Object numberM2018/008:068
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.
This letter was written in 1941 by a family friend named Max Soffer residing in Philadelphia to Leo. In regards to Leo’s mother Hermine’s situation, Leo's father having perished from illness the year before, he warns Leo that poverty and hunger are rife in Vienna. He asks Leo to send him money to use for food parcels to send to Hermine; being technically enemy territory, Leo was not authorised to send money or sundries to Austria during the war.
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.
This letter was written in 1941 by a family friend named Max Soffer residing in Philadelphia to Leo. In regards to Leo’s mother Hermine’s situation, Leo's father having perished from illness the year before, he warns Leo that poverty and hunger are rife in Vienna. He asks Leo to send him money to use for food parcels to send to Hermine; being technically enemy territory, Leo was not authorised to send money or sundries to Austria during the war.
Production placePhiladelphia, Pennyslvania, United States
Production date 1941-01-13 - 1941-01-13
SubjectHolocaust, refugees, refugees, family life, Jews in Vienna, poverty, food parcels
Object nameletters
Dimensions
- letter length: 215.00 mm
letter width: 139.00 mm
envelope length: 166.00 mm
envelope width: 93.00 mm
Language
- German Dear Leo!
How are you? I received your lovely letter from 17.11.40 but I didn’t respond straight away, as I was waiting for your mother’s letter to arrive. The latter just came, which I attach here. Dear Leo, you must not forget that stamps cost 70 cents and that this amount is enough for my wife and I to live off of for a day. I am telling you this so that you can understand why I only write to you when I receive post from your dear mother, so that I can send the two together. Dear Leo, I do this for you gladly from the heart but I do not understand why you do not write more often, to your dear mother I mean? The letter that you sent me to forward to your mother had been stamped six times by the censor so that I couldn’t send it to her. I sent her the letter that you wrote to me instead after writing off the censored letter.
What do you say about your brother’s situation? I also heard that he and his wife are expecting a child. I can’t confirm these things though.
I am very sorry for your dear mother. I am also very worried about my loved ones. It is horrific for Jews in Vienna now. The situation is beyond description. The poor things are expiring from hunger and have nothing to wear. Dear Leo, is it at all possible for you to transfer me some money? If it were somehow possible for you to do so I could send food parcels to your mother from here. I send my loved ones one such parcel once a month, even though they could do with one every week. I don’t earn too much however. You could help your dear mother a lot this way. Look into it and maybe you’ll be able to send me money by some means.
If you are to marry, my dear wife and I wish you the best of happiness from the bottom of our hearts. Dear Leo, you should write to me every week so that I can forward post to your dear mother each week. She longs so much for your letters.
Our warmest greetings to you, as well as to your as-yet-unbeknownst-to-me future wife,
Your friend Max
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Pauline Shavit