Object numberM1998/011:002
DescriptionTyped letter in English by Sabine Padawer pleading for help to save her child and describing the ordeals she has already been put through.
The letter, dated 26 September 1941, is addressed to the Society of Friends (Quakers) Germany Emergency Committee at Bloomsbury House, London. Written by Sabine Padawer, it is a plea for help to save her daughter, describing her experiences between 1938 and 1941. She states that she received a letter on 28 October 1938 that informed her that she needed to visit her husband in Munich who had previously been sent to Dachau concentration camp. When she arrived in Munich she was given an urn containing his ashes. She returned to Vienna and invited friends and relatives to a funeral service and was arrested for doing so, and was ordered to leave German territory. She then spent three months trying to get over the border into France with her six year old daughter and arrived in Metz from where they proceeded to Paris. She was initially given permission to stay in Paris for a month, but this was withdrawn and she was arrested, and then given permission to stay for 48 hour periods at a time. She was able to get a visa to travel to England for herself with the Domestic Department of Bloomsbury House, but was unable to get one for her daughter. As war broke out after she arrived she was not able to get her daughter to England. Her daughter was subsequently interned at Puy de Dome concentration camp, and Sabine received information through the American Red Cross about her condition stating "she has not even the barest necessities of clothing and is badly under-nourished". The letter is a pleas for help to get her daughter to England.
The letter, dated 26 September 1941, is addressed to the Society of Friends (Quakers) Germany Emergency Committee at Bloomsbury House, London. Written by Sabine Padawer, it is a plea for help to save her daughter, describing her experiences between 1938 and 1941. She states that she received a letter on 28 October 1938 that informed her that she needed to visit her husband in Munich who had previously been sent to Dachau concentration camp. When she arrived in Munich she was given an urn containing his ashes. She returned to Vienna and invited friends and relatives to a funeral service and was arrested for doing so, and was ordered to leave German territory. She then spent three months trying to get over the border into France with her six year old daughter and arrived in Metz from where they proceeded to Paris. She was initially given permission to stay in Paris for a month, but this was withdrawn and she was arrested, and then given permission to stay for 48 hour periods at a time. She was able to get a visa to travel to England for herself with the Domestic Department of Bloomsbury House, but was unable to get one for her daughter. As war broke out after she arrived she was not able to get her daughter to England. Her daughter was subsequently interned at Puy de Dome concentration camp, and Sabine received information through the American Red Cross about her condition stating "she has not even the barest necessities of clothing and is badly under-nourished". The letter is a pleas for help to get her daughter to England.
Production placeLondon, England
Production date 1941-09-26
Subjectchildren, concentration camps, desperation, separation, rescue
Object nameletters
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 203.00 mm
height: 253.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Michael and Leora Doctors