Object numberM2010/064:002
DescriptionLetter from the Australian Jewish Welfare Society in Darlinghurst, 22 January 1957, to Mr Julius Parche (?) in Westlakes. It informs him that George, Elizabeth and Peter Weiss are arriving in Melbourne on board the Fairsea on 9 February. It advises him to get in contact with the Immigration Department at the earliest 10 days before the arrival of the ship, so that "your people are sent to you immediately after the arrival of the ship, as otherwise all passengers would go to the Government Camp in Bonegilla."
Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Wise (nee Brull) was born in Borsodszemere, Hungary, in 1924. She had one sibling, a brother, Sandor, 5 years younger. Her father, Lajos Brull, had a small soda water bottling business. The village had only two Jewish families; for High Holy Days they paid for ‘yeshiva boches’ from other towns to make up a minyan (quorum of 10 men required for traditional worship).
In 1942, at the age of 18, Elizabeth went to Budapest to train as a hairdresser. In 1944 she was living in a ‘Yellow Star House’. On 2 July 1944 the house was bombed but she escaped. She moved from place to place. At the end of October, she was taken to the Brick Factory and from there marched to the Austrian border, put on a cattle train and taken to Kaufering, a concentration camp in Germany. From there she was taken to Bergen-Belsen until January 1945 when she was taken by train to a camp and then in the last week of January 1945, began an aimless, chaotic 600km Death March which lasted about six weeks, and then a train back to Bergen-Belsen in early March. By now Elizabeth weighted 34 kilos and confined to her bunk when the British liberated the camp. She recuperated in the military hospital in Bergen-Belsen for 12 weeks, and then in Sweden. In May 1947 she returned to Budapest, and learned that her parents, brother and grandmother had all been murdered in Auschwitz. She met and later married George Weisz (Wise) in December 1948. In November 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution, she and her husband and 6-year-old son, Peter, escaped across the border to Austria where they stayed until departing for Australia. They arrived on the Fairsea in February 1957. Their daughter Jacqueline was born in August.
Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Wise (nee Brull) was born in Borsodszemere, Hungary, in 1924. She had one sibling, a brother, Sandor, 5 years younger. Her father, Lajos Brull, had a small soda water bottling business. The village had only two Jewish families; for High Holy Days they paid for ‘yeshiva boches’ from other towns to make up a minyan (quorum of 10 men required for traditional worship).
In 1942, at the age of 18, Elizabeth went to Budapest to train as a hairdresser. In 1944 she was living in a ‘Yellow Star House’. On 2 July 1944 the house was bombed but she escaped. She moved from place to place. At the end of October, she was taken to the Brick Factory and from there marched to the Austrian border, put on a cattle train and taken to Kaufering, a concentration camp in Germany. From there she was taken to Bergen-Belsen until January 1945 when she was taken by train to a camp and then in the last week of January 1945, began an aimless, chaotic 600km Death March which lasted about six weeks, and then a train back to Bergen-Belsen in early March. By now Elizabeth weighted 34 kilos and confined to her bunk when the British liberated the camp. She recuperated in the military hospital in Bergen-Belsen for 12 weeks, and then in Sweden. In May 1947 she returned to Budapest, and learned that her parents, brother and grandmother had all been murdered in Auschwitz. She met and later married George Weisz (Wise) in December 1948. In November 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution, she and her husband and 6-year-old son, Peter, escaped across the border to Austria where they stayed until departing for Australia. They arrived on the Fairsea in February 1957. Their daughter Jacqueline was born in August.
Production date 1957-01-22 - 1957-01-22
Subjectpassenger ships, migrants, establishing new life
Object nameletters
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 208.00 mm
length: 260.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Elizabeth Wise