Object numberM2018/008:086
Description
In March 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in the “Anschluss”. From May 1938, the racist Nuremberg laws applied in Austria, and Austrian Jews were steadily ostracised from their societies during the process of “Aryanisation.” This tension came to a climax in the Kristallnacht pogrom from 9th-10th November.
In the meantime, Hardy Brothers, a British jewellery-making firm, offer young Leo Steiner from Vienna employment in Sydney, Australia as a jewellery mounter in July 1938. However, the Gestapo threaten to arrest Jews issued with travel documents who do not leave within a short time. Whilst Leo’s Australian landing permit is pending, it is therefore prudent to seek temporary refuge in a third country. Before he is discharged from his erstwhile firm Vienna Art Designs, Leo’s employer Oscar Fastlich writes that his stay in Switzerland is necessary for business. In July, Leo moves to Zurich on a temporary stay visa, leaving his parents, Adolf and Hermine, and brother Paul, behind in Vienna.
Once established in Australia, Leo makes various applications to the Australian government for landing permits on behalf of his parents and Paul, all of which are denied. All three family members would eventually perish during WWII.
Whilst in Australia, Leo remains in contact with a wide network of friends and family. His maternal Aunt Anna and her husband Abraham Seifter are amongst the prisoners to be released from the Ferramonti di Tarsia camp following the downfall of Mussolini in September, 1943. They are also two of the approximately 1,000 refugees from the camp shipped to the US for the Fort Ontario refugee settlement in Oswego, NY - the only concerted effort made by the US during WWII to house Jewish refugees.
Leo's Aunt Anna and Uncle Abraham wrote this letter from Fort Ontario. The letter reports how the Seifters are enquiring frantically about the fate of various family members with the Red Cross, often in vain or with a very delayed response. They are working very hard to make ends meet at the time of writing and plan on staying with relatives Wilhelm and Olga Lilien in New York City after the war, if allowed to continue to reside in the United States.
In March 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in the “Anschluss”. From May 1938, the racist Nuremberg laws applied in Austria, and Austrian Jews were steadily ostracised from their societies during the process of “Aryanisation.” This tension came to a climax in the Kristallnacht pogrom from 9th-10th November.
In the meantime, Hardy Brothers, a British jewellery-making firm, offer young Leo Steiner from Vienna employment in Sydney, Australia as a jewellery mounter in July 1938. However, the Gestapo threaten to arrest Jews issued with travel documents who do not leave within a short time. Whilst Leo’s Australian landing permit is pending, it is therefore prudent to seek temporary refuge in a third country. Before he is discharged from his erstwhile firm Vienna Art Designs, Leo’s employer Oscar Fastlich writes that his stay in Switzerland is necessary for business. In July, Leo moves to Zurich on a temporary stay visa, leaving his parents, Adolf and Hermine, and brother Paul, behind in Vienna.
Once established in Australia, Leo makes various applications to the Australian government for landing permits on behalf of his parents and Paul, all of which are denied. All three family members would eventually perish during WWII.
Whilst in Australia, Leo remains in contact with a wide network of friends and family. His maternal Aunt Anna and her husband Abraham Seifter are amongst the prisoners to be released from the Ferramonti di Tarsia camp following the downfall of Mussolini in September, 1943. They are also two of the approximately 1,000 refugees from the camp shipped to the US for the Fort Ontario refugee settlement in Oswego, NY - the only concerted effort made by the US during WWII to house Jewish refugees.
Leo's Aunt Anna and Uncle Abraham wrote this letter from Fort Ontario. The letter reports how the Seifters are enquiring frantically about the fate of various family members with the Red Cross, often in vain or with a very delayed response. They are working very hard to make ends meet at the time of writing and plan on staying with relatives Wilhelm and Olga Lilien in New York City after the war, if allowed to continue to reside in the United States.
Production placeOswego, NY, USA
Production date 1945-06-17 - 1945-06-17
Subjectrefugees, family life, refugee camps, Fort Ontario, Ferramonti di Tarsia internment camp, rebuilding lives, tracing loved ones, Red Cross
Object nameletters
Dimensions
- letter length: 280.00 mm
letter width: 214.00 mm
envelope length: 165.00 mm
envelope width: 93.00 mm
Language
- German My dears!
Dear Leo, I must write a bit more emphatically this time. What is up with you two; we haven’t heard from you for 3 months now. Don’t let us wonder too much about you, though you are the only one whose location we are sure of.
You will probably have enquired already about your brother and mother with the Red Cross; have you had a response from them? We’re writing to every authority possible to try and collect information, albeit without success. We wrote to a Czech society in New York to enquire about Theresienstadt, where Uncle Alfred is with his family, along with Pollack and family from Lestina, and received the reply that Aunt Berta was on the list for a short time. I don’t know what became of my brother Bernhard, who is also a tailor; I don’t know where he is though he was also interned in Italy in the Macerata district. I asked about him with the Cultural Committee in Rome and Bari in Palestine, and we both received the same answer that he was deported by the Germans to a camp in Modena, not far from Milan. When I was there, this area was occupied by Germany; now all of Italy is free. I’m going to enquire again because a brother of mine who was a painter died in Buchenwald in December 1938, when I was still in Dachau, so of course my worries never cease.
Everyone is talking about the misfortunes here and the Organisation is working very hard so that we will be able to leave this place free, which should be in the month of August. We want to go to Willi then, which I am telling you so that you know not to apply for anything for us in Australia at the moment, because I know every stage costs money and I want to spare you from that for the moment. We’re thinking that if our relatives go back to Austria or Bohemia, we’ll consider asking you and your in-laws for help if we can’t secure a stay for ourselves here. Wait for our next letter.
We wrote to you and attached a photo of us, did you get it? Asking you again to write to us about what you’re doing; don’t let us wait so long for correspondence from you. Are you still in touch with Hans Kohn? Be good and don’t forget to send us the address of your in-laws. I must leave some space now for your aunt to write something.
Warmest regards and kisses to you both and to your in-laws,
Your Uncle Seifter
My dearests!
Thinking about you always, what you are up to and about you, Leonku - I am worried about you. Are you still in the military?
I have written to various parties regarding your dear mother and Pauli but unfortunately have still received no response. I am so worried about everyone; I wrote to Anicka Haseberg in Prague via the Red Cross, asking her if she had news from everyone, but the whole process takes such a long time and it is so long before one receives a response.
We are going well here, thank G-d, though we must both work very hard to get our hands on a few dollars; there is always something that we need to buy. My thoughts day and night are only with my dear siblings as I wonder whether any of them are still alive. We read the newspaper Aufbau every week to get an idea of how our poor loved ones must be doing.
I am working hard on my English although I find it very hard to produce the words. What is your dear wife doing? How is business in the shop? Good, I hope. What have you done about your parents’? Don’t give up hope and maybe one day your dear mother will come to you in good health.
Greetings and kisses to you all,
Aunt Anna.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Pauline Shavit