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The Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin presents the year 1938 through the eyes of Jews, whose personal documents detail their experiences and the hardships they suffered as well as the growing tensions in Europe and diminishing hope for Jews in Germany and Austria.

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5

TUESDAY

5

One man can only do so much

An Austrian in Buffalo overwhelmed by calls for aid

“Yesterday, within a single day, I received a whopping 11 requests for immigration affidavits, among them requests from mutual friends.”

Buffalo, New York/Vienna

Thanks to a Rockefeller fellowship awarded to him in 1933, the distinguished Viennese economist Fritz Machlup had left Austria years before the “Anschluss.” In 1935, he was appointed Professor of Economics at the University of Buffalo. As was to be expected, after the Nazis established their hold in Austria, friends and colleagues pinned their hopes on him as a guarantor. In this April 5 missive to his friend Alfred Schütz, he expresses concern that his letters of support might lose credibility because he had written so many, but nevertheless includes a note in English offering to assist Schütz in establishing himself in the US.

TAGS: affidavits, Anschluss, April 5, Buffalo NY, emigration, immigration procedures, letter, persecution of Jewish professionals, prominent people, transnational networks, Vienna

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Alfred Schutz Collection, AR 25500

Original:

Box 1, folder 17

28

MONDAY

28

As far away as possible

Applications for immigration in the Australian consulate reach a new high

“The British consulate general admitted the would-be emigrants in groups of a hundred, giving out applications for visas and information on requirements for settlement in all parts of the British empire.”

Vienna

More than two weeks had passed since the Nazi takeover in Austria. The initial shock and disbelief among Jews had given way to despair and panic. Many reacted by seeking information about visa requirements for countries like the United States, Great Britain and Australia, which promised a safe haven and sufficient distance from the dramatic new situation in Austria. Between March 24 and 28, the Australian consulate alone received 6,000 applications for immigration—a number which considerably exceeded the country’s official immigration quota.

TAGS: Anschluss, emigration, immigration procedures, Journalism, JTA, March 28, media coverage, Vienna, visa application

SOURCE

Institution:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Collection:

“Goering’s Warning Sends Thousands to U.S., British Consulates in Rush for Visas” „Goering’s Warning Sends Thousands to U.S., British Consulates in Rush for Visas“

Source available in English

8

TUESDAY

8

Family bonds

An Affidavit from uncle Charles

“As soon as I get all this information from you I will prepare the necessary affidavits and will also send the information to Dr. Pollak, who will also send his affidavits so that you and your family can come here.”

Newark, New Jersey/Baden

Charles Manshel, a wealthy businessman and himself a native of Austria, promises his cousin in Baden near Vienna to prepare affidavits for her and her family once he has all the required personal information. The letter shows Manshel’s sincere efforts to not only pave the way to immigration for his relatives but also do something for the professional integration of his niece’s husband, Dr. Eduard Ehrlich. Manshel was no stranger to hardship himself, having provided for his family since his father’s premature death when he was 16 years old.

TAGS: affidavits, Baden, document, emigration, family, immigration procedures, letter, March 8, Newark NJ, transnational networks

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

George and Paul Ehrlich Collection, AR 11418

Original:

Box 1, folder 1

Source available in English

1

TUESDAY

1

Destination Uruguay

The Electrician Moses Wainstein is Montevideo-bound

Berlin

In the spring of 1938, the Berlin electrician Moses Wainstein was making arrangements to join the steady stream of Jewish emigrants. His destination was faraway Montevideo. He was planning to travel from Berlin to Marseille, where he intended to board a ship for South America. On March 1, he received the requisite French transit visa. Uruguay was regarded as a country with strong democratic traditions, little pressure on newcomers to adapt, and good job prospects for tradesmen. Jewish relief organizations and travel agencies advised prospective emigrants on choosing their new home, finding the best route possible, and procuring the required papers.

TAGS: Berlin, document, emigration, immigration procedures, March 1, Marseille, Montevideo, South America, ticket, welfare organizations

SOURCE

Institution:

Deutsches Historisches Museum

Collection:

Transit confirmation from the shipping company "Chargeurs Réunis & Sud Atlantique" for Moses Wainstein's journey through France

Original:

Inv. Nr. Do2 89/1008.6

25

FRIDAY

25

Heartache

Young lovers face separation

“I say it is a good thing not to see each other for a longer period, for only then can one see how much or how little people have changed.”

Hamburg/Merano

By 1938, the Hirsch family from Hamburg had emigrated to Italy. In light of the volatile situation in Europe, members of the family began to look into options for emigration to the United States or South America. Julius Hirsch had met Elisabeth Schiff on a visit to Belgium in 1935 and fallen in love with her. The Schiff family had no plans to leave Europe, and when visas for El Salvador were procured for Julius and other members of his family, he must have been pained at the prospect of being so distant from his beloved. This letter from a friend in Hamburg reassures him that a temporary separation is not such a bad thing. Forced to remain in Italy because the US denied him the necessary transit visa, Julius ultimately reunited with Elisabeth in England.

