visa, applicants had to fill in a pre-registration form. And, in order to “avoid delays,” an individual affidavit had to be submitted per person. So Tony and Kurt had to wait even longer, bracing themselves for the next bureaucratic hurdle.

TAGS: affidavits, Anschluss, Aryanization, bureaucracy, dispossession, document, emigration, immigration, immigration procedures, Jewish property, letter, Nazi policies, politics, September 27, Vienna, visa application

SOURCE

Institution:

Tony Frenkl Collection, AR 11032

Collection:

Original:

Box 1, folder 1

Chronology of major events in 1938

Remaining Jewish lawyers disbarred

In this anti-Semitic cartoon, a Jewish lawyer is seen swindling money and goods from German peasants. Elvira Bauer, Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud auf seinem Eid (Nuremberg: Stürmer Verlag, 1936). Leo Baeck Institute.

The already precarious situation of Jewish lawyers and other legal professionals takes a turn for the worse. Many are forced to close their practices as their gentile clients take their business elsewhere and their Jewish clients flee the country. In early 1937, about 1750 “non-aryan” lawyers or other professionals with legal training were still active in Germany. On September 27, the Nazis issue a complete ban on Jews practicing law, which enters into effect on November 30 in Germany and December 31 in Austria. After this, only a tiny number of Jewish lawyers remain active in a restricted capacity. As so-called Konsulenten, they are permitted to advise and represent only Jewish clients.

View chronology of major events in 1938

25

SUNDAY

Fluent English!

Language barriers in exile

“Fluent English in a couple weeks. Original, simple, scientific method.”

New York

Speak English fluently! This may have been among the resolutions of Jewish immigrants in the United States for the upcoming Jewish new year. The September edition of “Aufbau” featured a whole array of offers for learning English. Sundry advertisements wooed immigrants with, for example, “a low fee” and “original” methods in order to improve one’s English within a few weeks. These advertisements hit on a market. Because, to those who’d come to the United States, the English language posed an initial and legitimate, yet essential hurdle. Whoever wanted to work in the American environment and build a new life had to be able to be understood.

TAGS: advertisement, immigration, Jewish Community, Journalism, Language skills, New York, politics, refugees, September 25

SOURCE

Institution: