A forced move
Leo Perutz shortly before his emigration to Palestine
“For it’s human nature even in the direst extremity to see a spark of hope and blow it into flames” ― Leo Perutz, By Night Under the Stone Bridge
Vienna/Tel Aviv
There are many ways to describe Leo Perutz: novelist, mathematician, native of Prague, chess lover—to name but a few. He was admired by his colleagues and millions of readers. His success as a writer was so great that he decided in 1923 to give up his bread-and-butter job as an actuary. The Great Depression hit him hard, since the crisis not only negatively impacted the bookselling trade but also rendered the family company, in which he had a share, less profitable. To make matters worse, after the Nazis’ rise to power, his Jewish publisher, Paul Szolnay, lost his largest market in Germany. This is one of the last photographs taken before Perutz’s emigration from Vienna to Tel Aviv, Palestine in 1938.
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Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin 
Collection:
Portrait of Leo Perutz, AR 6898
Original:
F001
Chronology of major events in 1938
Aktion “Arbeitsscheu Reich”
Poster for the Reich Labor Service, 1938.
Heinrich Himmler orders a “one-time, comprehensive, surprise attack” on Arbeitsscheue. This designation, which means “work-shy” or “indolent,” includes men of working age who have rejected two job offers or who quit after a short period of time. The Gestapo, the secret police force of the National Socialists, was tasked with the endeavor and collected the necessary information in collaboration with employment offices. From April 21 through April 30, between 1,500 and 2,000 men are arrested and brought to the concentration camp Buchenwald. Hearings are not scheduled to take place until the second half of the year.
View chronology of major events in 1938