TAGS: bureaucracy, displacement, emigration, family separation, February 25, Hamburg, immigration procedures, letter, Merano, refugees, South America

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Julius and Elisabeth Hirsch Collection, AR 25585

Original:

Box 1, folder 14

21

MONDAY

21

Without health, no immigration

A health certificate from the Colombian embassy

Berlin/Breslau

In light of the looming danger, a young jazz musician from Breslau, Werner Dambitsch, considered various options for emigration. Like many others, he viewed Cuba, a destination for which it was significantly easier to obtain a visa, as a “waiting room” on the way to the final destination for many, the United States. While his application for immigration to Cuba was being processed, Dambitsch, to be on the safe side, seems to also have applied for a visa at the Colombian Embassy in Berlin. The document presented here is a doctor’s notice written by the doctor of the Colombian Embassy and attesting the perfect health of the prospective emigrant, one of the indispensable preconditions for receiving a visa.

TAGS: Berlin, Breslau, emigration, February 21, immigration procedures, medical record, musicians, South America

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Werner Dambitsch Collection, AR 11719

19

SATURDAY

19

Doing fine here in prison

Letters from Alfred Rahn

“I am doing well under the circumstances, and if you do not worry, I shall be able to bear it doubly well.”

Nuremberg/Fürth

Not wishing to leave behind the family business and hoping that the Jews’ situation would improve over time, Alfred Rahn had initially been reluctant to consider emigration. However, in 1937 the family obtained US visas and sold the business to a non-Jew. Since they had not officially approved the sale, the Nazis accused Rahn of trying to hide funds. As a result, he had to serve a 14-month prison term. From prison, Rahn writes to his wife Lilli in a matter-of-fact way about his hope to be transferred to a different section of the prison, the work imposed on him, and the books he reads. He manages to create the impression that nothing much is amiss.

TAGS: economic persecution, emigration, family, family separation, February 19, Fürth, immigration procedures, imprisonment, letter, Nuremberg

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Rahn Family Collection, AR 25538

Original:

Box 1, folder 10

11

FRIDAY

11

Sell the jewelry

Brothers in exile worry about their parents

“By the way, do you happen to have mom's jewelry with you? Because mom had asked me if you told me, because I advised them to sell it, so that they would have means to live.”

Chelles/New York

In February 1938, two brothers living in two different continents, Joszi Josefsberg in Europe (Chelles, France) and Arthur Josefsberg (New York) discuss in their correspondence how best to proceed to obtain affidavits to rescue their parents, who are still in Germany. But not only the fact that their parents’ emigration has not yet been secured worries Joszi—he is also concerned about their material survival. Such concerns were common among Jews who had left behind parents, siblings, and often spouses. Nazi efforts to force Jews out of numerous professions had made it harder and harder for those remaining in Germany to earn a living.

 

Several months after the 1938Projekt was completed, LBI learned that the letter was misdated while transcribed. Although it was written later than February 1938, LBI decided to keep it in the project under the same date because of the important content.

TAGS: affidavits, Chelles, economic persecution, emigration, family, family separation, February 11, immigration procedures, impoverishment, letter, New York, persecution of Jewish professionals

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Arthur Josefsberg Correspondence, AR 25590

Original:

Box 1, folder 1

Source available in English

2

WEDNESDAY

2

Second opinion

An intentional misdiagnosis remedied

“It is therefore mystifying how a previous examiner could reach the assumption of a tuberculous lung disease in this perfectly healthy young person.”

Zurich

Months after leaving Germany, 12-year old Herbert Friedmann (later Freeman) was still in Zurich waiting to reunite with his family already in the USA. Because of the previous, apparently intentional, misdiagnosis at the US consulate in Stuttgart stating that the boy was a “carrier of tuberculosis,” he had not been able to immigrate with his mother and brother. Finally, on February 2, 1938 a local physician attested to the boy’s “significantly above average” state of health, ascribing the previous diagnosis to an error. Ironically, the physician who issued this critical medical certificate was Dr. Ernst Hanhart, a geneticist and eugenicist who during the Nazi period published extensively on “racial hygiene” and wrote articles in support of the forced sterilization of deaf-mutes.

TAGS: bureaucracy, children, emigration, family separation, February 2, immigration procedures, medical record, visa application, Zurich

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Herbert Freeman Family Collection, AR 25346

Original:

Box 1, folder 7

12

WEDNESDAY

12

An arbitrary ordeal

Little Herbert waits for a visa

Does Papa remember the “dung beetle”, when Mr. M. said that he would never leave Germany and that a “Jewish Colony” should be built in Germany? Apparently he has been having second thoughts. The first proof was that he took his son out of the Kaiser Friedrich Gymnasium, and the second that he is sending his son to America.

Zurich/New York

Herbert Freeman was born Herbert Friedmann on December 13, 1925 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. His father, Leo Friedmann, immigrated to the United States first. Herbert, his mother, and his brother applied for a US visa in Stuttgart. During the obligatory health check-up, the perfectly healthy Herbert was diagnosed as a “tuberculosis carrier” and was unable to join his mother and brother on their journey to the United States in 1936. After repeated unsuccessful attempts, in order to circumvent the Stuttgart US Consulate, 12-year-old Herbert was sent to Zurich (permission to file an application outside Germany was obtained in no small part thanks to the intervention of Albert Einstein). The letter was written during Herbert’s stay in Switzerland. He mentions his upcoming visit to the US Consulate and reapplying for the visa, and describes his days while separated from his relatives.

TAGS: bureaucracy, children, emigration, family separation, Frankfurt am Main, immigration procedures, January 12, letter, New York, prominent people, visa application, Zurich

SOURCE

Institution:

Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

Collection:

Herbert Freeman Family Collection, AR 25346

Original:

Box 1, folder 4

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