Object numberM2009/098:006
DescriptionLetter from the US Escapee Program Division, 4 September 1956, on stationery of the Foreign Service of the United States of America. Addressed to Mr Feliks Gryff, it advises him that arrangements have been made for his immigration to Australia. The US Escapee Program pays for his trip and hopes that he will arrive comfortably, in good health and free of any financial worries "so that you will have no difficulty in establishing a new life in the free world". Felix immigrated to Australia in 1956.
Part of a collection of 31 letters and 7 telegrams, dated 1955, from Felix Gryff to his wife Halina Gryff and his son Stefan, from the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan which was a Republic of the Soviet Union, to No 6 University Street, apartment No 9 Warsaw, Poland. Some of the letters are responses back to him from his mother and his wife. Stefan was two years old at the time of his father’s arrest.
Felix Gryff, a Polish Jew, was arrested in 1943 as a spy. He was tortured and forced to admit to political crimes that he had never committed. He was deported to a Kushmangor, a Russian Gulag, for forced labour, for 12 years, until his release in September 1955. The telegrams are written in Polish and in Russian with Latin letters, for example, "I am leaving Brest. Wait for me at home. Feliks" and "I am travelling to you my dearest. Birthday I will celebrate with you and Stefan. I kiss you. Feliks".
The collection was donated by Yola Schneider (nee Rawdin). Feliks Gryff was her mother’s brother. Many of the letters contain pressed flowers. Incomplete accession. Needs translation - Polish to English.
Part of a collection of 31 letters and 7 telegrams, dated 1955, from Felix Gryff to his wife Halina Gryff and his son Stefan, from the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan which was a Republic of the Soviet Union, to No 6 University Street, apartment No 9 Warsaw, Poland. Some of the letters are responses back to him from his mother and his wife. Stefan was two years old at the time of his father’s arrest.
Felix Gryff, a Polish Jew, was arrested in 1943 as a spy. He was tortured and forced to admit to political crimes that he had never committed. He was deported to a Kushmangor, a Russian Gulag, for forced labour, for 12 years, until his release in September 1955. The telegrams are written in Polish and in Russian with Latin letters, for example, "I am leaving Brest. Wait for me at home. Feliks" and "I am travelling to you my dearest. Birthday I will celebrate with you and Stefan. I kiss you. Feliks".
The collection was donated by Yola Schneider (nee Rawdin). Feliks Gryff was her mother’s brother. Many of the letters contain pressed flowers. Incomplete accession. Needs translation - Polish to English.
Production date 1956
Subjectcommunism, immigration, establishing new life, gulag
Object nameletters
Dimensions
- height: 270.00 mm
width: 250.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Yola Schneider