Object numberM2018/008:014
DescriptionIn 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.
Amongst those whom Leo left behind in Vienna were his Aunt Anna and Uncle Abraham. Whilst Leo is staying in Zurich, his uncle Abraham Seifter is incarcerated at Dachau concentration camp during a forced labour roundup of Jewish men in Vienna and returned home early the following year. This letter, written on original Dachau stationary, is addressed to Leo’s maternal aunt, Anna Seifter, from her husband, Abraham. The stationary contains the camp letterhead and a list of rules regarding corresponding with and sending money to inmates. The letter asks Anna to settle Abraham’s accounts for him in his absence.
Later, after escaping to Italy, Anna and Abraham Seifter are amongst the prisoners to be released from the Ferramonti di Tersia camp following the downfall of Mussolini in September. 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. Abraham Seifter passes away after the war in 1948 in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City. Rather than becoming a naturalised US citizen, Anna Seifter joins Leo's family in Australia and plays an integral role in helping raise his children.
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.
Amongst those whom Leo left behind in Vienna were his Aunt Anna and Uncle Abraham. Whilst Leo is staying in Zurich, his uncle Abraham Seifter is incarcerated at Dachau concentration camp during a forced labour roundup of Jewish men in Vienna and returned home early the following year. This letter, written on original Dachau stationary, is addressed to Leo’s maternal aunt, Anna Seifter, from her husband, Abraham. The stationary contains the camp letterhead and a list of rules regarding corresponding with and sending money to inmates. The letter asks Anna to settle Abraham’s accounts for him in his absence.
Later, after escaping to Italy, Anna and Abraham Seifter are amongst the prisoners to be released from the Ferramonti di Tersia camp following the downfall of Mussolini in September. 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. Abraham Seifter passes away after the war in 1948 in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City. Rather than becoming a naturalised US citizen, Anna Seifter joins Leo's family in Australia and plays an integral role in helping raise his children.
Production placeDachau concentration camp
Production date 1938-12-04 - 1938-12-04
SubjectNazi political activities (1933-1939), Holocaust, concentration camps, forced labour, Dachau concentration camp, survivors, family life, Jews in Vienna, survivors
Object nameletters
Dimensions
- letter length: 298.00 mm
letter width: 210.00 mm
envelope length: 162.00 mm
envelope width: 113.00 mm
Language
- German Protective custody Jew
Name: Seifter Abraham
DOB: 7.4.1885
Block: 18 Room: 4
Dachau 3K, December 4 1938.
[camp regulations, printed]: The following regulations for written correspondence with prisoners are to be observed:
1. Every prisoner in protective custody is allowed to send and receive two letters or two postcards per month (to relatives and from relatives only). Letters from the prisoners must be legible, written in ink and not exceeding 15 lines per sheet/page. Allowed is only a piece of paper of normal size. Envelopes must not be lined. No more than 5 stamps of 12 pennies’ worth are to be enclosed in a letter. All else is prohibited and subject to confiscation. Postcards must have 10 lines. Photos are not to be used as postcards.
2. Remittances are permitted.
3. Newspapers are permitted, but are to be ordered only through the post office of Concentration Camp Dachau.
4. Parcels are not allowed to be sent, as prisoners can purchase everything in the camp.
5. Petitions for release from protective custody are pointless.
6. To speak with and to visit prisoners in concentration camps is not permitted on principle.
All letters/postcards which do not comply with these regulations will be destroyed.
[camp regulations, stamped]: Money orders (any amount) are only allowed every 4 weeks. Permitted are exclusively postal orders. These are to be sent in such a manner that they arrive at the camp on the first or fifteenth of each month. The central (main) part of the form is to be addressed thus: name, first name, date of birth; as residence: Dachau 3K; as street: block and room. The left hand (receiver) part of the form must show the amount and the sender the front, on the reverse side: surname, first name, date of birth and block/room of the prisoner.
Postal orders which do not comply with above regulations or which are not written clearly will be returned.
[Body of letter]:
Dear Anna, received postcard money thank you, am healthy, am well. Try to obtain an immigration permit, where to does not matter, try your utmost, keep the patterns from the chest for me which have been roughly drawn and from Werner the accounts table which is in the big table in the bottom drawer plus a small note written in pencil in Markus’ chest with a waistcoat sketch, also the exercise book. Dear Anna, you can send these to me on the 12th so that they arrive here on the 15th and then nothing more till I write to you. I have spoken with Bernhard, what did you do with the jobs, speedy reunion, cordial greetings to all relatives, your Seifter, Abraham. Write me a letter, you will also get my documents, enclosed a power of attorney with which you can settle all my signatures for me. Christmas parcels are not allowed to be sent.
Dear Leo,
Letting you know that we are all in good health. Look after yourself and don’t forget to think always of your parents and brother. Many kisses, your Tato.
[mostly illegible note from aunt Anna Seifter]
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Pauline Shavit